THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



tion, when they expected to make application for land 

 and return to adjust their affairs preparatory to mak- 

 ing that country their home. On reaching Independ- 

 ence they sought for land which officers did all in their 

 power to secure for them. They found first that a 

 great body of desirable agricultural land had been with- 

 drawn under specific instructions for the city of Los 

 Angeles, something like 20,000 acres, in a territory 

 tributary to Independence and upwards of 50,000 acres 

 within a range of fifty miles had been so withdrawn 

 that it could not be entered under the homestead act 

 which permits homesteads within the National Forests. 

 After several days of careful investigation they found 

 some good land and made their selections. When 

 they came to file they found,, to their amazement that 

 the local office could not accept their entries but that 

 the regulations or rules of the Forestry Bureau (not 

 laws passed by Congress), required that they submit 

 their application direct to the Forester at Washington; 

 that neither the land office in Independence nor the 

 forest office at Bishop kept any record of these appli- 

 cations and that it would be necessary to make appli- 

 cation to the Forester, and that if approved by him they 

 were then referred back to the local officials of that 

 department for a report, and if finally approved were 

 then turned over to the Interior Department, and after 

 another wait of 90 days for advertising the list, the 

 land would be open to entry. 



In view of the fact that it takes from three to 

 six months to get an entry approved and of record in 

 any of the reserves, the methods employed in that par- 

 ticular locality made the Homestead Act practically 

 nugatory. 



These men could not wait, as they were not per- 

 mitted to go on the land, and not being sure that their 

 applications would be approved, and as there was no 

 means of ascertaining whether one or a dozen appli- 

 cations for this same tract had already been filed prior 

 to their?, they became discouraged, and left the country. 



We are informed that it is almost impossible to 

 get any definite knowledge without this long wait, and 

 in any event the prospective settler would find it neces- 

 sary to make a second trip. 



Thus are homeseekers hedged about by rules laid 

 down by the Forestry Bureau, which have not been sanc- 

 tioned by Congress. 



To an uninterested spectator the impression arrived 

 at is that there is something wrong in a law which pre- 

 vents men from building homes in desert areas where 

 water could be secured to reclaim them. 



If Mr. Pinchot is at fault his work should be 

 closely investigated. 



As another illustration of how men who are work- 

 ing to develop the western country are handicapped by 

 the rules and regulations of this department we are 



producing herewith a copy of an affidavit signed by S. 

 F. Stoughton of Colorado. This tells a story in itself 

 and needs no comments by us. 



DENVER, COLO., September 26, 1908. 



In June, 1907, I bought a half interest in a saw mill 

 proposition, on Snake River, Summit county, Colorado. Our 

 firm employed from 10 to 15 men and were unable to get 

 the range rider, Mr. Bunker, to scale the logs which we 

 had cut from the timber purchase, when we called on him 

 to do it, he claiming that he did not have the time to at- 

 tend to it. After waiting about two weeks for him to 

 scale these logs, we began to look into the matter of his 

 being so busy, and discovered that in the meantime Bunker 

 had made several trips to Montezuma, which took him right 

 by our mill, on personal matters, which did not require his 

 presence there in the capacity of range rider; in fact, we dis- 

 covered that his principal business in Montezuma was to 

 advise our customers to whom we had sold and delivered 

 considerable lumber, that they had better not pay us for the 

 lumber, as the saw mill did not belong to us, and if they 

 paid us for the lumber that they would have to pay for it 

 again to the Lenawee Tunnel Transportation <fe Development 

 Company. The result of Mr. Bunker's advice to these par- 

 ties was that they refused to pay us for the lumber al- 

 ready delivered to them and until the matter was understood 

 by our customers we coujd not deliver them any more lum- 

 ber on our contracts, which covered the delivery of several 

 thousand feet more. We shut down the mill, and put our 

 men at work, in order to keep the crew together, at a 

 great loss to the firm. We then met the supervisor from 

 Leadville, at Dillon, and advised him that we had been 

 obliged to close down the mill, on account of the action 

 of Range Rider Bunker, and after going over the matter 

 with the supervisor, he agreed to' have Mr. Bunker go to 

 our customers in Montezuma and apologize to them and to 

 us for his action in the matter, whereupon we told him that 

 that would not reimburse us for the loss of our trade, and 

 that we preferred to keep the mill closed down rather than 

 start up again under Bunker's administration. He then said 

 he would have Bunker removed and send us another ranger, 

 which he did later, but I understand that Bunker was soon 

 after that promoted to a better oosition, with more pay. 



Mr. Bunker's action made it impossible for us to collect 

 for the lumber which we had sold and delivered at Monte- 

 zuma, and we had considerable difficulty in meeting our 

 pay roll. As soon after this as possible we closed down 

 the business and the mill has been idle ever since. 



\ S. F. STOUGHTON. 

 COUNTY OF DENVER, ) 

 STATE OF COLORADO, \ ss ' 



Personally appeared before me S. F. STOUGHTON, and 

 upon his oath declares that the above facts herein set forth 

 are true to his own knowledge and belief. 



Given under my hand and the Notary Seal, this 26th 

 dav of September, 1908. THOMAS CONNELLY, 



(Signed) Notary. 



Dated September 26th, 1908. 



My commission expires June 9th, 1909. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE is in possession of other 

 affidavits and data concerning the oppressive use of 

 power by Forestry officials and these will be given pub- 

 licity from time to time in future issues of 'this journal. 



I 



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