THE PERIOD OF BEGINNINGS 47 



• 



ip by other large companies. Very little reclamation was ever accom- 

 )lished, and railroad and canal construction was often only "color- 

 ible," the grants being secured, not by bona fide fulfillment of the 



jrms of the grant, but fraudulently, through control of the state 



jgislatures.^^ 



OTHER STATE GRANTS 



All grants to the states operated in much the same way, and under 

 the various grants for education, internal improvements, etc., nearly 

 100,000,000 acres, some of it timber land, found its way into the 

 lands of private owners and beyond the reach of conservation meas- 

 ires. In at least one state, there seems to have been a lack of good 

 Faith in the selection of some of these educational grants. California 

 thus selected approximately 40,000 acres of school indemnity lands 

 for which no valid bases were assigned, and as late as 1908, had failed 

 to adjust the matter properly.*" Some of the states sold direct to the 

 lumbermen, without limitation as to amount. Others allowed entries 

 )nly in limited amounts to persons alleging intent to settle and taking 

 mth that they had made no agreement to transfer the land to others, 

 '^et, even in such states, either by the looseness of the laws or by the 

 iolation of them, large holdings of timber lands were built up from 

 state lands. Of course, such of the state lands as were real agricul- 

 tural lands were, for the most part, taken up by bona fide settlers, 

 ^but that has not been the usual history of timber lands.*^ 



79 "Lumber Industry," I, 244, citations in footnotes; III, 198-207, 223-236: 

 *almer, "Swamp Land Drainage," Univ. of Minnesota, "Studies in the Social 



^iences," No. 5. 



80 Report, Land Office, 1908, 16. See also Orfield, "Federal Land Grants"; Univ. 

 >f Minnesota, "Studies in the Social Sciences," No. 2. 



81 In California one holder, Thomas B. Walker of Minneapolis, in later years 

 icquired about 100,000 acres of state lands, while three other holders together 

 secured 65,000 acres. In Idaho the Potlatch Lumber Company acquired the timber 



ights on over 77,000 acres of state lands. In Oregon two large timber holdings 



^ere later found to consist almost entirely of state school lands in sections 16 and 



16. A few of the states, it should be said, displayed some traces of wisdom in deal- 



ig with their lands. Thus, Minnesota retained nearly one third of her total grant 



'of 8,150,000 acres, and, from the sale of part of the other two thirds, and from 



timber and ore leases, the state finally received about $27,000,000 ; while the mineral 



rights on the ore lands will, it is estimated, bring the state a very large sum — ^just 



how much no one knows. The state of Washington still retains from its grants a 



very large body of valuable timber lands, and Montana and Idaho hold smaller 



amounts. ("Lumber Industry," I, 252-255; II, 92, 125; III, 214.) 



