THE UNRESERVED TIMBER LAND 



225 



pine and western pine timber land, securing a large amount of it 

 under the Timber and Stone Act.^ 



Trainloads of women school-teachers were officially reported to 

 have been shipped from Minnesota out to Oregon to enter lands under 

 this act. The lands entered were then transferred to a certain cor- 

 poration in Minneapolis, the organization of which was very peculiar 

 indeed. Only the president, C. A. Smith, a wealthy lumberman of 

 Minneapolis, owned any stock; and the other officers in the corpora- 

 tion — vice-president, secretary, and treasurer — were his wife, son, and 

 daughter, respectively. S. A. D. Puter, author of "Looters of the 

 Public Domain," was Smith's agent in securing much of his timber 

 land, but Puter became dissatisfied with the treatment he received, 

 and published the details of Smith's transactions, with the result that 

 Smith was indicted by the Federal government and some of his patents 

 cancelled.* 



No residence or cultivation being required, it was easy for non- 

 resident timber speculators to secure title under the Timber and 

 Stone Act, and the amount of land taken up increased greatly during 

 le first few years of the twentieth century. This is shown by the 

 )llowing table, compiled from the reports of the Commissioner of the 

 ^and Office: 



3 "Lumber Industry," II, 91. 



* Report, National Conservation Commission, III, 389: 181 Fed. Rep., 545: 196 

 Fed. Rep., 593. See also Williamson vs. U. S.; 207 U. S., 435: S. Doc. 189; 58 Cong. 

 8 sess., 26. 



5 The comparatively small amount of land taken up during the six years begin- 



