THE AMERICAN FORESTS 847 



Under the timber and stone act of 1878, 

 which niio-ht well have been called the " dust 

 and ashes act," any citizen of the United States 

 could take up one hundred and sixty acres of 

 timber land, and by paying two dollars and a 

 half an acre for it obtain title. There was some 

 virtuous effort made with a view to limit the op- 

 erations of the act by requiring that the pur- 

 chaser should make affidavit that he was entering 

 the land exclusively for his own use, and by not 

 allowing any association to enter more than one 

 hundred and sixty acres. Nevertheless, under 

 this act wealthy corporations have fraudulently 

 obtained title to from ten thousand to twenty 

 thousand acres or more. The plan was usually 

 as follows : A mill company, desirous of getting 

 title to a large body of redwood or sugar-pine 

 land, first blurred the eyes and ears of the land 

 agents, and then hired men to enter the land 

 they wanted, and immediately deed it to the 

 company after a nominal compliance with the 

 law ; false swearing in the wilderness against the 

 government being held of no account. In one 

 case which came under the observation of Mr. 

 Bowers, it was the practice of a lumber company 

 to hire the entire crew of every vessel which 

 might happen to touch at any port in the red- 

 wood belt, to enter one hundred and sixty acres 

 each and immediately deed the land to the com- 

 pany, in consideration of the company's paying 



