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Q. You may state why weren't these applications or purchases 

 made under these propositions to sell the State lands at one dollar 

 and fifty cents per acre, why weren't they acted upon, and why 

 haven't they been up to this time. 



A. I stated at that time that the applications were of too recent 

 date to allow us the proper examination of those lands with the 

 force at our disposal which, at that time, was busy getting data with 

 regard to this report that we presented; I want to call the attention 

 of the committee a little bit to the difficulty of the examination of 

 these lands. These lands are in small parcels in thirty, fifty acres 

 and 150, a large majority of them that have never been surveyed; 

 that is, there will be thirty acres out of a lot of 160 that was surveyed, 

 but there is no survey made of that; for the proper looking over of 

 these lands and seeing whether they were denuded, or whether they 

 were lumbered, or •whether there was anything else the matter with 

 these lands, it is necessary for whoever goes on there to know where 

 those lands are located; in order to know where those lands are 

 located, if you will imagine to yourself a large country twenty-five or 

 thirty miles in extent, with old lot lines that are almost obliterated, 

 and ask a man to go on and pick out a thirty acre lot that 

 has not been surveyed without knowing exactly where the lines 

 and corners are, you can see for yourself the difficulty in getting 

 on that; it is absolutely necessary for the man to examine this land 

 to know where the lines are so that he may not examine a piece 

 of land adjoining which is very well timbered for the one that he 

 should examine which is next to it, and which is entirely denuded; 

 we haven't hadHime for our force to do it; we expect to put our 

 force on immediately now looking up these lands; it also has been a 

 rather difficult matter, the snows are very deep in the woods, and 

 it isn't a very nice time to examine lands at the present time, 

 for men to go in there and look up the lot lines and the corners in lots 

 of instances where they are down; a great many of those lot lines are 

 , corners, where the corner tree has dropped down, where the corner 

 has been a stake, where you can't very well examine and it has been 

 almost an impossibility for the proper carrying out of the purchase to 

 get at that; myself, individually, would never think of sending a man 

 on there at the present time to look these lands over to find out what 

 they were; if I wanted to buy them individually, and I wouldn't want 

 to do for the State what I wouldn't want to do for myself. 



Q. Substantially all of the applications were of very recent date ? 



A. Very recent date. 



Q. How came many of these applications to be inade to your office? 



