400 



A. We deemed it unwise to make the exchange which he proposed; 

 we thought, among other things, that these lands of Kurd's and the 

 State, which formed a sort of checker board, small parcels of State 

 and Hurd, and Hurd and State alternately holding small parcels, 

 served to protect the forest from the extension of his railroad system 

 through there. 



Mr. Adams. — What was Hurd's first name ? 



A. John. 



Q. And the commission were opposed to the extension of that rail- 

 road for the reasonb you have given before ? 



A. Yes, sir. 



Q. What did you do? 



A. Then, besides, as has been stated in Mr. Basselin's testimony, I 

 think we ascertained he was embarrassed; there were heavy mort- 

 gages on his property, and we deemed it unwise to encourage the 

 proposition; it was never made in a formal manner under the act. 



Q. What action was taken with reference to it, and what subsequent 

 action was taken with regard to exchanges ? 



A. A resolution was passed at that time that in our opinion it would 

 be unwise to make any exchanges under the . act of 1887, commonly 

 called the Hadley bill. 



Q. That was subsequently rescinded for what reasons ? 



A. I can give the reasons that operated on my mind and influenced 

 my action; in the first place, I will premise my remarks by saying 

 that the first proposition from the Everton Land' Company, which was 

 the first proposition after the Hurd offer that we acted upon, the first 

 proposition that was made to us, I should think, in 1888, was for an 

 exchange of aboiat 7,000 acres of land, acre for acre; I couldn't see 

 any reason, nor could the commission, why we should exchange acre 

 for acre; we gained nothing by it and I opposed it; after the presen- 

 tation of the Governor's message, it seemed to me that the policy of 

 the State would be changed, and that in the place of a mere forest 

 preserve that a park would be constructed; the offer was modified and 

 I saw my colleagues; an opportunity of acquiring a large tract of 

 land by the surrender of a very much smaller one in a section which 

 would not be included within the limits of the park; before that 

 time, while we had merely a preserve, if refused, these offers to exchange 

 land which was useful for lumbering purposes, for lands which were 

 inaccessible, we were not doing our duty by the State, because if we 

 refused we would have our own lands and the lands of these persons 

 who desired to exchange with us; I. thought that was all changed 

 after the reception of the Governor's message, and I was willing then, 



