Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/711

Rh on the farm regarded its fertile soil as promising future greatness as an agricultural possibility.

Its remoteness from markets, its lack of transportation facilities or even passable wagon roads to connect it with the older and settled portions of either Oregon or California, were deterring factors in preventing its agricultural development, while its bunch grass covered hills, its native meadows and abundant springs,naturally indicated its adaptability to stock raising; an industry that did not of necessity require transportation other than upon its own legs. Hence its introductory history was that of a stock country only, and as the large stock owners required for their business a free range for their herds, scanty encouragement was given to settlers, who would fence up and improve the land.

The writer was one of the first to demonstrate the agricultural possibilities of the soil; and having no means other than the small sum saved during his two years and eight months service in the army, he very naturally tried to cultivate a little garden, and raise some grain to help defray the cost of living which was necessarily high from the fact that all provisions, clothing, and other supplies, were brought in over the mountains by mule trains, or in wagons, from a long distance. No railroads were then built either in Oregon or California, and the river steamers were the freight handlers to the head of navigation, whence the mule train or the freight wagon were the distributing agents.

The greatest drawbacks in the settlement of the country were not however, the natural obstacles that confronted the settler. These he could overcome and conquer, but the unjust and inefficient land laws that deterred settlement, and which the state authorities made no attempt to remedy, deprived many an honest hardworking family of their home, and discouraged many would be settlers from attempting to make homes in the country.

The first settlers located in the near neighborhood of Link River and the shores of Little Klamath Lake. This land had been surveyed in 1859, by D. P. Thompson and others, when it was far in advance of any prospective settlement. But in those days the surveying of public lands was a very lucrative business, and the contracts were let far in advance of the actual needs of settlement to accommodate administration supporters. As the country was occupied with Indians who, though not actively hostile to the white man, were yet extremely jealous of intrusions into their territory, and resented the marking of their lands, very many of the stakes and monuments were destroyed almost as soon as erected and the surveyors became very careless about the permanency or accuracy of their work. Many of the corner and half-mile posts were simply small branches of trees stuck in the ground with blazed surfaces to receive the survey markings, or a boulder set up on end upon which the symbolic characters were lightly chiseled.

Nearly or quite all of the lands embraced in this early survey had been selected from the field notes as a part of the five hundred thousand acre grant given the state by congress "to aid in internal improvements," but had not been approved as such by the secretary of the interior. The only way to get a recognition of right to these lands was to file an application describing the tract, with the secretary of the state land board, who charged a fee of three dollars ($3.00) for filing the same. Then whenever the state selections were approved the party making the first application could pay one-third of the pur-