Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/31

 completed his part of the contract, but the Commissioner of the General Land Office suspended the survey for the reason that sufficient funds had not been appropriated to cover all contracts of this character. Mr. Meldrum's contract, however, was approved in 1891, and sufficient funds appropriated for the purpose, so it became necessary for him to re-survey the land.

While Meldrum was engaged in doing this. Jones and myself met him on the laiid on several different occasions, and we entered into a contract with him, whereby we agreed to pay him $5 each for inserting in the field notes of the survey and on the plats, the names of all the homesteaders located on the land by us, Jones and I agreeing to furnish the names of the claimants, and the description of the land each one was to file on.

Mr. Meldrum complied with his part of the contract, and inserted all of the names that we gave him in the field notes of the survey, as well as on the official plat of each township. Our reasons for wanting these names inserted in the field notes and on the plats, was in order to keep other locators from rushing in and settling on the land after the acceptance of the survey; actual settlers in a township having a preference right for ninety days after an official survey has been made, and the plats thereof filed in the local land office. We also wanted to make it appear that our homesteaders were bona-fide settlers, and were living on the land prior to survey.

Now, as we had the cabins all built, and notice was posted on the land showing the name of the claimant, and describing the particular quarter section that he claimed, and his name appearing in the field notes, it was not at all likely that any one would squat on the claims; so it only remained for us to wait until the survey was approved by the United States vSurveyor-General and the township thrown open to entry.

While waiting for the land to come into market, which would not be until November, 1892, Jones and I concluded to make an abstract of the State school land for the purpose of ascertaining how much, if any, indemnity lands the State of Oregon was entitled to. This rec[uired about two months' work in the State Land Office at Salem. We found several thousand acres still subject to use as lieu by the State, and this base we sold at the rate of $2.50 per acre, which, after paying the State price of $1.25 an acre for the land embraced in the selection, netted us $1.25 per acre profit.

The rule of the State Land Board at that time was that any person who should indicate to the Clerk of the School Land Board where there was any indemnity land that the State was yet entitled to, would be allowed to select the same amount of Government land within the State that was vacant. Under those conditions, Jones and I were doing a land office business in State indemnity lands, until trouble arose between us, and we dissolved partnership.

This was in the Fall of 1892, and the cause of dissolution of partnership arose from the fact that Jones made a proposition to take Geo. W. Davis, Clerk of the State Land Board at Salem, in with us on all State Land business that we put through the State Land Office, the idea being, that by so doing we could monopolize all of the State indemnity lands, and shut E. P. McCornack, Jack D'Arcy, and W. T. Rader out of all the indemnity business, especially E. P. McCornack, he being the principal operator. These three, aside from Jones and myself, were the only dealers in State indemnity lands at that time in the State of Oregon.

Jones' proposition was to pay Davis fifty cents per acre for all the indemnity lands put through. This I objected to, as Davis was working with us then, and doing everything we required for less than half that amount, and as the profits were only $1.25 an acre, fifty cents was too much to pay him. Besides, I did not think we could shut E. P. McCornack out, as he was too big a fish, and too old at the game.

Jones, however, did not view the matter in the same light, and insisted that Davis must have fifty cents per acre on all indemnity lands, and claimed to Page 25