Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/312

294 the missions could claim required actual occupancy at the time of its passage, none of the lands resided upon by the presbyterians were granted to the board except the Waiilatpu claim from which the occupants were excluded by violence and death. Thus, of all the land which the missionaries had taken so much trouble to secure to their societies, and which the organic act was intended to convey, only the blood-stained soil of Whitman's station was ever confirmed to the church, because before 1848 every Indian mission had been abandoned except those of the catholics, who failed to manage well enough to have their claims acknowledged where they might have done so, and who committed the blunder of attempting to seize the land of the Hudson's Bay Company at Vancouver.

Great as was the bounty of the government, it was not an unmixed blessing. It developed rapacity in some places, and encouraged slothful habits among some by giving them more than they could care for, and allowing them to hope for riches from the sale of their unused acres. The people, too, soon fell out with the surveyor-general for taking advantage of his position to exact illegal fees for surveying their claims prior to the public survey, Preston requiring them to bear this expense, and to employ his corps of surveyors. About $25,000 was extorted from the farmers in this way, when Preston was removed on their complaint, and Charles K. Gardiner of Washington city appointed in his place in November 1853.

Gardiner had not long been in office before he followed Preston's example. The people protested and threatened, and Gardiner was obliged to yield. Both the beneficiaries and the federal officer knew that an appeal to the general land office would result in the people having their will in any matters pertaining to their donation. The donation privileges expired in 1855, after which time the public lands were subject