in the endeavor to induce him to take my cases at half price, or $5 per quarter section, and failing to do so, I called upon Secretary of State George W McBride, and explained the situation to him. No sooner had McBride become aware of what was going on than he sent for Clerk Davis and demanded an explanation, with the result that it was ascertained that certificates and deeds had, without authority, been issued by the State to fully 20,000 acres of unsurveyed school lands. The Secretary of State thereupon laid the matter before the next meeting of the School Land Board, and in consequence an order was made by that body instructing the Clerk not to issue any more titles of this character. This ruling proved disastrous not only to Napoleon Davis, but to myself, as it prohibited me from obtaining this prima facie evidence of title to about 8,000 acres of unsurveyed school lands, besides cutting Napoleon Davis out of his graft in the shape of $10 fees.
At all events, the remaining applications together with the money deposited thereon, continued in the possession of Napoleon Davis, who seemed to have been well-named, so far as his financial ability was concerned. When the land upon which these applications had been filed were surveyed by the Government, it was found in almost every instance that there was an actual settler upon each tract of school land, and as these claimants, under the United States laws had a preference right for ninety days after the approval of the survey in which to initiate their claims, the State applicant was left out in the cold, and whatever titles were procured through Napoleon Davis were absolutely valueless. All the applicant could do under the circumstances was to surrender his receipt to the Clerk of the Land Board, who would refund the amount paid thereon, while those who had failed to secure certificates were obliged to look to Napoleon Davis for their money. A large percentage of this money remained in McCornack's bank for a number of years, and I venture that several thousand dollars are still there, for the reason that the applicant had either left the country or lost his receipt. Their applications, never having been filed in the State Land Office, were without legal standing, consequently the only available recourse for the applicant placed in this position was to quietly submit to the loss of his money.
Li a preceding chapter mention is made of the fact that during the Winter and Spring of 1891 and 1892, Willard N. Jones and myself undertook to make an abstract of the State indemnity lands with a view of determining the amount of basis the State was yet entitled to. The idea occurred to us at that time, because of the removal of Napoleon Davis from office, and the appointment of George W. Davis to succeed him, that the latter, being unacquainted with the duties of the office, would be an easy mark. We reasoned that there was a chance for us to get in and break up McCornack's monopoly on the sale of State lieu. Our deductions proved correct, as we won George W. Davis over in short order by agreeing to whack up with him on the commissions derived from the sale of this basis. In consequence Napoleon Davis and McCornack were shut out completely from gaining control of any new basis that had not already been gobbled up by them.
Our work in this connection occupied something like three months, during which period we made a complete search of the State Land Office records. This investigation revealed the fact that shortly after the Act of 1887 went into effect, the Umatilla Indian Reservation was thrown open for the selection of basis, and 16,980.03 acres had been used therein; that in 1888 the Klamath Reservation was ready, and the lieu sharks got 63.011.94 acres from that source; in 1889 the Grand Ronde Reservation afforded them 6,065.14 acres more, and in the same year the Siletz Reservation became ripe, with an additional 10.864.14 acres. Then in 1891 the Warm Springs Reservation yielded 36,643.66 acres, making in the aggregate the snug amount of 133,564.91 acres of basis, for which lieu land purchasers were mulcted to the probable extent of $250,000 for services which under the present management of State lands would not have cost them a cent, according to the first biennial report of State Land Agent T. W. Davenport, made in 1897 to W. P. Lord, Governor of Oregon.
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