either by reason of being; included in an Indian or Military reservation, returned as mineral in character, or taken under the homestead laws of the United States by a settler before approval of the survey by the United States Surveyor-General, the State is entitled to indemnity therefor, and can select other vacant Government lands in lieu thereof. By reason of the fact that the "base" thus created is available in exchange for other lands, it is clothed with an increased valuation, and at present such base lands are worth $8.50 an acre in Oregon, and are sold by the State Land Board at that figure.
In the case of the school sections within the limits of the proposed Blue Mountain Forest Reserve, however, the situation was different. These sections—or a large majority of them—had been surveyed by the Government and were "in place"—that is, subject to sale direct by the State, and at that time could not be used as the basis of selection for lands belonging to the United States. Inasmuch as a large percentage of the school sections within the limits of the proposed reserve were of comparatively small intrinsic value, being mostly "culls" and worthless tracts, they were still vacant, or unappropriated, and it was principally with reference to these lands that the indictment in the Blue ^Mountain Forest Reserve case had to do. The only way these tracts could be made available for use as base in making an indemnity selection would be through their purchase from the State by an applicant before the creation of the reserve, and after securing a deed from the State, to then transfer them to the United States and select other lands in lieu thereof. In this respect the school sections would be on the same footing, in the matter of exchange with the Government under the Forest Reserve lieu land Act of June 4, 1897, as any other patented tract, and the holders of title would have then been permitted to make an exchange with the Government for any of its vacant lands elsewhere. The Act of June 4. 1897 was repealed before the Blue Mountain Forest Reserve was finally established, hence the scheme of the conspirators in that regard was defeated, but it accounts for their desperate efforts to secure the creation of the reserve, as there were approximately 44,000 acres of school lands still unappropriated within the borders of the proposed reservation, and these lands could have been purchased from the State at that time for $1.25 an acre, by any qualified person making application for 320 acres. By reason of the system of exchange already described, wherein the tracts thus secured were worth from $5 to $7 an acre as lieu, it is easy to understand the motives that controlled those behind the plot to have the reserve created, as it was simply an attempt to legalize a method of trading silver dollars for twenty dollar gold pieces.
The evidence at the trial of the now famous Blue Mountain Forest Reserve case developed the fact that F. P. Mays owned a ranch in Tygh Valley, Wasco County, Oregon, and that on July 1, 1901, he had engineered a scheme—through Senator Mitchell—to have a small addition made to the Cascade Forest Reserve. It was shown also, that eventually Mays acquired title to all the vacant school lands in this addition, and the venture proved so successful and profitable that he conceived the plan of having a much larger reserve created. Proceeding upon this idea, a great many "dummy" applicants were procured from the "North End," a notorious district of Portland, who filed applications covering about 44.000 acres of the 16th and 36th sections that were known to fall within the limits of the proposed reserve.
The scheme looked so good to those concerned that eventually Willard X. Jones and H. A. Smith (since deceased) were taken into partnership. as it was believed by Mays that there was plenty to go around among his close friends, and it required considerable united effort to handle such a large project as that contemplated.
In furtherence of the conspiracy, a map was prepared at the United States Surveyor-General's office in Portland, upon which was outlined the borders of the proposed reserve. A blueprint from this map was taken by Smith to Vale, Oregon, where he was met, according to a prior arrangement, by A. G. King, Page 348
