1887 marks the turnAgain, we find as a

in the history of Oregon's land policy. ing point from the earlier to the later. subdivision in the earlier a decided balk in legislation and administration that was a fit precursor of the great slump that the second on the whole exhibits. In the later, if it is taken to come down to the present, there has come a decidedly reassuring turn of events, first a temporary recovery and then a lasting one of a much higher plane. In the earlier it was the swamp land act of 1870 with the pusillanimous recognition of claims under it by administrations in the eighties that makes a dark blot upon an otherwise fairly creditable handling of the states resources down to 1887. In the later the state's retrieval of itself was temporary from 1895 to 1899, mainly the work of a worthy state land agent, and permanently since 1903.

As already intimated, it has been Oregon's unwavering aim to get its state lands as rapidly as possible into private hands and under cultivation. Every acre as soon as the state had title, and quite too frequently even when it had only slight basis for expecting to secure it, was on the market. During the earlier decades the price on all except the swamp lands was quite commonly determined by appraisal; later the rule was to sell at a nominal figure (1887 to 1895); and more recently, from 1903 on, at a fixed price approximating actual value.

Features of the early laws that indicated an aim to keep the holdings of the individual restricted to areas he could actually cultivate and to bar purchase of lands for speculation were as follows:

(1) Preference was given to the "actual settler" in reserving lands for his purchase alone for six months, and in giving him the privilege of securing 320 acres while other purchasers could get only 160 acres.

(2) Purchase indirectly by the speculator through a "dummy" was weakly discouraged in the requirement of an affidavit that the purchase was made only for the benefit of

purchaser and that no agreement, express or implied, for the sale of it existed. A pious fraud this was and stimulator to wholesale perjury, for in 1878 it was followed up by the right granted to assign the certificates of sale. The assignee could have land deeded to him by the state without limit on paying the amounts due on the certificates he presented.

Oregon began her land business while still a territory. Congress, in providing for the organization of the territory, August 14, 1848, had made the grant for the common schools; in the first act providing for the survey of lands in Oregon and for making donations to its settlers, known as the "donation land law", the university grant had been made. The first sale of lands by the territory was at a public auction, August 1st, 1854, of some university lands.1 The sale of common school lands was begun two years later, also to "highest bidder".

The minimum price of the university lands after the first sales in 1854 was fixed at four dollars an acre and retained at that figure during the remainder of the territorial period.2 This prohibited sales and was part of the tactics for laying the whole matter of establishing a university on the table. The minimum price of the common school lands was placed at two dollars except that lands which had been twice offered at public sale might then be sold at $1.25 an acre.3 The amount of the university fund accumulated dring the territorial period was $5,793.60. An act of the territorial legislature of 1857 provided for the distribution of the common school fund among the several counties. No reports of county officials are extant giving the condition of the fund at the time of the admission of the state.1

1 Report of University Land Commissioner, pp. 45-8 App. to H. J.

2 Statutes of Oregon Territory, fifth and sixth regular sessions, pp. 566-7.

3 Laws of Oregon Territory, seventh regular sess., pp. 69-71.

4 Laws of Oregon Territory, ninth regular sess., pp. 43-5.

During the first half-dozen years under the state government the public interest in the state's lands received scant attention. Private individuals were able to get an extension of time in the payment of sums due on school lands bought and others secured confirmation of titles to school land tracts.1 Not until 1864 was there any law prescribing the powers and Iduties of the constitutional "board of commissioners for the sale of school and university lands and for the investment of the funds arising therefrom". It required another act two years later before this board seemed to be able to take hold of its task.2

The territorial method of sale to highest bidder, while not wholly discarded when selling was renewed, rarely brought sale prices above the statutory minimum. It was, however, impracticable to fix a uniform price for the lands of the different grants. For the swamp and the tide lands not only were special terms of valuations necessary, but also other special conditions of sale. As the lands of the internal improvement grant and those of the agricultural college grant were located in solid blocks in widely separated portions of the state with conditions as to altitude, climate and accessibility quite distinct the terms and conditions fixed for the disposing of them would advisedly be different from those governing the sale of common school and university lands that lay scattered and close in around the settlements. But as sales and settlement progressed and only scattered remnants of the several grants remained, all becoming about equally accessible, the adoption of fixed and uniform terms for all lands in a free and easy state policy would be quite likely.

Dual Line of Officials and Irresponsibility in Oregon's Land Department-The administrative agency upon which the people of Oregon have relied for the handling of their heritage of public lands is now known as the "state land board". The makers of the state constitution selected the governor, secretary of state and state treasurer to constitute this board. They 1 Laws of Oregon Territory, first regular sess., p. 82; pp. 105-6.

2 Acts and Resolutions of Leg. Assem., fourth regular sess., pp. 27-30.

also had in mind that the proceeds from all state lands should be devoted only to purposes of education. The internal improvement grant was, subject to the approval by Congress of this step, to be diverted to this purpose. Accordingly this board was in the state constitution designated as "a board of commissioners for the sale of school and university lands and for the investment of funds arising therefrom". This board was subsequently given charge of the work of disposing of the agricultural college lands and of the non-educational grants later accruing to the state. How unfortunate this arrangement proved will appear presently. The volume of land business increased about as the own proper functions of each one of these state officials expanded to engross his attention.. Their responsibilities as members of the state land board were shifted to an irresponsible "clerk". Either the land laws and the conditions under which the successive clerks served paralyzed the powers and virtues of these clerks or the state had a long run of exceedingly ill-luck in that line of officials.

While on the subject of the administrative corps for the care of the people's interest in state's public lands, the relation to the state land board and its clerk to the work of another state land official should be mentioned. The governor has from 1862 on been the "land commissioner for the state of Oregon and empowered and directed to locate all the lands to which the state is entitled". He was authorized to employ at first temporarily an agent acquainted with the section of the state in which it was proposed to make selections'. From 1878 on there has been a permanent locating agent who in 1895 became known as the "state land agent?". But it has not been the practice of the state to rely upon this official exclusively for the work of selecting state lands. At first county super

1 The "General Laws" of the first regular session, 1860, contain a statute signed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate but not approved by the Governor. This authorizes the Governor to select lands and to employ a suitable person or persons to assist him but makes no provision for their compensation. General Laws, 1862, pp. 105-7.

2 Laws of Oregon, tenth regular sess., 1878, pp. 41-55.

intendents were called upon to select indemnity school lands. As early as 1866 intending purchasers, too, were granted the privilege of securing lands at the minimum price for reporting to the governor lands that were approved as indemnity selections'. From 1887 to 1895, though the governor was authorized to employ a locating agent, the selection of lieu lands. as well as the designating of "base" devolved almost if not quite entirely upon the intending purchaser2. This arrangement was fraught with fraud and trouble to the state. Though fully exposed by the state land agent Davenport, of 18951899, there was a reversion to the old practices from 1899 to 1903. This dual line of state land officials, with their respective functions, the state land agent representing the governor in selecting and caring for the lands of the state and the state land board for selling them and caring for the proceeds, needs to be clearly kept in mind if the tangled skein of the state's land transactions is to be straightened out.

Sale of Oregon School and University Lands-The sale of Oregon lands by the state land board began in 1867. It was acting under the law of 1866 providing for the sale of school lands. Soon after the passage of this law, the board reports, "numerous applications for the purchase of school lands came in" and, in many instances, from several parties for the same tracts, and it soon became evident the only method to adopt, in justice to the school fund and to the parties desirous of purchasing, would be to offer all the school lands at public sale

.the minimum price was fixed at $2.00 per acre; terms one-third down for farming and grazing land, and one-half down for land chiefly valuable for timber, with interest on deferred payments at the rate of ten per cent payable semiannually.. It is noticeable, however, that notwithstanding the method of sale to highest bidder the abstracts of

1 General Laws, fourth regular sess., 1866, pp. 27-30.

2 "Base" or "basis" used in connection with accounts of procedures and transactions pertaining to lieu or indemnity lands designates "those parts of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections in each township which have been otherwise appropriated under the laws of the United States, and for which the state is permitted by the general government to take land in lieu."