Timber Thieves and Stolen Homesteads

Capt. L. G. Randall, of Vancouver, special agent of the United States general land office, is in the city, registered at the hotel. 'My work,' he said, 'consists in looking up fraudulent land entries in this region, as well as the depredations of timber thieves on the unsurveyed lands. This latter class of individuals are usually wealthy mill companies, who get their mill hands to make a bluff at squatting on these lands and set about clearing the land to make improvements. By this they obtain a great amount of timber without paying a cent for it, which works an injustice, not only to future settlers on these lands, but to other mill men who pay for their timber, and timber land owners, who are thus deprived of a market. Another practice of this class of men is to get their men to make a large number of entries in a bunch and to then turn them over to the company, and by that means acquire a large section, oftentimes a whole township, in a solid body. This works a hardship upon bona fide settlers, who have a right to expect that other settlers will in the future locate in his neighborhood, and thus develop a community, with schools, roads and other accessories of civilization. But when he becomes isolated by these wealthy corporations surrounding him with great blocks of land on all sides, his homestead becomes uninhabitable, and he is soon compelled to abandon his claim or to sell it for what the timber monopolists are willing to give him.'