The Price of Innocence in a Federal Land Dispute
A Loomis resident finds himself fined by government agents for buying timber that he didn't know was illegally cut.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
E. W. Pember, one of the old timers of Loomis, spent a couple of days in Oroville the latter part of last week. Mr. Pember was the victim of a singular circumstance that was causing him much trouble and considerable expense. He was under the espionage of a special land agent, who was sent in by the land department to collect from him something over $100 for stove wood cut on the public domain. Mr. Pember did not cut the wood, and hence was guilty of no wrong doing. The laws governing the protection of timber are peculiar, as well as strict. Not only is the man who actually cuts lumber or wood on the public domain held accountable, but the damage assessed can be collected from anyone who innocently buys that lumber or wood. Mr. Pember bought the wood from parties who afterwards left the country, and sold it to consumers in Loomis. As the government officials could not jump on the real trespassers, they did the next thing within their power: they nailed Mr. Pember. This is tough on the innocent purchaser, but he had to dig up just the same.
“The laws governing the protection of timber are peculiar, as well as strict.”
This 1909 incident highlights the often arbitrary nature of federal resource law enforcement in remote boomtowns. Today, disputes over land-use regulations and the complexities of local supply chains continue to cause friction between federal agencies and small-town entrepreneurs.
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