The Government Wants the Timber Back: 24 Homesteaders Fight for Their Claims

U. S. Commissioner S. W. Rogers on Monday began the hearing of the cases instituted by the National Forest officials against homesteaders in the LeClerc Creek basin, on the west side of the Pend Oreille river, in Townships 36 and 37, Range 45. Most of these homesteaders had made final proof on their claims, but during the past few months adverse reports against the granting of patents have been filed by the Forest Service after investigations by officers of the service.

The adverse reports are based on the grounds of insufficient residence, improvements or cultivation. The lands included in these homesteads are said to carry some of the best timber in this section and are very valuable. The district in which they are located was thrown into the Priest River National Forest by President Roosevelt, Feb. 2, 1907.

Twenty-four of these contests are to be heard at the rate of one per day. H. J. Brown, special agent for the land office, is acting as prosecuting attorney, and N. D. Walling and Chas. T. Goodsell, of Spokane, are acting as attorneys for the defendants. W. F. Staley, of Portland, Oregon, special agent for the Forest Service, who investigated the homesteads, is one of the witnesses, and the defendants are introducing a large number of witnesses to testify as to their good faith in the matter and character of the improvements and cultivation they have made.