PLSO The Oregon Surveyor November/December 2021

10 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 6 Featured Article Editor’s Note: The following is a Wikipedia article that R. Charles (Chuck) Pearson, PLS brought to the issue. He says he has always been interested in history and was a history major at Portland State University. Several years ago, he was at a Western Federation of Professional Surveyors Board of Directors meeting and one of the members discussed the conflict in the location of the angle point in the middle of Lake Tahoe between California and Nevada. At that time (probably in the 1990s), the “Benson Syndicate” was discussed (which appeared in the previous issue) and Pearson researched it. During that research, he stumbled on the Oregon Land Fraud Scandal. Recently, he went back to find the material for the NACS newsletter and thought that it might also be of interest to Oregon surveyors. T he Oregon land fraud scandal of the early 20th century in- volved U.S. government land grants in the state of Oregon being illegally obtained with the assistance of public offi - cials. Most of Oregon’s U.S. congressional delegation received indictments in the case: U.S. Senator John H. Mitchell and U.S. Representatives John N. Williamson and Binger Hermann, with Senator Charles William Fulton singularly uninvolved. Background In 1870, the Oregon and United States governments granted the Oregon and California Railroad 3.7 million acres (15,000 km2) of land to build a line, from Portland south to California. The land, which was granted in a checkerboard pattern along both sides of the railroad’s right of way, was then sold to settlers in parcels of 160 acres (0.6 km2) at the extremely low price of $2.50 an acre to encourage people to settle along the line, fostering development. 2.4 million acres (9,700 km2) of the original lands were reclaimed by the federal government in 1915, and are managed by the Unit- ed States Bureau of Land Management. Fraud Sincemuch of the landwas unfit for development, it did not attract many settlers. However, the land was very rich in timber, which meant that timber companies would pay much more than $2.50 an acre. To circumvent the requirements of the land grant, Ed- wardHarriman, president of the Southern Pacific Railroad—which then owned the O&C—hired former surveyor Stephen A. Douglas Puter to round up people from saloons in Portland’s waterfront district, escort them to the land office, have them register for an O&C parcel as a settler, and then transfer it to Puter’s men. The accumulated parcels were then sold in large blocks to the highest bidder for timber harvest. Exposure Harriman eventually had a dispute with Puter and fired him. Lat - er, when a lumber company bookkeeper exposed the scheme to an Oregonian reporter; Puter turned on his former boss, testi- fied against him, and wrote a scathing exposé about the scheme while imprisoned, which would become chapters one through 25 of Looters of the Public Domain, (with an additional six chapters written by journalist Horace Stevens). “These looters of the public domain—working with crooked feder- al and state officials—through rascality and fraud, gained title to thousands of acres of valuable, publicly-owned timber lands, and at minimum prices.” –Governor Oswald West. Indictments Initially, more than 1,000 indictments were issued in the case. U.S. District Attorney Francis J. Heney narrowed down the list to the 35 most egregious offenders, including U.S. Senator John H. Mitch - ell, U.S. Representatives John N. Williamson and Binger Hermann. Mitchell Heney charged that Mitchell had illegally used his position to aid a client in the acquisition of patents to fraudulent land claims. Mitch- ell’s law partner and personal secretary both testified against him and, on July 3, 1905, the jury found him guilty. He was sentenced to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine. Mitchell appealed, but before the appeal could be heard, he died from complications as- sociated with a tooth extraction. Mitchell was convicted under Rev. Stat. §1782 (enacted 1864) which prohibited senators and other officials from engaging in compen - sated representation in matters in which the United States was interested. The year before, in an unrelated case, under the same statute, Senator Joseph R. Burton of Kansas had become the first U.S. Senator convicted of a crime. Williamson Williamson’s trial also resulted in conviction for subornation of per- jury in 1905. The prosecution argued that the three defendants had attempted to illegally obtain land claims under the Timber and Stone Act. Williamson appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned the verdict in 1908, because of apparent jury tampering and witness intimidation. Hermann In 1907, Hermann was found not guilty of destroying public doc - uments. His second trial for collusion with the actual land fraud was postponed until 1910, and ended in a hung jury; Heney de - clined to refile charges. Hall Heney also prosecuted JohnHicklinHall, whowas the U.S. Attorney originally chargedwith investigating the case, butwhohadbeenfired, in 1905, by President Theodore Roosevelt for not aggressively pur- suing the investigation. Heney chargedHall with failure toprosecute fraudulent land companies and for using knowledge of the fraudu- lent activities for his own political advantage; a jury convictedHall in 1908. Hall was later pardoned by President WilliamHoward Taft. x Wikipedia contributors, “Oregon land fraud scandal,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oregon_land_fraud_ scandal&oldid=997548671 (accessed May 10, 2021). The Oregon Land Fraud Scandal Congressman John N. Williamson (left), Senator John H. Mitchell (middle), U.S. attorney John Hicklin Hall (top right), and Congressman Binger Hermann (bottom right). Public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons.