19 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org I’ve seen a number of articles about fraudulent PLSS surveys but can’t recall having heard of any in Oregon. Therefore, I was surprised to see Oregon mentioned in an American Surveyor article (“Retracement Surveyor Beware” by Don Wilson in the April 2023 issue). Admittedly, the article mentioned Oregon as having fraud related to the grants, not the surveys, but it was still a surprise. Looters of the Public Domain was mentioned as a first-hand account by one of the fraudsters. I was interested in learning more so went looking for the book. I had assumed it would be difficult to find due to age, but I was in for another surprise. Numerous websites have scanned PDF copies available for free download, plus Amazon and other online booksellers have affordable paper copies. I chose to order a paper copy from Amazon for $17; I received a new book from HardPress Publishing. It is obvious someone had the tedious task of scanning approximately 500 pages from a paper original at the University of California, Berkeley (including the old-school due date slip in the back). Approximately the first two-thirds of the book are an exposé of the frauds perpetrated by S.A.D. Puter and his associates during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The rest of the book appears to be a series of articles by co-author Horace Stevens. The portion written by Puter presented incredible detail regarding trivial things such as which trolley line was ridden, but I still often felt a bit confused about the underlying framework of the circumstances. He evidently wrote with the assumption his audience shared his detailed understanding of the land grant regulations; since I only have a rudimentary understanding, I often felt that I was playing catchup without ever actually catching up. The portion by Stevens was less detailed but I felt he did a better job of explaining the underlying framework. It’s also worth noting that Puter primarily perpetrated frauds in Oregon with some in northern California, whereas Stevens was a government agent investigating frauds, primarily in southern California. Since we’re in Oregon, I’ll focus the rest of this review on the Puter portion of the book. Although well after the Donation Land Claim era, grants at the time of the book’s events were accomplished by the same basic process: reside on and use the land for X years, file a claim, pay a token amount of money, and get title to the land. The frauds, as I understand them, were accomplished by falsifying the claim paperwork to gain title to land on which no one ever lived. In some cases, people were gathered from off the street or out of bars to perjure themselves on the claim paperwork; in other cases, the conspirators created fictitious people and filled out the claim paperwork themselves. The primary aim of the fraud was to collect large amounts of timberland to sell at a higher price to timber companies. In addition to the obvious practice of filing a fraudulent claim on land that was wanted, President Roosevelt’s conservation efforts ironically played into the hands of the fraudsters. When an area was set aside for a federal forest reserve (now our National Forests), affected parties could swap for land outside the reserve. This suited the fraudsters in several ways. The “school sections” (Sections 16 and 36) in the reserve, which would have been available to the state to sell, could no longer be sold, so additional sections outside the reserve were earmarked as school sections. Evidently the process for obtaining a grant from the state was easier to cheat so these new school sections were targeted. The new school sections were generally more attractive due to being more accessible than the typically very rugged areas in the reserves. Similarly, claims that were in process or had been completed on land in a reserve were allowed to transfer their rights to land outside the reserve. Consequently, they would file fraudulent claims in areas with low-quality trees or next-to-impossible access and then lobby for the area to become a reserve so the rights could be transferred to a prime, high-value location. I was surprised, and disappointed, to find out how many prominent citizens were heavily involved in the frauds. Names that especially stuck with me were Senator Mitchell and General W.H. Odell. Senator Mitchell figured prominently in the book due to his critical role helping expedite patents on the fraudulent federal claims. Despite being convicted, he has a town in Wheeler County named after him. General Odell only appeared briefly in the book. He was not part of Puter’s group but instead, via his role with the State Land Office, essentially held public information for “ransom.” As mentioned above, alternative lands were made available to the state to use as school sections to compensate for those Sections 16 and 36 which were within a reserve. To file a claim, fraudulent or legitimate, for these compensation lands, it was necessary to know how much compensation land was still available to claim. General Odell kept this information to himself and demanded a fee to say what information could be put on any particular application. The book did not make it clear if he ever suffered any legal consequences for his actions, but he now has an unincorporated community, a creek, a lake, and a butte named after him. There were portions of the book that I enjoyed, but there was a lot that I stubbornly slogged through because I had already decided to write this article. The book has minimal relevance to modern surveying but I recommend it for anyone interested in survey history, especially those who already have an understanding of the regulations for filing various types of claims in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The summary here represents my best understanding of the book’s information. If anyone out there has a more thorough understanding, I’m sure we would all benefit from a follow-up article that addresses my shortcomings. Renee Clough is a Pleasant Hill resident who has been working in the civil engineering and land surveying industry since achieving her BS in civil engineering in 2001 from Oregon State University. She is an OSBEELS board member. By Renee Clough, PLS, PE, AICP Looters of the Public Domain: Embracing a Complete Exposure of the Fraudulent Systems of Acquiring Titles to the Public Lands of the United States By Stephen A. Douglas Puter Book Review
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