father was engineering a big forest reserve scheme somewhere in Eastern Oregon, but was not sufficiently on the inside to know exactly what territory it was proposed to include in the boundaries of the new reserve. The mere suggestion of such a thing was enough for the quick-witted Tarpley, however, and he lost no time in apprising Horace G. McKinley of the situation. The pair went on a still hunt, with the result that they succeeded in unearthing the original map that had been prepared at the Surveyor-General's office, and for a consideration, secured a blue print thereof, thus placing them on an equal footing with those who had already gone to much trouble and expense in starting the ball rolling.
The manner in which Tarpley became aware of the proposed reserve is best told by his testimony while on the witness stand during the trial.
"I first obtained information concerning the proposed reserve in April, 1902, from Captain Ormsby's son, Merritt, in his father's office at Salem," testified Tarpley. "It was contained in a letter from the Commissioner of the General Land Office to the Forest Superintendent. After reading it, I took steps to secure the school sections in the limits of the new reserve as described in the letter. I first made a map of the country, and then went to the State Land Board and looked up the vacant sections, finding about 20,000 acres in that condition. I reported these facts to McKinley here in Portland, and he told me about a man named R. S. Hyde, from Wisconsin, who was stopping here, and who agreed to put up $4,000 in getting hold of the school sections. The next day McKinley, Hyde's son and myself went up to Salem and purchased 16,000 acres of this quantity, paying 25 cents an acre down, the majority of the certificates of sale being left in Hyde's hands as security for the money he had advanced.
"The first 16,000 acres McKinley, Hyde, Merritt Ormsby and myself were interested in, and the other 1,500 acres McKinley and myself owned between us. About May 1, 1902, I was told that Mays wanted to see me. When I called at his office, he told me that he understood that I had bought some lands in the Blue Mountain Forest Reserve. I replied that I had, and he said that they were some he expected to buy, and demanded that I should give him one-half of my certificates. I asked him why, and he replied that it was because of the expense of getting the reserve through. I answered that there were about 200,000 acres of school lands within the limits of the proposed reserve, and if each section was assessed upon the same basis as our lands, the cost of getting it through would have amounted to about v$500,000.
"Later I met W. M. La Force in the Chamber of Commerce building, and he informed me that Mays wanted to see me again. I told Mays that I would give him a sufficient number of the certificates of sale to amount to 50 cents an acre on all the land I owned, or about $8,500. This conversation must have been before the withdrawal. I made this offer without consulting McKinley."
Although getting a late start in the race. McKinley and Tarpley made up considerable ground by rounding up a sufficient number of "dummies" from the favorite North End precincts to embrace 17,500 acres in applications for school lands within the proposed reserve, which were filed by them at the State Land Office in Salem without much ceremony or delay. They would have taken more had the circumstances justified, but as it was, the}^ gobbled up all they could under a hurry order. Even as it was, several thousand dollars was required by McKinley and Tarpley to swing the deal, and in order to raise this amount, it became necessary for McKinley to keep the wires hot in all directions of the country as time was exceedingly valuable about then.
Evidently Mays in some way became cognizant of the fact that there was trouble brewing, as he hurried George Sorenson up to Salem with as much dispatch as possible, equipped with a sufficient quantity of "dummy" applications to cover 44,000 acres of school lands, or practically the entire available area. He arrived too late, however, and met McKinley and Tarpley coming down the steps of the State Land Office with their countenances wreathed in smiles that told their ownPage 351
