Land Office, requesting him to obtain personal affidavits from the homesteaders, with reference to their improvements, cultivation and residence on their claims. Loomis added that, inasmuch as he was acquainted with the character of the improvements on the claims, and knew practically what was required in the nature of affidavits by the Department, he had already prepared a lot, and asked me to round up the twelve homesteaders and have them appear before him for the purpose of attesting the same.
I immediately notified Mrs. Emma L. Watson, Nellie Backus, Thos. R. Wilson and Frank H. Walgamot, whom I found in the city, what would be required of them, and at the same time, I wired to San Francisco to "Geo. L. Pettis" and Maud Witt, to come to Portland, and upon their arrival, an appointment was made with Dr. Loomis at his rooms in the Imperial Hotel, where all of the above-named persons met and signed the affidavits, certifying to the improvements of the other six entrymen who were not present, some of whom, they declared, were out of the State, while others were out of the United States.
Some months after this, "Lookout" Tarpley informed me that he had heard, through Merritt Ormsby, a son of Captain Salmon B. Ormsby, Superintendent of the Cascade Forest Reserve, that the Commissioner of the General Land Office had instructed his father to go up into Township "11-7" and make an examination of the improvements and cultivation of these twelve homesteaders, and to ascertain, through affidavits of disinterested persons living near by, as to what they knew of the homesteaders, together with their improvements and residence on the claims.
As I was not acquainted with Capt. Ormsby, I concluded to try and work the old man through his son, Merritt, so I had Mrs. Emma L. Watson go to the Wells Fargo Bank of Portland, purchase a draft in the sum of $500, and indorse it to the order of Merritt Ormsby. I then went up to Salem and had a talk with the young man, telling him that if he could induce his father to go at once into Township "11-7," and make an examination of those twelve homestead claims and return a favorable report thereon, that I would pay him $500 as soon as the patents issued. At the same time, I flashed the $500 draft in full view, and told him that I would put it up in escrow, if he so desired. He promised to see his father right away, and the next day informed me he had had a talk with the old gentleman, who had consented to go on the trip without delay.
During my interview with young Ormsby, I impressed upon him the advisability of having his father correspond with Special Agent Loomis, with a view of meeting the latter before making the trip to "11-7," and in case he could not meet Dr. Loomis personally, to have his father endeavor to secure a copy of the Loomis report to the Commissioner, bearing upon the subject of these homestead entries, and which report, he had but recently forwarded to Washington, as I believed it would be of great benefit to his father, in view of the fact that Dr. Loomis had made a personal and thorough examination of the twelve claims prior to making his report.
I then sent "Lookout" Tarpley with Captain Ormsby to Detroit, and posted Tarpley, before leaving, in regard to Loomis' report and of Heidecke's connection therewith, instructing him to have the latter do about the same for Ormsby as he had done for Loomis, at the same time, handing Tarpley sufficient funds to entertain Ormsby in a befitting manner, settle the bills in general, and in addition, in view of the fact that the severe winter storms were probably wearing heavily on my old friend Heidecke, and believing that he would appreciate a little remembrance, I handed him a bill of respectable denomination to be given the erstwhile mountaineer.
Upon arriving at Detroit, Tarpley lost no time in advising Heidecke of the situation, at the same time presenting to him the greenback I had entrusted to his care for that purpose. The result was, the necessary affidavits were obtained from the different so-called disinterested persons, living in and about Detroit, in regard to the residence and improvements of the twelve alleged
