The Pacific Monthly
How to Take Up a Timber Claim
By R. H. Kennedy
THE law that has made it possible for so many people to acquire possession of timber
lands in the Northwest for
speculative purposes was
passed by Congress in 1878, and distinctly stated that land secured under its provisions was not for speculation. At first it applied only to the States
of California, Oregon, Washington
and Nevada, but an amendment in 1892
extended its scope to all public land
states. The intention of this law was
to open to public use mountainous land
unfit for cultivation and valuable chiefly for its timber, which could not be settled under the homestead law. But its provisions have not always been clearly understood by persons seeking
timber claims, nor always insisted upon
by officials of the land office. It is
the purpose of this article to show the
requirements of this law and to note
some phases of its workings in the
States of the Northwest.
Under the homestead law only heads of families, or unmarried persons over twenty-one years of age, can make application for land. But the privileges of the timber law are extended to every adult citizen of the United States. But no person can secure title to more than 160 acres, and this must be all in one body. The Government price for land available under this act is uniformly
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A TWELVE-FOOT FIR AND ITS DESTROYERS
A man to each foot,
Copyright, 1901. by Darius Kinsey, Sedro-Woolley
$2.50 per acre, besides incidental fees.
After one has secured a location, with the assistance of an experienced
EDITOR'S NOTE: — This is the third in the series of articles on the forests and the lumber industry of the Pacific Northwest. The first article, by John Muir, on the Forests of Oregon, appeared in the issue of June, 1902, The second, on the Forests of Washington, and by the same author, was in the October, 1902, number. Other phases of the same topic will be treated in subsequent months. It may be added that Mr. Kennedy, the author of this month's article, is himself a practical "timber cruiser." and his statements are authoritative.
