of records exhibiting a full and complete list of all indemnity due the State from the United States by reason of loss to the school sections in various townships. Upon inquiry, McCornack informed me that his charges for this "lieu" was $1.25 an acre, making the cost of State selections under the indemnity system $2.50 an acre. The whole thing impressed me as a graft, pure and simple, with Napoleon Davis standing in with McCornack on the deal; but as I wanted the lands, I paid the extra $1.25 an acre without murmuring, and was given the certificates of purchase by McCornack after the selections had been made through him.
This system of procuring timber lands worked like a charm, from a financial point of view as well as avoiding the possibility of contact with the Government in connection with the Homestead, Pre-emption, or Timber and Stone Acts, notwithstanding the fact that I felt I had been gulled by McCornack. Before leaving his office I ascertained that the latter held a close monopoly upon all the available base in the State, and that it was useless to try and do business along those lines without paying his toll. In this he was greatly aided by Clerk Davis, who insisted that, inasmuch as he had kept no records of the indemnity lands, he had no idea as to the quantity thereof due the State by the Government. This seemed rather "raw" to me, so I determined to make a personal examination of the records with a view of ascertaining how much base was left.
Within a very short time I unearthed several thousand acres of available base in the Klamath Indian Reservation. Securing enough applications to cover this amount, I designated it as the basis of my selections, and requested Clerk Davis to file my applications. At this I was met by his assurance that while the base indicated had not been used, there were a sufficient number of applications on file in the office to exhaust the same. Upon examining the applications in question, I discovered that they were mere "dummy" applications filed by McCornack to cover up the base. Going still further into the matter, I ascertained that McCornack had been playing this game since the Act of 1887 was passed, practically running the State Land Office of Oregon in pretty much the same fashion as that pursued by Hyde and Benson with the State Land Office of California. It appeared that Davis was a mere tool in the hands of McCornack.
So many complaints came to the Land Board about Davis, in fact, that on on August 1, 1891, he was removed from office, and George W. Davis appointed to the vacancy. Just before being ousted, however, Napoleon Davis persuaded the State Land Board to issue an order requiring all applicants for unsurveyed school sections to deposit with the Clerk of the Land Office one-third of the purchase price on agricultural lands, and one-half on timber lands. At that time there were applications of this character on file aggregating fully 200,000 acres, upon which no cash deposit had been made. Immediately after the Board had made this order, Davis notified all applicants to either pay up within thirty days or else sufl:'er the cancellation of their applications. The result was that upward of $100,000 was deposited with the clerk within the period specified. This money was not deposited in the State Treasury, however, as the law provides, but instead was transferred to McCornack's private bank in Salem, Davis giving his personal receipt therefor.
Upon his retirement as Clerk of the Land Board, Napoleon Davis established an office in McCornack's bank, and acted as attorney for the applicants, securing the issuance of deeds and certificates from the State for considerable land. As I had filed some forty or fifty applications myself on unsurveyed School tracts, and being desirous of procuring title to them, I consulted Napoleon Davis relative to his charges on each quarter section, and was assured that it would amount to $10 in each case. Regarding this as another hold-up proposition, I concluded to see George W. Davis, and endeavor to obtain title without the aid of Napoleon. The Clerk of the Land Board declined to have anything to do with the applications, claiming that Napoleon was attending to them, and that I would have to deal with him. After negotiating with the latter for quite a while,
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