Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/359

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George Sorenson, one of the defendants in the Blue Mountain Forest Reserve case

Ormsby managed to get in out of the wet also by realizing a net profit of $1,000 on the two pieces that had been donated him by Mays and Jones out of their kindness of heart.

It was the understanding that Senator Mitchell was to receive 2,000 acres for his services in expediting the creation of the reserve, and it is thought that Binger Hermann's stand-in with Mitchell in this connection formed the basis of the indictment that was returned against the ex-Land Commissioner by the Federal Grand Jury. At all events, Hermann ^nd Williamson are soon to be tried under this indictment, Williamson's alleged activity in assisting in the promotion of the reserve being the chief reason for his connection with the criminal proceeding. The creation of the reserve was strongly opposed by the adjacent stockraisers, as well as the mining interests of the different counties affected by its boundaries, and they enlisted the services of Ex-Senator McBride with a view of defeating the measure. On July 27, 1902, Joseph Simon, then a United States Senator from Oregon, wrote a strong letter to Commissioner Hermann on behalf of a number of constituents, protesting against the inclusion in any reserve of certain lands in Malheur County.


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