Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/131

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

THE QUARTERLY

OF THE

Oregon Historical Society.



Volume XI
JUNE, 1910
Number 2


[Copyright, 1910, by Oregon Historical Society]

[The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to Its pages.]

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OREGON—III

OREGON'S PUBLIC DOMAIN

THE SALE OF OREGON'S LANDS

CHAPTER II—Continued.

Selection of Indemnity Lands Merged With Sale of Them.

So far in this sketch of Oregon's experience with its public lands attention has been directed to the steps taken by successive Oregon legislative assemblies and state administrations to secure complete titles to the lands inuring to the state under the different grants by the national government. This initial effort of fully acquiring its public domain, though not necessary in connection with the fundamental portion of the common school grant, was with the other grants quite a distinct phase of the state's management of its landed estate. There was selecting to do, too, of school lands when it came to making up for losses suffered out of the original grant of one-eighteenth of the whole territory of the state.

But the selection of lieu or indemnity lands in compensation to the state for any whole or part of sections sixteen and thirty- six that it failed to get was regularly slurred by the state. The