. Tfi L?$LTB S T A T 3 OF J A ~ ~ I C i ~ , a.

Defendant.

Decided: July 6, 1959

The Cornissicr! rz!tes the fol7oving findir.;.~ of f a c t ~i:?ich are sucple- . -

n ~ n t a l t o the fil%in;s nx1~3ered 1 t o 2C, inclv.slve, heretofore mde h e r e b :

21. 'he Corraission hss ea r l i e r i n this case deci&eci t h z t pe t i t i one r

herein, '!hi Duxanis'n Trile, held akoriginaf I n d i a ti Lle t o c e r t a i n lan6s

- i n what is notr t h e State of Lbsfihgton lrrhich vere ceded t o t h e Gnited S ta t e s

by the Treaty oL' J a ~ a r y 22, 1855, 1 2 Stat . 927, a ~ d t h z t Yne United S t a t e s

extingcisked. p t i t F o n ~ r ' s Indim t i t l e to said lam% on 3krch 8, 1859,

the effect ive date of tke 'Ureaty ( 5 Ind. C1 . Corx. 117 ) . The l ads Tound

to have been exclusively used an6 occugied by the Duxamish Icdi2-ns a r e s e t

273 s i s% of 5 & , 7 9 ~ acres. ihc s ~ b j e c t t r a c t is a r ~ r o s i m t e Z y 13 a i l e s i n i t s

half t o fourteen ni les . Tne southern portion o? the D ~ x a i s h t r a c t i s

of ti-i Cedar River 'in its ccwse Lhzough the t r a c t i s nzzrror; a36 r s t h c r deep-

l y e~ t recched ; the val ley of the hiamis'n i s low m-d flat-Sottoned xitii

inadequate &rainage, resu.lting in r r . 7 xarsh -and s i ~ ~ ~ ~ y ' meas, About 14,;

of t5e h n d s of the subject t r a c t are located i-? these r i v e r -;alleys a d

the rexainder 'of t h e t r a c t is mde up of a succession of r a the r steep, ramded

h i l l s u?d ridges, x ' i tn iilevatlons :risin: from sea l e x l t o 4CC fee t . Xuch

of tke coast l ine of the t r ac t rages fron vcry abrupt t o sheer c l i f f s . From

Point Fully north for a &stance of three or four miles the t e r r a in l i f t s

t o a heizht of 250 f e e t within an eighth of a r i l e of the shoreline, a d

from Four Yrile Rock .southward t o .SrLt,fits .Cove f o r a distance of =ore t h m a -.

n i l e tile s f i o r ~ l k e presents a sheer clsf towering a2pro;cimtely 2CO f e e t

abo7re the:-~aters of Puget Somd, C e d a Biver tras not navigzble, IThSe t h e

/

s t r u c k d ha nxmerous smZs .it r

(b) The clkii i te of the area is controlled by the r n d e r ~ t ~ g in-

23. The l a d i n t h e s f ~ j e c t t r z c t i s c lass i f ied as fo1lo;;s: ,

..... 3ottom or Potential Agricullmal Land 7,555 acres Access~~ole TinSerlznd ..................... 31,35C acres ................... Inaccess ib~e Tirnberl~nd l!~,525 acres bland Ziter .............................. 1,360 acres

2k. The slowness of settlement of the Puget Sound area pr ior t o the

1i38C1s can be at t r ibuted t o i ts shysic& inacd&s533-ity and t i e lack of

transpmtation f a c i l i t i e s . A s or" 1559 all the co rnmi t i e s of western ash-

ington were vir%&Lly dependent upon water tr&s?ortation, There were few

roads and 'no railroads i n the area. The constructlon of r a i l roads %rest of

the kssissippi tras delayed u n t i l suff ic ient fun& were available, which-

funds generally were derived from tk s a l e of lands granted tine ra i l road .

The f i r s t transcontinental rail service was t o California in 1869. The

Northern Tacif i c Railroad t o the I-lest Coast 1~2s coxpleted in 1883 and d id

not reach the h g e t Sound area u n t i l 1887.

2 . 3y Act of Congress the Terr i tory of Oregon was established on . .

' August 14, 18L~8 ( 9 Stat. 323). This t e r r i t o r y inclbied the present S t a t e s

of Oregon, +lashington 2nd '~daho. The Terr i tory of 11aashington'~ias created

by the Act of Congress of Xarch 2, 1853 (10 Stat. 172) a ~ d included t h e

present States of Wzshington and Idaho. The Act of liarch 3, 1863 ( 1 2 S ta t ,

8C8) created the Territory of Idaho a d established the eastern bounCary of

the present state of @askington. On November. ll, 1889, I.lashir?gton w a s a6-

x i t t ed t o the W o n as a state. . . .

26. The f i r s t Pnerican s e t t l e r s arrGkd in t h e . h g e t SbUr,d i r e 2 in .

1816, and in 1 8 9 they estzblished t;?e f 2 r s t % g e t Sound tom; Twm.zter, Q

about 50 n a e s southvest of the DuiYrunish t rac t . Tne f i r s t white s e t t l e r s

in the su5 ject t r ac t arrived in 1851. In 1853 northern T ~ u r s t o n Cowlty be-

care King County and. the p l a t of the t o m ol' S e a t t l e uas f i l ed . I n 1853

7 kd. C l . Corn. 725

a special cecsus listed 17C irGla'si tats i n Xing Comty =ci t he census of

1660 shor:.ed o d y 3C2 people 5.n King Com-ty. In 1853 H C P Z ~ ~ L. Yesler b u i l t

a stem-powered sawail1 on the north shore of El'iiott B2y. The population

of the t o m of Sea t t l e i n 1855 was said t o be 50 people a d following four

y e z s of ~ n d i z n trouble i n the area it 512s =&Sorted there were twenty families

in the town.

Timber

27. The &get Sound area l i e s in a band of heavy timber which covers

&tuaUy the e n t i r e area west of the Cascade Xountains. I n fac t , reports

indicate t h a t nearly 9/10ths of Yashington's timber i s in t ha t zrea. The

Douglas f i r f o m s zibcmt 7/8ths of the fores t growth. There is a l so valuable

timber such as r ed cedar and hedock. In 1899, Benry Cannett, Chief of the

Division of Geography and Forestry for the Departnent of Inter ior , reported

t h a t "with the exception of the redwoods of CalSornia, the f o r e s t s of Wash-

ington a r e t h e densest, heaviest, and mst continuous in the United States.

Except fo r a few pra i r i e openhgs, ard except where rerzooved by f i r e o r the

&, they cover the country as a thick mantle from high up on the ~ a s c a ~ e

Range westward t"o t h e shore of the Pacific," He reported on King Comty:

This county is the middle of the S ta te north and south, and extends from t5e c r e s t of the Cascade Range wesh~zcd t o the shores of Puget Sound. Xuch of the eastern p z r t of t h e county l i e s high 32 in Yne Cascade Rage, and con tabs l i t t l e timber of present merchantable value, Aside from t h i s and a few t r i f l i n g areas 'or" prair ie , the county was or iginzl ly heavily forested, but the forests . have been l a rge ly reinoved by f 3 e o r the ax. The l a t t e r has taken &e tjm5er froin Vashon a 5 51gzuy is- lands, f r o m t h e shores of Puget Somd, and of l a b s Ihsk indon and ~annlamish, a d from a broad b e l t along tk l i n e of the Northern Pac i f ic Railroad, together t i i th other snalXLer w e a s i n t h e i n t e r i o r of the county. Fires have done a vast mount of dmage in various par t s of the countj, n a i d y i n i t s cen t ra l

portion, a t h a g 3 the mountai?ous regions have not been neglected by it. Indeed, ff&ly one-half of the area form er ly covered. with serciznt&le t k b e r h ~ s beer! devastated by l i r e ,

28. In the subject t r a c t there were approximately l L , C 0 0 b o z d f e e t

of t i m k r per acre, made U> of Kne fol lowkg species and mounts thereof:

Reci Fir (Douglas) ........ 5@ .................. Hemlock 2C$ .................... Cedar 1% ........... Lesser Species 15%

29. In the early days of our col&ial. history, t he f o r e s t s were gen-

e ra l ly regarded as inexhaustible and xere in ~ a r y instances consi2ered a

l i ~ b i l i t y ra ther than an asset, since narq of the ear ly s e t t l e r s were in t e r -

ested i n the use of the l a& fo r agriculture and grazins purposes and the

clearing of l a ~ ~ d s fo r those purposes tras a burdensome and e'ipensive process, . - Z f

That was the a t t i tude of some of the ear ly ore go^-Vashington s c t t l e r s where - +.?

f i r e s were s tar ted by tken in the forests as zn aid in clezr ing t h e land,

However, there also eyLsted. 2 recognition of the need f o r tirber f o r hories

and. l o c a l industries as ::ell a s fo r shipbuilding and export. Fron a corxer-

c i a l stand-soint the l d e r industry in t h i s country had i t s beginning i~

Maine, and gradually extended along the Atlantic se&oard m d then i n t o the

Great Lakes region i n 1850. L d e r i n ~ operations of any j q o r t a n c e d id

not reach t h e Oregon-bkshington area until about 1890 t o 19CO Zlthough s h i p

ments or' t-er b e s n on Puget Sound around 1850. The e z l i o s t colnmercial

uses made of the vast tirber resources xere fo r SPWS and pLL*gs. The r

huge t rees xere cut by the s e t t l e r s a~d dragged to t he waters1 edge t o b e

sold and loaded on ships for tr=lsportation t o the world markets.

3C. The f i r s t s a m i ' l l on Puzet Sound cas a srr,all xaterpower FU a t a

>:hat 1 ?mne k'ashington Terr itorj.. Tvo y e a s l a t e r t he re were t'nirty-three

sas,?;l23 1s ii operation in Thsh2ngton Territory, In 1655 there were txenty-

four satmil ls i n the Puget Sound area. f l l the szwnills were constructed

alonz t h e xaters of the Sound o r on the kanks of r i v e r s 'nkose vaters could

be u t i l i z e d i n transporting the logs as we'il as providing pozer for the 0

saws , The f i r s t s t e m p l sn t sawn91 as Yeslerls n i l1 b u i l t i n present

Sea3tl.e in t h e winter oT 1852-3, It had a c q a c i t y of lC,OCO t o lS,OCO

board f e e t per day and became the m i n industry in Sea t t l e and f o r years

furnished mplo>ment for the loca l irhakitants, The m a 1 in Sea t t l e was .i--

P tbe only one i n King Comty in 1 8 5 ~ . -- G

31, The ear ly luxbering ogerations were very crude. The loggin: xas

done by man?ozer. Trees were f e l l ed by ax, which Gras used. u n t i l the e a r a

1t]UO1s when the c rosscut saw carre in to use, The t r e e s were cut in to logs

of a length which Ren could lxmdle and were rolled. or dragged. t o the

n e a e s t water to be floated to a saiaill, Because of t h e lzborious

operation, ' the t inber was cut slowly. The t inber f i r s t cut uas tht a l m g

the waters of the Sound and t'nose s t r eam which c o q d be used "uo drive

102s. Even as l a t e as 1880 it was reported t h a t the fares's along t h e

shores of f i g e t Sound, the S t r a i t of Jua de Fuca, am3 the lover Colmbia

2iver had Seen culled. only of the bes t t rees for a d is ta rce oZ o d y om t o

tydo miles inland, I n the Degztzent of In ter ior t s Census Off i ce %?cr%

on t h e Forests of North h e r i c a , by Charles S. Sargent (1884) it i s re- - ported:

7 Ind, CL. Com. 725

The rrsthocs adopted by t'ze lm'cc,rme?. of westerr, 1.Jashington t e r r i t o r y are xastefu1 i n tk extrem. Loggers cut only t k k r groWinz wit3in e c i l e or a mile zqd a half of s5ores accessikle to zood 'cooning or shipp~3-g points or ;.j:?ich i.i= y ie ld not. l e s s t h a ~ 3C,OCO f e e t of lurker to the acre. O d y t r ees a re c c t which i i r i l l produce a t l e a s t three logs 24 f e e t long, with a rnin5.a~ dia ie te r or" 30 inches. Trees a r e cut not l e s s Elan 1 2 and of ten 2G f e e t from the ground, Ln order tha t the lzbor c u t % b g through the thick bark and enla-zed base may be avoided, while LC or SC f e e t of the top of the t r e e .zre en t i r e ly vasted.

32. fn keeping %nth the early s e t t l e r s a t t i t u d e toi.i=d the l i a -

b i l i t y r " seemingly inexhaustible fo res t s and. h i s des i r e t o c l ea r land, was

the feel&g of the lunbermn who cared l i t t l e >:hetiher the t ixber he took l e -

gally belonged t o him or not. Timber was exit ind iscrb5nate ly from a neigh-

bors s lad, rai l road land, o r %he public docia3. It has been reported t h a t

Puget So- was tk center of wholesale t inher s teal ing. I n 1861 r n c ~ x r e s

were taken to suppress th i s i l l e g a l a c t i v i t y and the areast lezding luxbcr- - -

men from Por t Garble, Port Kadison, and Seabeck ( a l l lm3ering centers on

the shores of the soukhern part of Puget S o d ) were indicted. The usual

penalty npon a find- of guilty ??as papent fo r the l a d u?on t:hich t h e

timber t ~ s c ~ t plus a jail sentence of "an hour of jo l ly co.munionrl ~ 5 t h

the court, the prosecution and the defense. -.

- -. I n an ef for t to prevent spoliation of public timber a c h a g e of $2,5C

a thousac! 1 ~ s made for t a e r cut on goverment lacl. This "stumpage f een . -.. _ Mas opposed b3- men of Puget Sound, who f e l t t he pr ice %;as e,<rorkita,rlt

s h e t n e land, if surveyed, coulci be offered for s2Le a t 51.25 per acre,

An agent s e ~ t west d-mbg the Grant administration found tha t s ince 1855

03 Puget Sound a o a e tinher to t 5 e valuse of not l e s s tnan $LC, cCO, CCO had

7 Ind, Corn. 725 73 2

Pzcif ic l?orthzest was "roun6 for ty ," B s e t t l e r wodd 2cqc-?re 40 t o 16G acres

of land; then he ~;ouLd cut not on ly the t icber cr? h i s o m l a z d buC, on the

surrouxEn; l a d on all f om sides. EeTore he was through cutting, he vould

have cut from 16c t o &JC acres or" t inber from t'nis govcrnnent land i n addi-

t i o n t o h i s otm kC to 16C acreso

Agr icu lk re

33. (a) The h r a n i s h t r a c t contained sone f e r t i l e land, mostly along

the r i v e r v&Lleys which would need clearin,-. The productive s o i l accounted

f o r about of the land. Xost of t h e t r a c t was so heavily tbibered a s t o

prohib i t c l e ~ 2 - g since thc cost r ~ s esthzi ted from $SO,OC t o $300,@0 per

acre,

(b) The 1860 census l i s t e d 366,156 acres i n the ?4zshirgton Terr i tory

as f a x a n d , This conszed with 2,~60,539 acres of fanland Oregon Ter-

r i t o ry . I n 185~ there were o ~ l y 73 f a r s containirlg 12,894 acres i.n King

County, Less thul I$ of the t o t a l area of King Cocnty was l i s t e d as farm-

land in the 1860 census. The early his tory of the en t i re lJashin$on Terri-

t o r y and i n par t icu lar the Puget Sourid area in-dicates tha t t h e use o< land

f o r a g i c u l t u r a l purposes was h o s t exclusively f o r the subsistence of t h e

s e t t l e r s .

3b. (a) Under t;?e Cregon Donation Act of September 27, 1650 (9 Sta t .

L96) s e t t l e r s were a51e to acquire a right 50 land in the Oregon Terr i tory,

which included the present S t a t e of llashington. The Act ori@d-13: pro-ride6

f o r grants of 32C acres to si>gle, a d 640 acres t o rrarrLed, & i t e s e t t l e r s

1;ho had s e t t l e d on t5e land c l a b e d pr ior t o Decedaer 1, 185C- The Act re- i

W r e d tha t +&e s e t t l e r s l i v e on the land. fo r four years, cu l t iva te ard hprove

7 Ind. C?,. Corn-, 72.5

it for their use a d r o t as agent f o r e lse; th2t n~ to1.m lots,

~ 5 n e r a l 1 2 ~ 6 s or lads reserved for p & l i c purposes could. be selected. The

a c t limited the donatio-m to one person. Actua proof ol" a s e t t l e r 1 s cox:-

pliance w i t h a l l the t e rns of the a c t vas requked before a pa5ent could

issue, and no patent could issue u n t i l the land was surveyed by t h e govern-

ment surveyor.

(b) I n 1851, 58 entr ies were made i n the Washington Ter r i t c ry under

the Donation Act, and i n 1852 there were 117 entr ies , The Preemption Act A.

of September 4, 18L1, was mde applicable t o \dashington in 1854, Under t h e o m

Reenption Act, any person ~ h o did not/land in the Terr i tory or t;ho was not

the proprietor of 320 acres of l and in a q other S ta te or Territory, night

secure 160 acres of public land a t $la25 per acre provided. the l a d was

surveyed, the Indian t i t l e e ~ t ~ g u i s h e d , actual settlement nade with a

duelling erected, 2nd. the s e t t l e r l iving on tke land, I n 1859 the t o t a l

acreage taken in the Washington Territory under the Donation a d Preemption

Acts to ta led 11,277 and tkis *creased i n 1860 to 17,971r acres, The t o t a l

number of donation ce r t i f i ca t e s and acres of lacd g a t e d in IIashington ar,d

Oregon was:

Oregon --- 7,317 cer t i f ica tes ; 2,563,757.02 acres

Vashington --- 985 cer t i f ica tes ; 290,215.3.5 acres

( c ) The Homestead A c t was enacted Yay 2C, 1862 (12 Stat, 392) perrnitt-

ing s e t t l e r s t o acquire fzrs of 160 acres ( o r 80 acres on l a d stlling fo r '

9 -2.5C per acre) f ree exceat for 2, n o n i d f i l i n g fee. The Act r q u i r e d c+-

A b i n t i o n , hprovements a d five y e z s r actual occupancy. However, any per-

or $2.50 per acre),

(d) ?ublic land could also be a c ~ u i r e d by the locat ion o?" iiifiitarg land

agricul tural college scrips, under the Act of July 2, 1862 (12 St&, 5 0 3 ) ~

( e ) The Timber and Stone Act of 1878 (20 Sta t , 89) perx i t ted the s a l e

of t-kber l a d s in quant i t ies not exceeding 16G acres per person and a t a

ninirmun price of $2.50 per acre.

(f) The r a t e a t &iich l a d i n the Duwaish t r a c t passed from federal

t o pr ivate o;mership was as f ollot?s:

lGYezr Period Acreage Percent of Total

Total 38,619.a 72.0

Of this t o t a l acreage of 38,619.ck disposed of in %he 28 year period 1,556.86

acres %ere S ta t e University p a n t select iors , 469.77 xere S t a t e cornon school

l a d selections a d 3,074.77 acres were Agricultural College ard Valentine

Scr ip Selections.

35. (a) There i s no evidence of any s s l e s of lanc! coqa rab le i? size,

chmacter 'or locat ion to tk Dutrvnish Sract prFor t o 1859. There uere, how-

ever, several sacs xhich % e r e s ik$&' in certain respects t o the l a d .b- . . .

volved in t h i s case. The Pope a& T a l ~ o 5 f i r , the X g e t I-SU C b n ? ~ , Has . . . . - one of the ear ly pu rcbse r s of t r a c t or" tF&er lard, Tki s c o i p z q k;as or,e

of t ~ e l a rges t s a w t i l l conzn ies rY;,';h a niU. a t Port Gz~31e on Zie western

$ s ide of the Sound, Under the A c t creating the Tsiaskington Territory, %%TO I !

select t he best of th i s University land and the records shcx pmchases of

787.75 acres Ln 186l; 555.5C acres in 1852; and 17,1?50 acres in 1863, 211 at

2 purchzse ?r ice of $1,SO per acre. The l a & so purchased %;as choice, ac-

cessible t i$~erland, not more than a clile to a n i l e and a half f r o z the

shoreline of the Sound 2nd ~ r i t h i n the imnediate v i c in i ty of the Port G d l e

~i.,iU-. Pope and Tal'cot also u t i l ized mi l i ta ry sc r ip t o acquire 17,398

acres 1853 'cut the exact price paid cannot be detemined. The h g e t

; f i l l Conpny purc'msed 2,849.75 acres in Island County fo r about $1.05 per

acre in 1866. Fron! 1875 throuzh the 188C1s, Pope a& Talbot purchased

numerous 16c-acre t r ac t s on a select ive basis within a mile ar-ci a half of

- sa l t a&&r a t &out $3.12 per acre, t:it'r, an occasional purchase s l i g h t l : ~

above o r below t h i s figure.

(b) The f i r s t sale by the Northern Pacific Railroad Com=,any was in

December, 1872, when it sold 24.69 acres north of Kalma on the Colmhia

River a t a pr ice of GO per acre. The first ss le of nore t h n 2C0 acres -

was in Ka:i of 1674. Thzt involved a t r a c t of 59c.36 acres on the Xisqu2ly

Plains ::?iici sold for $3.15 per acre. From July 1, 1863, u n t i l June 3C,

l88L, the r a i l roa? sold a to t a l of I..k'j',L50.49 'acres in lkshington f o r $4. 7~

per acre ,

(c) The first l z g e purchase of I?zshington t i L s e r l and was made on .

Jam-ary 31, 19CC, uhen the f mous Zeyerhaeuser T b b e r Co~pany purchzsed

9CC,OCC acres of the f ines t Washington t i t b e r land f r c n the Northern Pac i f i c

for a pr ice of $6,C0 per acre. O f t k YC0,GCC acres so purchased 116 ,5~2 .~ .2

vere located in King Con?ty.

35, The hi&est 2nd bes t use f o r ~ .k ich the Dui:a,iish lands were

a A Ua,ta51e -- a s of E z c h 6, 1859, ~ a s t i n k r production.

37. There were no n i n e r d de7osits of zny bcortznce kn0.r-m to be pre-

sent on the Du~mnish t r a c t as of I'krch 8, 1859,

38, ( a ) K r , James 8. Crutchfield, a Professor of Economics a t the

Ur?iversity of Washington, a7peared as a witness for peti t ioner. This ~i tness

t e s t i f i e d tha5 he used tiio methocis of eva lua thg the subject t r ac t . The

f i r s t nethod. he used t o d e t e r ~ ~ e n l u e was on t b bas is of the ac tua l con-

mercial use which laIxl might have and secocdly he used a method t o z r r ive

a t a "subsistence yaluation.n

cb) PC. Crutchfield in his r e so r t s t a t e s (pe t .'Ex. l a ) t h z t he ar-

r ived a t h i s es tk,ate of v a u e bascd on the actud. comercia1 use tihich the

land night have by fo l lowkg %he procedure outlined in ea r l i e r cases. The

cases referred to by pe t i t ioner ' s s ~ i t n e s s are The Mookszck Tribe v. United

States , 6 Ind. C1. Corn, 578, ar,d EucLlesi?oot Tribe v. United Sta tes , 5 h d .

C1. Corn. 6 ~ 8 . In these prior deterninations t h i s Connission s e t fo r th

fully in its finc?kgs of f ac t the mthods used bg the witness ard in i t s

opinions s t a t e d Fi. Crutchfielci~ s opinion of value could not be given m c h

weight s ince his method of vzluation was n c t i n accordance v i t h l e g a l l y +- proved standzrds but rather involves methods besed on conjecture a d specu-

la t ion , %hich mthods have been spec i f ica l ly rejected by t he courts a& t h i s

Cornis sion. Fr. Crutchfield' s q i n i o n based on his l l subs i s t exe vzlue"

rr.ethod was re3zcted in tkiese pr ior cases as being en t i r e ly &oret%czl and

Ind, C 1 . Corm, 725

- - s one not based upon my judiciellly acce~ted miYhod o f evaluat ins l a d , -+ :

39 . ICr. C. Kart P!iller, a qualsied a??raiser of Sea t t le , \.lashing-

t in , t e s t i f i e d ss an expert vitness for defendant anciaprepred a wr i t ten

valuation repor t (Def, EX. 2 ~ 5 - A ) which contzins a wea th of x a t e r i a l per-

taining t o t ) ~ scb j ec t t ract . Blr. 1liller used as his p r d s t i c k i n rezching

h i s opinion as to v d u e the faLr mrket value approach. Defendant' s ap-

praiser took into consideration the r a y factors considered in evaluating

lands such as the s izes of the t racts , accessibil i tg, surrounding s d e s ,

taxes, ikansportzt ion, population, denand fo r l a ~ d , markets, f inancia l

investmen';, r i s k s and need for a return on inyesbent and p ro f i t . With

respect t o t h e subject t rac t , I*. Miller wrote:

The IX11ranish t r z c t h d certain reco,gxized advantages not col-non. t o other areas in the P q e t Sound region. T k t r a c t i s s i tua te on and around E l l i o t t Ba;, the best , and bes t protected, deep vater harbor on h g e t Sound, Though the t r a c t flows the naviga3le Du>mnish River xkick?, with its t r ibu tar ies , periodically give access t o a la rge in- t e r r o r region, These advanLzges night %jell give r i s e t o the e q c c t a t i o n tha t an ea r l i e r ad, Tore active d e n a d f o ~ the l ands of the-Duwa~Zsh Tract kould develop than coclld be ant icipated for otker Sound regions. This dm--d, however, did n o t ex is t on Eirch 8, 1859, and could only be antici?ated.

Def endan$' s witness was of the opinion tb2t the . f u l l fair m r k e t value

of t he subject t r a c t zs of Karcfi 8, 1859, w2s the sum of $21,~00.00,

o r a t the r a t e of qproxiiiately 5C.40 per acre. a*-

40. Upon the basis of the ?ind$:s of f a c t hereLn =a&, a d

the record a s a wfiole, =f?e Cormission firxis t ha t the b ~ ~ r z r - i s h t r ac t ,

/s/ EDZ!A E. >:Tm Chief C ~ ~ i s s i c n e r

/s/ Td'l.?. 1.:. BOLT Associate Comis sioner