This section is from the book "A Financial History Of Texas", by Edmund Thornton Miller. Also available from Amazon: A Financial History Of Texas.
In 1882 it was enacted that no pine timbered land should be sold for less than $5.00 an acre.4 This land had been selling at $1.00, $1.50, and $2.00 an acre, and the school fund had been the sufferer and individuals and lumber corporations had been the chief beneficiaries.5 The law was still defective, however, in that it failed to recognize the different classes of timber land and permitted the purchase of such land on time. In 1883 it was provided that one who was a settler on timbered land on January l, 1883, could purchase the same for cash in quantities of not less than 80 acres and of not more than 320 acres at the minimum price ($5 per acre for good timbered land and $2 per acre for other timbered land).1 Other purchasers of timber land were required to be settlers, and they were permitted to buy not less than 160 acres nor more than 640 acres, at a price of not less than $5 an acre. But cash payment was not required of these purchasers. It was also provided in 1883 that the timber could be sold for cash at $5 an acre. Regarding the operation of the legislation of 1883, the commissioner of the general land office wrote in his report of 1886 that the "pine lands remain practically tied up under the acts of 1882-3, which place all timber land at a minimum of $5 per acre, without regard to the quantity or quality of timber. As a result depredators are at work, and legitimate timber cutting proportionately checked."
1 Land Office Report, 1878. 2Laws of 1879, Called Sess., p. 23.
3 Laws of 1881, p. 119. Special Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1882, p. 7. 4Laws of 1882, p. 36. 5Letter of Commissioner Walsh, in the Galveston News, March 1, 1882.
In the reorganization of the administration and the new land legislation which occurred in 1887, a classification of the timber land was authorized, the minimum price established for the better land was $5 an acre and that for the poorer $2 an acre.2 After 1887 nothing of importance was done affecting timber lands until 1899, when agents were authorized to investigate the theft of timber on the school lands. These agents and the prosecuting officials of the state put a stop to the depredations which had theretofore gone on practically unchecked.3
In 1905 the present system of selling the land or the timber to the highest of competitive bidders was introduced.4 This competitive bidding system differed from former ones in that its administration, including the fixing of minimum valuations, was left with the commissioner of the general land office. By 1905, however, the state had very little timber land left. At the close of the year 1902 there were only 31,978 acres of timber lands which were unsold and on the market, and it was doubtful if as much as half of this acreage had on it timber of marketable value.5 The state's officers at that time did not know how much of it was marketable, and their predecessors also had lacked sufficient knowledge of the extent and value of the timber resources to administer them efficiently. It was not the fault of the commissioners of the land office, but it was due to the niggardly policy of the legislatures and governors that the timber resources were parted with under conditions of erroneous or false classification or undervaluation of the lands and timber.1 The classification and valuation of the lands were entrusted either to county officers or to equally inexpert outsiders. The valuation of timber lands or of the timber thereon called for expert knowledge, but not only was no provision made for securing the services of experts, but there was no appropriation during the greater part of the period that would permit the commissioner of the general land office to inspect the forests or lands whose valuation he was required by law to approve or disapprove.
1 Laws of 1883, p. 85.
2 Laws of 1887, p. 83. Laws of 1889, p. 50. 3Land Office Report, 1901-2, p. 24.
4 Laws of 1905, p. 159. Laws of 1907, Called Session, p. 490. Rev. Civil Stats., 1911, arts. 5429-5431. 5Land Office Report, 1903-4, p. 8.
 
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