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Show 430 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT veyed and unsurveyed and unappropriated land.82 Most useful to historians is the 673 pages of testimony presented to the commission, notwithstanding the slighting of the areas where homesteading was being most actively conducted. There is much on mining, lumbering, farming, and ranching in the western states, in addition to land matters. Codification of the land laws was assigned appropriately to Alexander Britton. Out of his work came three volumes, one of 210 pages devoted to "General and Permanent" statutes, and two volumes of 1,371 pages to statutes of a "local or temporary" character.83 The last volume "prepared and executed" by Thomas Donaldson has probably been used more than any other document relating to public lands (though when Congress was debating whether or not to have 8,500 additional copies printed, William S. Holman, who usually was quite knowing on land questions, said that it was "not a work of permanent interest suitable for libraries, but only of temporary interest").84 8* "Report of the Public Lands Commission," H. Ex. Doc, 46th Cong., 2d sess., Vol. 22, No. 46 (Serial No. 1923). 83 The Existing Laws of the United States of a General and Permanent Character and Relating to the Survey and Disposition of the Public Domain (Washington, 1884). Bound with this is a Digest of Late Decisions Relating to Questions Arising Under the Land Laws of the United States, 1884; Laws of the United States of a Local or Temporary Character and Exhibiting the Entire Legislation of Congress Upon which the Public Land Titles in Each State and Territory have Depended (2 vol., Washington, 1884). 84 Cong. Record, 47th Cong., 1st sess., Aug. 5, 1882, p. 6954. Finding business dull and fees small at Boise, Donaldson asked for an additional patronage job as supervisor of the construction of the territorial penitentiary which paid him $1,500 in addition to the $500 he received as register. When the construction was completed, it is reported, so well liked were his services that the builders "presented him Donaldson was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1843, graduated from Capital University of Columbus in 1862, served in the Union Army, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1867 and in 1869 was appointed by President Grant register of the recently opened Boise, Idaho Territory, Land Office where he served 6 years. As was expected of registers and receivers, Donaldson continued active in politics with close association with Grant and Blaine men. In addition to his membership on the Public Land Commission he had official associations with the Smithsonian Institution and in 1890 was an expert special agent of the Census Bureau in charge of studies of Indian culture. He wrote a number of chapters on the Iroquois, the Eastern Chero-kees, and the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. Donaldson's 6 years as register of the land office in Boise had given him a familiarity with the land legislation, the Commissioners' detailed instructions interpreting the laws, the pressure exerted on officers at every level by individuals seeking to gain their objectives, and the frequent interference by members of Congress in behalf of influential constituents. He held Williamson, his colleague on the commission and Commissioner of the General Land Office, in high esteem and cannot be counted among those who were very critical of the functioning of that office. He did criticize with a gold brick worth $500. ..." He may have held other territorial offices before he left Idaho. Close friendship with Walt Whitman enabled Donaldson to write a book of reminiscences of the pcet that is memorable. Donaldson's part in the recovery of the paintings and other collections of George Catlin and their transfer to the Smithsonian and his preparation of the "George Catlin Indian Gallery . . . with Memoir and Statistics," is another instance of his versatility and the breadth of his interests. Something of his Idaho career may be found in Thomas Glen Alexander, "The Federal Frontier: Interior Department Financial Policy in Idaho, Utah, and Arizona, 1863-1896" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1965), pp. 48, 51. |