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The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., January 15, 1910, page 1

CEDAR VALLEY LANDS
Reverts to the Yakima Indians

By a written opinion in the case of the United States against the Northern Pacific railroad rendered by Federal Judge Edward Whitson at Spokane last Saturday 160,975.74 acres of land in the southern and southwestern part of the Yakima reservation, located in Cedar Valley, and held by the Northern Pacific through a land grant of Congress in 1887, reverts to the Yakima Indians.
The suit was brought by the government, as trustees and guardians of the Yakima Indians, to quiet title to 55 land patents, converting the grant. Nearly $2,000,000 is involved in the suit, and the decision is regarded as one of the most important rendered in years, covering the legality of the railroad land grants.
The findings of Judge Whitson return to the Yakima Indians all the land embraced in the original grant to the railroad, with the following exceptions: the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, south half of section 11, township 7 north, range 12 east; lots 1, 2, 3 and 4, section 19, township 7 north, range 13 east; sections 1 and 11, township 7, north, range 13 east, and section 13 township 6.

Involves Rich Timber Lands

The Mercantile Trust company of New York holds a first mortgage on the land, covering the issue of bonds for the first construction of the Northern Pacific through this state. The land is located in a rich timber and farming section, and is valued at from $8 to $20 the acre. If the findings of Judge Whitson are held valid by the Supreme Court of the United States on an appeal, it will mean a realignment of the land to the Indians and the readjustment of the entries of many homesteaders on the land.
It is set forth by Judge Whitson in his written opinion that the act of congress in 1887, granting the land to the railroad, did not distinguished the title of the Yakima Indians to the land, or quash the treaty made with the Yakima tribes by Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens at Walla Walla in June, 1869, wherein the land in litigation was annexed to the reservation. The government contended that either through a mistake or fraud the surveys were incorrect. The grant was intended by congress to be bounded by the natural divide of the land, the survey of the railroad overlapping, it is said.
The contentions of the Northern Pacific that the statue of limitations had expired were set aside by decisions of the supreme court, covering similar cases in New Mexico and Nebraska. The surveys made originally and in later years were held to be correct by the railroad, also that inasmuch as the land was granted in good faith, the same still held good. The land was part of the extensive grants given by acts of congress to the Union and Northern Pacific railroads to encourage the building of transcontinental lines to the northwest in the early eighties.
Much of the early history of the state of Washington, when the territorial capital was located at Walla Walla, was considered in the findings, including conferences between Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens and the chiefs of the confederated Yakima tribes. Affidavits of pioneers of Klickitat and Yakima counties were taken. This testimony was largely based on the memories of the witnesses, one remembering being shown the boundary lines by a Catholic priest, when he was but 7 years old.
The question of the rightful owners of the land was first called to the attention of the department of Indian affairs in 1890, through the efforts of Indian Agent Jay Lynch, stationed at Fort Simcoe, on the Yakima reservation. The case was brought to the circuit court of the eastern Washington division 12 months ago. The government was represented by District Attorney A.G. Avery and the Northern Pacific by its attorneys, E.J. Cannon and Arthur B. Lee.