Correspondence of LH board 1901-1910

United States Senate Washington, D.C. April 27, 1907.

Hon. Oscar S. Straus, Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D.C.

My dear Mr. Secretary:

As I informed you in a letter dated March 4th, 1907, Mr. B.F. Jones, a prominent attorney of Independence, Oregon, is desirous of securing permission to occupy about half and acre of the beach of the Government Light House Reservation at Newport, Oregon, officially known, I believe, as the Yaquina Light House Reservation. He desires to erect at this point a shoot-the-chutes, for the benefit of summer visitors at the nearby resort. Mr. Jones does not wish to secure any permanent rights on the Reservation, but merely wants a temporary privilege, agreeing to remove the chute whenever requested to do so by your Department.

I have a good deal of correspondence in regard to this matter and up to the present time have met with no success. In order that you may understand exactly what has been done, I will give you the case briefly.

I made a personal request of you, as above stated, on March 4th, 1907. Under date of March 8th, Assistant Secretary Murray advised me that this Reservation had been transferred in 1888 to the War Department for its use until needed by the Light House Board. He stated that the Department of Commerce was

therefore unable to grant the request.

I then addressed a letter to the Secretary of War, making of him the same request that I had made of you, and on April 3rd, received a letter from the Assistant Secretary of War, stating that there was some question as to whether this Reservation was under the jurisdiction of the War Department, or the Department of Commerce and Labor. I was somewhat surprised at this and immediately addressed another letter to the Assistant Secretary of War and one to Assistant Secretary Murray, asking them to immediately make further investigation and notify me positively what Department had jurisdiction. It seemed to me that this ought to be a matter of record.

On April 8th, you replied to my letter, stating that the matter was under investigation and on April 12th you wrote me again to this effect:

"Site was transferred to the War Department October 24th, 1888, and upon receipt of the information contained in several endorsements by that Department upon a letter from Senator Gearin, dated March 23rd, 1906, to the effect that the War Department had no further use for the site, the Light House Board reassumed its control. On May 12th, 1906, the Reservation was transferred to the Treasury Department for the use of the LifeSaving Service subject to the future needs of the Light House Establishment.

"This Department also states that the Light House Board, after a careful examination of the locality, a consideration of a possible need to establish additional aids to navigation in the near future upon the Reservation, is of the opinion that it is not advisable either to sell or lease the Reservation, and in that opinion this Department concurs."

Under date of April 13th, the Assistant Secretary of War confirmed the transfer of the Reservation on May 12th, 1906, to the Treasury Department for the use of the Life Saving Service,

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subject to the future needs of the Light House Establishment.

I again wrote the Secretary of the Treasury, asking if he would be willing to authorize Mr. Jones to lease a portion of the Reservation for the purpose stated, and reviewed the information contained in your letters, as well as those of the War Department. The Secretary of the Treasury on April 22nd, stated that under the permission granted May 12th, 1906, his Department obtained no title to the Reservation beyond the right to use and occupy the land for life saving purposes and for such purposes only. He stated, therefore, that he was without authority to grant the permission desired by Mr. Jones.

From all this correspondence it would appear that the Reservation is strictly under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and if permission is to be given for the erection of a chute it must be given by you as head of that Department.

On April 26th, I telegraphed Mr. Jones as follows:

"In case government grant permit erection chute on Yaquina life saving reservation subject to their right to order removal at any time, would you care for it if it could be obtained. Cant promise success even under this condition, but would make additional effort if you desire."

I today received a telegram from Mr. Jones to the effect that he would be glad to acquire the privilege on the condition named, and assured me that he would remove the chute at any time he was requested to do so by your Department.

From my personal knowledge of the locality, I can say that I believe no harm whatever would be done the Reservation

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if conditional permission was given Mr. Jones to occupy a portion of the beach with his chute. He desires to build the chute on the beach. The main portion of the Reservation, as I recall, is on a bluff about 100 feet above the beach. I am therefore confident that there would be no conflict between the chute and the Government authorities.

Being personally acquainted with Mr. Jones and believing that his project is an entirely commendable one, I sincerely trust that upon review of the case you can see your way clear to grant the request of this gentleman. Could you do so I should deem it a personal favor to me.

Very respectfully yours,

Jonathan Bourne

Department of Commerce and Labor Office of the Secretary Washington

April 29, 1907

Memorandum:

Senator Jonathan Bourne of Oregon, called this morning and left the attached communication with the statement that if the request contained therein were granted, his constituent would give a bond guaranteeing the removal of the shoot-the-chutes within thirty days after notification to that effect. The Senator also stated that the erection of the structure will not interfere in any manner with the range of the lights.

['[T.L. Weed]] Private Secretary