Daniel Robertson, historian, talks about Oregon's O&C Act

This is an interview with Daniel Robertson, attorney, historian, and former Douglas County Museum director. Daniel describes the Oregon and California Railroad land grants, now known as the O&C Lands managed by the Roseburg and Coos Bay BLM. Also described is the Coos Bay Wagon Road land grants. Both required the railroads to sell to settlers, but instead, the railroads started selling to timber companies. Daniel describes the abundant land-fraud deals in Oregon at the turn of the century, and how the O&C lands were revisited back to the U.S. Government. The 1937 O&C Act, one of our first conservation acts, required the BLM to manage these lands while protecting watersheds and providing for recreation.