Most of the timberlands in Lassen and Modoc Counties were acquired by a federal land patent known as the Timber & Stone Act of 1878. This Congressional Act allowed individuals to purchase up to 160 acres at a minimum of $2.50 per-acre without being subjected to preemption and homestead laws.It was designed to prevent timber companies and speculators from obtaining large tracts of timberlands, it had, in reality, exactly the opposite effect.
In 1902, the United States Government Land Office created a land rush when it offered Northern California timberlands for sale on the open market. Newspapers in Northern California featured stories how “timber grabbers get all they want.” As the Portland Oregonian wrote: “It is also evident to most people that the present methods of handling our timberland will soon result in putting them all in possession of the lumbering corporations or speculators.”
In 1903, 88,000 acres—primarily timberland—had been added to the Lassen County tax roll. In the spring of that year D.G. Curtis and T.D. Collins of Pennsylvania were buying individual 160-acre timber tracts west of Eagle Lake. By the end of May they owned 41,461 acres of timberland at a cost at $189,410. The property became known as the Collins Tract which was transferred to the Pennsylvania Lumber Company, which had no immediate plans for it, other than speculation.