CRATER LAKE Administrative History

A. EMERGENCE OF A NATIONAL CONSERVATION ETHIC

The debate over establishment of Crater Lake National Park was part of a larger movement for preservation of natural resources then going on in the United States. By 1864 three scientific thinkers--Henry David Thoreau, the Massachusetts naturalist-poet-philosopher; George Perkins Marsh, a Vermont lawyer and scholar; and Frederick Law Olmstead, superintendent of the Central Park project in New York City--had articulated the need for conservation and the preservation of our country's natural resources from exploitation by business and settlement. Their writings were the foundation upon which all subsequent conservation proponents built their arguments. Olmstead, in particular, advocated the concept of great "public parks" and was responsible for launching a movement to preserve the giant sequoias in Yosemite Valley from commercial exploitation. As a result of pressure exerted on Congress a law was passed in 1864 that granted Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees to the State of California as a state park. This was the first time that any government had set aside public lands purely for the preservation of scenic values. [1]

The "public park" concept involving preservation of important natural features and their management for the benefit of the people circulated throughout the East and Midwest from the mid-1860s onward. As a result of the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition in 1870 and another expedition led by U.S. Geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden the following year, pressure mounted that Yellowstone should be preserved. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone Park bill into law, thus establishing our first national park by virtue of the fact that it was located in Wyoming Territory and hence under the immediate administration of the federal government. A precedent had been established to reserve and withdraw areas from settlement and set them apart as public parks for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. The Yellowstone Park Act empowered the Secretary of the Interior to protect fish and game from wanton destruction and provide for the preservation and retention in their natural condition of timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, and scenic wonders within the park. [2]

Meanwhile; wholesale devastation of timber reserves in the West continued. In 1876 the position of forestry agent in the U.S. Department of Agriculture was established to study the twin problems of timber consumption and preservation of forest lands. Other federal efforts that contributed toward awakening public interest in the diversified natural resources of the West were Hayden's Geological and Geographical Surveys of the Territories of the United States, John Wesley Powell's United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, and Lieutenant George Wheeler's Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian. In 1879 these three groups were incorporated into the United States Geological Survey and placed under the Department of the Interior with authorization to conduct all scientific surveys performed by the federal government. [3]

During the 1870s and 1880s a group of intellectuals, including scientists, naturalists, landscape architects, foresters, geologists, and editors of national periodicals, refined the basic concepts of conservation. Through their writings and leadership they made progress in reversing the traditional American attitude toward the utilization of natural resources. One of the most articulate and widely read spokesman for conservation and the national park idea was John Muir, a well-educated Scotsman who campaigned for the preservation of the wilderness and federal control of the forests in the West. His chief concerns were the waste and destruction of forests by lumbermen, cattle grazing, and sheepherding. [4]

As a result of Muir's campaigning, three national parks--Yosemite, Sequoia, and General Grant--were established to preserve the Sierra forests from timbering excesses and overgrazing. The establishing legislation for these parks passed Congress with little debate, primarily as a result of the fact that "scenic nationalism" and "monumentalism" were not in conflict with "materialism" in these areas by 1890. [5]

B. ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL FOREST RESERVES

During the 1870s and 1880s conservationists in the United States focused considerable energy on a movement to repeal the Timber Culture Act of 1873 and the Timber Cutting Act of 1878. At the forefront of this movement were conservationists interested in forestry such as Charles S. Sargent, John Muir, and Robert V. Johnson, aided by the General Land Office of the U.S. Department of the Interior and foresters in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Considerable fraud was associated with these laws, and as a result much valuable timber land was lost as it fell into the hands of large corporations and timber speculators. The two acts were ostensibly intended to provide for forest conservation. The Timber Culture Act of 1873 authorized any person who kept forty acres of timber land in good condition to acquire title to 160 acres. The minimum tree-growing requirement was reduced to ten acres in 1878. The Timber Cutting Act of 1878, on the other hand, allowed bona fide settlers and miners to cut timber on the public domain free of charge for their own use. [6]

In 1890 a committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, with Thomas C. Mendenhall, Superintendent of the U.S. Coastal Geodetic Survey, as chairman, presented President Benjamin Harrison with a petition recommending that a commission be established to ''investigate the necessity of preserving certain parts of the present public forest as requisite for the maintenance of favorable water conditions." The petition further urged that "pending such investigation all timber lands of the United States be withdrawn from sale and provision be made to protect the said lands from theft and ravages by fire, and to supply in a rational manner the local needs of wood and lumber until a permanent system of forest administration be had." [7]

President Harrison and Secretry of the Interior John W. Noble endorsed the proposals. Provisions of the bill to accomplish these ends were drafted by Edward A. Bowers, a special agent and inspector in the General Land Office, with the advice of John Muir and Robert V. Johnson. Bowers' bill was attached as a "rider" to the Sundry Civil Appropriations Bill and passed by Congress without debate. [8]

The Forest Reserve Act (26 Stat. 1095), signed into law by President Harrison on March 3, 1891, repealed the Timber Culture Act of 1873 and the Timber Cutting Act of 1878. Section 24 further provided:

That the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any state or territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands, wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations, and the President shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations, and the limits thereof. [9]

While the law did not define the objectives for setting aside the forest reservations the ostensible purposes, according to the House Committee on Public Lands, were the protection of "forest growth against destruction by fire and ax and preservation of forest conditions upon which water conditions and water flow" were dependent. The new policy was based on the perception "that a forest-cover on slopes and mountains must be maintained to regulate the flow of streams, to prevent erosion, and thereby to maintain favorable conditions in the plains below." The policy of reserving forest land was thus "confined mainly to those localities in which agriculturists" were "dependent upon irrigation." The overriding goal of the reserve policy was "to maintain favorable forest conditions, without, however, excluding the use of these reservations for other purposes." [10]

During the next decade the Department of the Interior refined its policies concerning the objectives and management of forest reserves. By 1902 the objectives had been developed into a broad formal policy statement:

The object of setting land aside for forest reserves is --

1. To protect a growth of timber on land which is not fit to grow other crops and under conditions where no such protection is assured or can be supplied by private persons or local authorities.

2. To keep a growth of vegetation, especially of timber on mountain lands which would otherwise wash and gully. . . .

Forest reserves have been and are created from lands (nearly all mountain lands) unfit for agriculture for reasons of altitude and consequent climate usually reinforced by poverty or insufficiency of soil. These lands generally bear a stand of timber or indicate that they have borne such and are likely to be restocked with forests if protected. Where these mountain forests have not been reserved and have passed into private ownership their history has generally been that of the Northern pineries and other forest areas. They are culled over for whatever will pay the expense of exploitation, the cutting is careless and wasteful, the profits of the timberman small and to the district much smaller. Since this work of denudation is a temporary matter it does little for the permanent improvement of the locality, but leaves behind it the characteristic ruins of abandoned sawmills and the devastated, fire-scorched mountain lands robbed of their forest and fertility alike and doomed for years, in many cases for centuries, to remain as unsightly, barren wastes where the much-needed waters gather unhindered to rush from the mountains and be wasted. To avoid this permanent injury to districts where every drop of water is precious, and where the protective function of the mountain forests, therefore, is of the greatest importance, is the first object of the creation of forest reserves. To husband an immense wealth of timber, to regulate its use, to utilize only the growth of these mountain forests and thereby insure a continued supply of one of the most important materials, is the second object of the reserve policy. [11]

The Forest Reserve Act was hailed as the cornerstone of national conservation policy. It was later characterized by Gifford Pinchot as "the most important legislation in the history of Forestry in America." [12] Benjamin H. Hibbard has commented on its effect in establishing a precedent that all of the public domain was not to be disposed of into private hands, thus reversing the previous course of federal land policy:

Without question the act permitting the withdrawal of public [forest] land from private entry was the most signal act yet performed by Congress in the direction of a national land policy. [13]

President Harrison utilized the new act at once, establishing the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve of 1,250,000 acres on March 30, 1891, as the first national forest reserve. During the remainder of his administration he withdrew some 13,416,710 acres of the public domain, chiefly in California, Oregon, and Wyoming, as forest reserves. [14]

While a great victory had been achieved, it was not yet complete for Congress had not yet granted the authority to protect, administer, and utilize the new forest reserves. Although lumbermen, miners, settlers, and stockmen could no longer obtain legal title to the land located in the national forest reserves, they continued to trespass on public forest land as they had in the past. [15] For instance, in his annual report for 1892 Interior Secretary Noble commented on the need for protection of the new reserves:

These forest reservations should receive protection, either by guards furnished from the Army, as has been done in the Yellowstone National Park, the Sequoia National Park, and elsewhere, or an appropriation should be made to pay custodians and watchmen, so that not only may depredations be detected, but fires, that consume so great a part of our timber, may be prevented. [16]

The problem of protecting the forest reserves was again discussed by Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith in his annual report for 1893. He observed:

Numerous complaints have been received by the Department of stock men driving their sheep on these reserves, destroying the herbage and setting fire to the trees; and on the 23d of June, the Acting Commissioner of the General Land Office also called the attention of the Department to the necessity for protecting these reserves, urging that details from the Army be secured to look after the same, until Congress could make suitable provision.

Accordingly, the attention of the Secretary of War was directed to the facts in the case, and the request made that, if practicable, officers of the Army, with a suitable number of troops, be detailed to protect the several reservations.

The Acting Secretary of War declined, however, to make the details desired, basing his refusal upon an opinion of the Acting Judge-Advocate-General of the Army to the effect that the employment of troops in such cases and under the circumstances described by the Secretary of the Interior, not being expressly authorized by the Constitution or by act of Congress, would be unlawful.

These reservations remain, therefore, by reason of such action, in the same condition, as far as protection is concerned, as unreserved public lands and are only afforded such protection from trespass and fire as can be furnished with the limited means at the command of the General Land Office. A bill, however, is now pending in Congress which provides adequate means for the protection and management, by details from the Army, etc., of these forest reservations; it has the hearty approval of the Department, and its early enactment as a law is desirable. [17]

C. ESTABLISHMENT OF CASCADE RANGE FOREST RESERVE

While the legislation to provide for adequate protection of the forest reserves languished in Congress, President Benjamin Harrison continued the policy of withdrawing lands from the public domain as national forest reserves. In 1892, the Oregon Alpine Club, headed by William G. Steel, circulated a petition for submission to the president calling for establishment of a forest reserve along the entire crest of the Cascades in Oregon. By the summer of 1892 the petition had received the endorsement of the governor, secretary of state, state printer, auditor, mayor of Portland, and the president and secretary of the Portland Chamber of Commerce.

Accordingly, in July 1892 Secretary of the Interior John W. Noble appointed R.G. Savery, Jr., as special agent of the General Land Office with instructions to report on the proposal. Based on meetings with Oregon officials and travels over the state Savery reported on July 23 "that the future welfare of the State of Oregon demands the withdrawal and protection of said proposed reservation." In support of his recommendation he noted:

The summit of the Cascade Mountains embraces a narrow strip of land running north and south through the State, nearly all of which is unsurveyed and unoccupied. The surface is rough and broken and entirely unfit for cultivation. The altitude ranges from six to twelve thousand feet. Dense forests of very fine timber cover nearly the entire tract. Snow falls to a great depth on these mountains in winter, remaining until late in the summer, and in some places the snow-capped mountains can be seen the year round. . . .

Not only will Western Oregon be greatly benefited by this reservation, but the same facts and conditions can be properly applied to all of that territory lying east of this range of mountains in Oregon. In this proposed reservation are included several points of interest, which in the near future will become places of great interest to the American people. Mt. Hood, a mountain rising to an elevation of nearly thirteen thousand feet, whose snow-capped peak can be seen from nearly every portion of the State the year round, is heavily timbered and is the source of thousands of small streams, and in the immediate future this mountain will become the source of water supply for the city of Portland. The region surrounding this mountain is rugged and elevated and not valuable for agriculture or minerals. There are also included Mt. Pitt, Mt. Scott, Union Peak, Mt. Theilsen, Old Baldy, Diamond Peak, Three Sisters, Black Butte and Mt. Jefferson, all of which are rough, broken and unfit for cultivation.

Besides these mountains, numerous lakes are included, among which is Crater Lake. . . .

This lake, as stated in the petition herewith enclosed, is one of the greatest natural wonders of the world. The surface of the water is 6,239 feet above the level of the sea. Its depth will average two thousand feet. It is entirely surrounded by precipitous walls or cliffs of great height, being at some points nearly two thousand feet. The diameter of this lake is six and one-half miles.

Among the lakes of lesser importance are Diamond Lake, Crescent Lake, Wold's Lake and Bull Run Lake, all of which add to making this proposed reservation include several of the great natural wonders of the world.

Elk, deer, and other noble game of the country, which have been quite plentiful in that country, are partly disappearing, and unless some reservation of this kind is made it is only a question of a few years when they will become entirely extinct.

While he found that most citizens in the state were in favor of the proposed reservation, he reported rumors that sheepherders from eastern Oregon were opposed. He observed that the sheepherders

from the eastern portion of the State would oppose the proposition from the fact that they penetrate deeper into the mountains each year where they find excellent grass on territory formerly burned over for that purpose. The deliberate setting out of fires and consequent destruction of vast bodies of timber cause constant encroachment of sterility of what is now a source of moisture. [18]

On February 17, 1893, the Oregon state legislature added impetus to the campaign for a forest reserve or reserves in the Cascades by adopting a memorial to the president. The gist of the memorial, copies of which were sent to the Secretary of the Interior and the members of the Oregon congressional delegation, read:

First. The immediate establishment of two reservations, viz: one of Mt. Hood, to be called Mt. Hood Reserve, and the other of Crater Lake, to be called Crater Lake Reserve, with such contiguous territory about each as shall seem proper.

Second. The enlargement and extension of each said reservations so as to include the entire crest of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, with a convenient space on each side thereof, just as soon as the same can be intelligently done after a prompt but careful investigation by the Interior Department, of any vested rights there may be in such territory. [19]

Responding to these petitions President Cleveland on September 28, 1893, issued a proclamation (a copy of which may be seen in Appendix A) establishing the Cascade Range Forest Reserve. In his annual report for 1894 Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith described the reserve:

The Cascade Range Forest Reserve, Oregon, runs across the State from north to south, embracing the crest of the Cascade Range, including at either end Mount Hood and Crater Lake. The reservation is 234 miles long, with an average width of 30 miles. The area is 7,020 square miles, or 4,492,800 acres. The summit of the Cascade Mountains embraces a narrow strip of land, the altitude ranging from 6,000 to 12,000 feet. Dense forests of very fine timber cover nearly the entire tract. Snow falls to a great depth, remaining until late in the summer, and in some places snow-capped mountains are to be seen the year round. This range can be properly called the watershed of the Pacific coast, and is the source of thousands of small streams tributary to larger ones.

The principal rivers whose head waters are in this reserve are Hood River, Molalla River, the Mckenzie Fork, Middle Fork and Coast Fork of the Willamette River, Metolins River, Deschutes River, Forks of the Umpqua River, Rogue River, and Klamath River from Klamath Lake. There are also numerous lakes and points of interest in the reservation.

This reserve, as stated above, embraces Mount Hood and Crater Lake, points of interest to tourists and others, and which had previously been petitioned for as separate reservations. The reserve was created upon petitions presented by citizens of Portland and of the localities directly affected. [20]

In the same report Smith went on to describe the problems of inadequate appropriations for the reserves. The lack of funds was having a deleterious effect on the policing and protection of the natural resources in the reserves. He observed:

Small appropriations for special agents have thus far made it impossible to detail any of them for the protection of the public forest reserves that have been from time to time created by Presidential proclamation, and which now include some 17,000,000 acres of land. Practically this great mass of reserved lands of this kind are no more protected by the Government than are the unreserved lands of the United States, the sole difference being that they are not subject to entry or other disposal under the public-land laws. Under date of May 12, 1894, this office, with the approval of the Secretary, issued a public notice for posting throughout the forest reserves, calling the attention of the public to the fact that the lands included therein were in a state of reservation, and warning the public against setting fire to the forests or otherwise injuring them, and requesting its aid in checking this evil.

As indicative of the spirit of lawlessness prevailing among those depredating upon these lands, it is significant that, soon after these notices were posted, upon at least one reservation one-half of them were torn down and destroyed. In view of such action, it seems imperative that Congress should appropriate sufficient money to place at least one superintendent upon each of these reservations, and upon the larger ones to provide him with a sufficient number of assistants to enable him to see that the laws and regulations of this Department are respected and that public property shall not be wantonly destroyed. That such action is that of only a few, who are desirous of furthering their personal ends, is apparent from the number of memorials from State legislatures, petitions of governors, and other State officials, State forestry associations, as well as the American Forestry Association, proposing additional forest reserves and laying out their boundaries, with cogent reasons for their establishment. But again, owing to the limited force of special agents, it is ordinarily impossible for this office to detail any of them to make the examinations of the proposed reservations, which are necessary, prior to creating them. [21]

D. ADMINISTRATION OF NATIONAL FOREST RESERVES UNDER THE FOREST MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1897

Conservationists continued to promote the need for a national forestry system while bills to provide for effective administration and protection of the national forest reserves languished in Congress. As a result of lobbying efforts Congress in 1896 appropriated $25,000 to defray the "expenses of an investigation and report by the National Academy of Sciences on the inauguration of a national forestry policy for the forested lands of the United States." The funds were used to establish a National Forest Commission to be composed of leading scientists and conservationists with Charles S. Sargent as chairman and Gifford Pinchot as secretary. [22]

The National Forest Commission visited the forests on the public lands of the West during the summer of 1896. During the trip the commission members traversed the Cascade Range Forest Reserve. John Muir, one of the commission members, commented on this part of their investigation:

Thence we turned southward and examined the great Cascade Mountain Forest Reserve, going up through it by Klamath Lake to Crater Lake on the summit of the range, and down by way of the Rogue River Valley, noting its marvellous wealth of lodge-pole pine, yellow pine, sugar-pine, mountain-pine, Sitka spruce, incense-cedar, noble silver-fir, and pure forests of the Paton hemlock--the most graceful of evergreens, but, like all the dry woods everywhere, horribly blackened and devastated by devilish fires. [23]

After visiting all of the national forest reservations the National Forest Commission presented its final report to Congress and President William McKinley on May 1, 1897. The report pointed out that, under existing conditions, the United States was unable to protect its timber lands "because the sentiment of a majority of the people in the public land states with regard to the public domain, which they consider the exclusive property of the people of those states and territories, does not sustain the Government in its efforts to protect its own property; juries, when rare indictments can be obtained, almost invariably failing to convict depredators." The report further stated that "civil employees often selected for political reasons and retained in office by political favor, insufficiently paid and without security in their tenure of office, have proven unable to cope with the difficulties of [protecting timber] . . . . The commission also noted that "a study of the forest reserves in their relation to the general development and welfare of the country, shows that the segregations of these great bodies of reserved lands cannot be withdrawn from all occupation and use, and that they must be made to perform their part in the economy of the nation."

The report described the conditions of the forest reserves. The Cascade Range Forest Reserve, according to the commission, had

suffered severely from forest fires which have destroyed a considerable part of its most valuable timber, and from the pasturage of sheep which has been excessive, especially on the dry northern and eastern slopes of the mountains. If timber is taken from this reserve, it is only in small quantities and probably only for the use of actual settlers or the owners of small mines.

The commission found nomadic sheep husbandry to be a serious problem in the Cascades and nearby areas. The report noted:

Nomadic sheep husbandry has already seriously damaged the mountain forests in those States and Territories where it has been largely practiced. In California and western Oregon great bands of sheep, often owned by foreigners, who are temporary residents of this country, are driven in spring into the high Sierras and Cascade ranges. Feeding as they travel from the valleys at the foot of the mountains to the upper alpine meadows, they carry desolation with them. Every blade of grass, the tender, growing shoots of shrubs, and seedling trees are eaten to the ground. The feet of these "hoofed locusts," crossing and recrossing the faces of steep slopes, tread out the plants sheep do not relish and, loosening the forest floor, produce conditions favorable to floods. Their destruction of the undergrowth of the forest and of the sod of alpine meadows hastens the melting of snow in spring and quickens evaporation.

The pasturage of sheep in mountain forests thus increases the floods of early summer, which carry away rapidly the water that under natural conditions would not reach the rivers until late in the season, when it is most needed for irrigation, and by destroying the seedling trees, on which the permanency of forests depends, prevents natural forest reproduction, and therefore ultimately destroys the forests themselves. In California and Oregon the injury to the public domain by illegal pasturage is usually increased by the methods of the shepherds, who now penetrate to the highest and most inaccessible slopes and alpine meadows wherever a blade of grass can grow, and before returning to the valleys in the autumn start fires to uncover the surface of the ground and stimulate the growth of herbage. Unrestricted pasturing of sheep in the Sierras and southern Cascade forests, by preventing their reproduction and increasing the number of fires, must inevitably so change the flow of streams heading in these mountains that they will become worthless for irrigation. [24]

Congress, torn between a militant and well-organized sentiment in the East in favor of forest reservation and scientific forestry management and an irate West fighting against withdrawal and forest protection, was divided on the issue in the wake of the National Forest Commission report. These conflicting views were reflected in the Sundry Civil Appropriation Act (sometimes referred to as the Forest Management Act) of June 4, 1897, The law reaffirmed the power of the president to create reserves and confirmed all reservations created prior to 1897. However, it limited the type of lands to be reserved in the future, stating:

No public forest reservation shall be established, except to improve and protect the forest within the reservation, or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States; but it is not the purpose or intent of these provisions, or of the Act providing for such reservations, to authorize the inclusion therein of lands more valuable for the mineral therein, or for agricultural purposes, than for forest purposes.

The law granted the basic authority necessary for the federal government to regulate the occupancy and use of the forest reserves and guarantee their protection:

The Secretary of the Interior shall make provisions for the protection against destruction by fire and depredations upon the public forests and forest reservations which may have been set aside or which may be hereafter set aside under the said Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and which may be continued; and he may make such rules and regulations and establish such service as will insure the objects of such reservations, namely, to regulate their occupancy and use and to preserve the forests thereon from destruction; and any violation of the provisions of this Act or such rules and regulations, shall be punished as is provided for in the Act of June fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, amending section fifty-three hundred and eight-eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States. [25]

In accordance with the provisions of the law Binger Hermann, who had been appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office, prepared rules and regulations for the administration and protection of the forest reserves. These regulations (a copy of which may be seen in Appendix C) were approved by Secretary of the Interior Cornelius N. Bliss on June 30, 1897. Later on March 21, 1898, the rules and regulations were amended (a copy of the amendments may also be seen in Appendix C). [26]

In 1897 Secretary Bliss commented on the effect of the regulations as well as the difficulties encountered in the initial efforts of the department to enforce them. Among other things he observed:

These rules and regulations have been widely distributed, with a view to a better understanding of the subject by the public, and their publication has been secured by the agents of this Office in many of the newspapers of the West as a matter of news .

More general interest is taken in the subject of forest preservation and reservation, and as it is the more inquired into by the people directly affected, the advocates of an efficient forest administration increase in number.

The promulgation of the law and the rules and regulations has, in itself, had a tendency to create greater interest in the matter and to cause the public to observe more closely the regulations and the penalties for the violation thereof.

Since the 1st of July, 1897, under the meager appropriation at the disposal of the Department for the purpose, but six special forest agents and supervisors have been appointed for the purpose of patrolling the forest reserves and enforcing the observance of the regulations. It is needless to say that this force is infinitesimal, considering the magnitude of the work and the territory to be covered. As a region requiring more immediate attention, they were assigned to the reserves in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and New Mexico. it is too early to speak particularly of the work performed by them, but I am justified in saying that their presence in the reservations has already been felt beneficially by a more general observance of the regulations and by the suppression of what might have proved to be very destructive forest fires.

The duties of these forest agents are many, and it goes without saying that the force will have to be very materially increased to fulfill the requirements of the forest-reserve law. It is in the interest of economy and a wise policy to increase the force to make it effective. A well-trained force of 50 or 60 forest agents and patrolmen judiciously distributed through the several States and Territories embracing forest reserves can readily be made the means of preserving millions of dollars' worth of public timber annually from the spoilation of trespassers and destruction by fire at a relatively slight cost to the Government, to say nothing of the importance of forest preservation and the growth and use of merchantable timber for the future generations. [27]

By July 1898 there were thirty forest reservations in the United States embracing an estimated area of 40,719,474 acres. Increased appropriations for fiscal year 1899 enabled the General Land Office to expand its forestry operations and "place a graded force of officers in control of the reserves." The reservations were grouped into eleven districts, each under a forest superintendent. The reserves were placed in immediate charge of forest supervisors with forest rangers under them to patrol the reserves, prevent forest fires and trespass from all sources, and see to the proper cutting and removal of timber.

Instructions were developed for the forest superintendents to guide the administration of the reserves. In regard to forest fires the forest superintendents were directed:

Fire being the paramount danger to which the public forests are exposed, in comparison with which damage from all other sources is insignificant, it is desired that you will see to it that the utmost vigilance and energy are exercised by your forest force to prevent the starting and spread of fires in the reservations under your care.

Each officer should be charged to make the matter of fires in his district the subject of close and careful study, with a view to ascertaining and reporting the chief causes of fires in the different localities and devising means to prevent the same.

They should specially keep a constant watch to prevent fires occurring through the following sources:

1. Hunters, trappers, and other camping parties; more especially those made up of inexperienced persons from towns, who are known to be a fertile source of forest fires.

2. Sheep men, who set out fires to increase pasturage.

3. Prospectors, who frequently set fires to uncover the rock.

4. Parties constructing railroads or making other roadways through the forests.

5. Lumbermen, who should be required to clear the ground of all lops, tops, and other debris resulting from their operations.

The localities specially exposed by reason of settlement, railway construction, lumbering operations, sheep grazing, mining operations, or other causes, should be closely watched, and prompt action taken not only to prevent and extinguish fires, but to bring to justice all parties responsible for fires originating from either carelessness or malicious intent.

The superintendents were instructed "to further report on advisable measures to adopt in devising the most practicable system of patrolling the reservations." Specifically, they were to report on the establishment of patrols and signal stations and telephonic connections between the two. As to sheep grazing the superintendents were "to inquire into and report upon" the "impact of pasturage on the forests," and make recommendations to minimize such negative impacts. [28]

E. CRATER LAKE AND THE CASCADE RANGE FOREST RESERVE: 1894-1902

While Congress and the Department of the Interior were grappling with forest management issues during the 1890s, Crater Lake and the Cascade Range Forest Reserve received considerable attention from various state and federal government bodies, political interest groups, and scientific experts.

Controversy over sheep grazing in the reserve developed after April 14, 1894, when the federal government took its first official action against such activity in the forest reserves. On that date regulations were issued prohibiting the "driving, feeding, grazing, pasturing, or herding of cattle, sheep or other live stock" in the reserves. Responding to political pressures from eastern Oregon sheepherders, as well as Klamath County settlers, the Oregon state legislature in February 1895 passed a memorial requesting that the portion of the reserve south of township 32, South Willamette Meridian in Klamath County, be opened for "sale, purchase, settlement, and homestead." [29]

By late 1895 the sheepherding interests of eastern Oregon had developed a scheme to reduce the size of the reserve and thus give them access to greater areas of the Cascades for grazing of their flocks. Their petition was included with a letter sent by Senator John H. Mitchell to S.W. Lamoreaux, Commissioner of the General Land Office, on November 30, 1895:

There is a general belief upon the part of the people of the State of Oregon that a grave mistake was made in the proclamation of the President of September 28, 1893, creating the Cascade Range Forest Reserve in that State in this, that entirely too extensive a region of country was included in that reserve, embracing as it does a strip of land from 30 to 60 odd miles wide, perhaps, the whole length of the State. And it is believed that this proclamation should be so modified as to divide the same into two reservations--one of which shall include Mount Hood and all the land North of it in the State of Oregon and all the land in the present reservation for a distance of 25 or 30 miles south of the base of Mount Hood; the other to include Crater Lake in Southern Oregon and the whole of the present reservation in Oregon South of that Lake, and also for a distance of 25 or 30 miles North of the same; and it is my intention to prepare at an early date an application to the President with a view to such modification. . . .

I would suggest that the Northern line be located at a distance of about 30 miles South of the snow line of Mount Hood and the Southern line about 30 miles North of the North shore of Crater lake, and that the whole of the reservation between these lines be released from the reservation and thrown open to settlement. [30]

Several months later on February 10, 1896, Mitchell followed up this letter with another, recommending that the lands in the reserve be subdivided into five separate tracts. These were to be designated the Mount Hood Public Reservation (322,000 acres), the Crater Lake Public Reservation (936,000 acres), and the Mount Jefferson Public Reservation (30,000 acres), with the two remaining tracts (totaling 3,320,000 acres) to be restored to the public domain. He observed that the forest reserve had been created without protest from the Oregon citizenry, because they did not realize the magnitude of the area it would embrace or that it would exclude from further settlement vast areas of land which he claimed were valuable for agricultural and mining purposes. The sheepherders of eastern Oregon were feeling the economic pinch by having their flocks of more than 400,000 sheep excluded from the eastern slopes of the Cascades for summer grazing.

To counter these proposals Steel and other like-minded conservationists in Oregon put up a stiff lobbying effort with President Cleveland and Secretary of the Interior Smith. On March 6 General Land Office Commissioner Lamoreaux responded to Mitchell with the support of Cleveland by observing:

I have the honor to report that the creation of the "Cascade Range Forest Reserve'' was recommended by the ''Oregon Alpine Club," endorsed by various State, City and Boards of Trade officers, and others, and by a Special Agent of this office after an apparently careful and thorough personal investigation into all of the facts and circumstances involved, who in his report states that the citizens generally are unanimously in favor of the reserve being made.

In view of these facts of record, I do not feel warranted in recommending the sub-dividing of the reserve and the restoration to the public domain of nearly three-fourths of the area embraced therein, without first having a careful and thorough field examination made, by competent and reliable special agents, to ascertain the exact portions of the reserve which are valuable for agricultural or mining purposes, and should be open to entry or location; and as such an examination would involve the services of not less than three special agents for several months, at a heavy expense, I do not feel justified in ordering such an examination to be made unless so directed by the Department. [31]

The lobbying efforts led by Steel against the potential breakup of the Cascade Range Forest Reserve were channeled through the Mazamas, a mountaineering club that he had organized in 1894. A preliminary organization was formed and on July 17, 1894, some 350 persons met at Steel's ranch on the south slope of Mount Hood to hold a campfire. Two days later the club, named after a vanishing species of mountain goat, was formally established on the summit of Mount Hood by some 197 persons who had participated in the ascent. Thereafter, Steel used the club as a vehicle to champion the preservation of the forest reserve against the depredations of timber companies, sheepherders, and land developers. Representing the executive council of the Mazamas, Steel went to Washington to urge Congress and Department of the Interior officials to take more stringent measures to protect the natural resources and scenery of the reserve.

In an attempt to promote preservation of the reserve the Mazamas at Steel's suggestion held a summer outing and mountain-climbing excursion at Crater Lake in August 1896. The trip had the nature of a scientific expedition, since a number of professional men were invited to join the group. These included C. Hart Merriam, chief of the U.S. Biological Survey; J.S. Diller, geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey; Frederick V. Colville, chief botanist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and BartonW. Evermann, an icthyologist with the U.S. Fish Commission. Some fifty Mazamas joined these men on the crater rim in mid-August, along with several hundred individuals traveling by wagon and on foot from Ashland, Medford, Klamath Falls, the Fort Klamath Indian Reservation, and the nearby army post at Fort Klamath. Guided nature walks and campfire lectures by the scientists on the flora, fauna, and geology of the region occupied the group's time. A meeting of the executive committee of the Mazamas was held in the crater of Wizard Island. The excursion culminated in the christening of "Mount Mazama," the mountain containing Crater Lake, with appropriate ceremonies on August 21. [32]

The most important result of the excursion was that each of the scientists eventually recommended passage of a bill creating Crater Lake as a national park. Their arguments were made on the basis that the area was a natural wonder favorably situated for a healthful and instructive pleasure resort; potentially valuable for scientific study; a potential contributor to the economic prosperity of the region; and too susceptible to forest fires and worthy of greater care than it was receiving as a forest reserve. [33]

Following the 1896 excursion, the Mazamas began publication of a periodical Mazama that avidly supported national park status for Crater Lake. In 1897 Earl Morse Wilbur published an article in the periodical heralding the lake as one of "the seven greatest scenic wonders of the United States." In the article he described the three main routes to the relatively inaccessible lake. The shortest route led from the Southern Pacific Railroad at Medford and followed up the Rogue River Valley. A second route, known as "the Dead Indian Road," proceeded from the railroad at Ashland, passing by the Lake of the Woods and Pelican Bay on Klamath Lake. The third route left the railroad at Ager, California, and proceeded through Klamath Falls to Fort Klamath where it joined the Dead Indian Road. Wilbur went on to list four things that needed to be done to make Crater Lake a more popular resort:

But to make Crater Lake more popular as a resort for tourists and other visitors, much must yet be done to make it more easy to go there and more comfortable to stay. If it had the improved turnpikes, the easy stages, and the comfortable hotels which have made it easy for visitors to enjoy the grandeur of the Yosemite Valley without great fatigue or discomfort, Crater Lake would gradually and rapidly become recognized as Yosemite's great rival on the Pacific Coast. When the routes of approach have been improved, when a plain but comfortable hotel has been built, when an elevator has been constructed so that one may descend to the water without great exertion, and when a steam launch has been placed on the Lake, the four things will have been done which must be done before Crater Lake can expect to be visited by any considerable number of people from a distance. Perhaps the first step in this direction would be to have the Lake and its vicinity set aside as a National Park. . . . [34]

During the August 1896 expedition to Crater Lake Barton W. Evermann conducted research for the U.S. Fish Commission, the results of which were published the following year. While the lake was found to contain no fish, he reported favorably on the quality of the water and its potential for fish food. He noted that small crustaceans flourished in the water and salamanders occurred in abundance along the shore. Several larval insects and one species of mollusk were also found. He noted that the level of the lake sank at the rate of one inch every five to six days, depending on weather conditions. The temperature of the water at different depths was taken as follows:

Surface - 60°
Depth of 555 feet - 39°
Depth of 1,043 feet - 41°
Depth of 1,623 feet (bottom) - 46°

While the increase of temperature with the depth suggested "that the bottom" might "yet be warm from volcanic heat," it was determined that further observations were needed to "establish such an abnormal relation of temperatures in a body of water." [35]

In July 1897 an article appeared in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution describing the various scientific studies that had been conducted at Crater Lake. J.S. Diller, an employee of the U.S. Geological Survey, discussed the various geographical and geological features of the lake. Among his glowing observations which prompted him to call for national park status for Crater Lake were:

Aside from its attractive scenic features, Crater Lake affords one of the most interesting and instructive fields for the study of volcanic geology to be found anywhere in the world. Considered in all its aspects, it ranks with the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the Yosemite Valley, and the Falls of Niagara, and it is interesting to note that a bill has been introduced in Congress to make it a national park for the pleasure and instruction of the people. [36]

In January 1898 Frederick V. Colville, chief botanist of the Department of Agriculture, submitted a report on sheep grazing in the Cascade Range Forest Reserve. The investigation was performed in response to a request by the Department of the Interior for a disinterested study in view of the bitter controversy that had been raging over sheep grazing in the reserve. During the summer of 1896 several sheepherders and owners who were grazing sheep on the reserve were arrested under special instructions from the Attorney General of the United States. Later "these cases assumed the form of civil instead of criminal proceedings," and on September 3 suit was brought in the U.S. District Court of Oregon against several owners to enjoin them from grazing within the reserve. In May 1897, the Attorney General, in view of the expected passage of the Forest Management Act, issued instructions that the injunction suits be discontinued. Thus, subsequent to the passage of the act and the formulation of comprehensive rules and regulations the investigation by Colville was initiated.

After studying the sheep grazing problem in the reserve, Colville rejected the two proposals that had been recommended as remedial measures--the total exclusion of sheep and the abolition of the reserve. Instead he proposed ten recommendations that should be taken at once "to save and perpetuate the timber supply and the water supply of middle Oregon:"

1 . Exclude sheep from specified areas about Mount Hood and Crater Lake.

2. Limit the sheep to be grazed in the reserve to a specified number, based on the number customarily grazed there.

3. Issue five-year permits allowing an owner to graze on a specified tract, limiting the number of sheep to be grazed on that tract, and giving the owner the exclusive grazing right.

4. Require as a condition of each permit that the owner use every effort to prevent and to extinguish fires on his tract, and report in full the cause, extent, and other circumstances connected with each fire.

5. Reserve the right to terminate a permit immediately if convinced that an owner is not showing good faith in the protection of the forests.

6. In the allotment of tracts secure the cooperation of the wool-growers association of Crook, Sherman, and Wasco counties through a commission of three stockmen, who shall receive written applications for range, adjudicate them, and make recommendations, these recommendations to be reviewed by the forest officer and finally passed upon by the Secretary of the Interior.

7. Ask the county associations to bear the expenses of the commission.

8. Charge the cost of administration of the system to the owners in the form of fees for the permits.

9. If the woolgrowers decline to accept and to cooperate in the proposed system, exclude sheep absolutely from the reserve.

10. If after five years' trial of the system forest fires continue unchecked, exclude sheep thereafter from the reserve.

Relative to the area around Crater Lake and Mount Hood that he wished to see closed to sheep grazing, Colville stated:

The first step toward a satisfactory system of sheep-grazing regulations in the Cascade Reserve is to provide absolute protection for those places which the people of the State require as public resorts or for reservoir purposes. The grandeur of the natural scenery of the Cascades is coming to be better known. Even before the forest reserve was created a movement was on foot to have the Mount Hood region and the Crater Lake region set aside as national parks, and since the reserve was created the eminent desirability and propriety of the earlier movement has been clearly recognized, both in the continued efforts of the people to keep sheep from grazing in these regions and in the concession in the petition of the sheep owners that if the Cascade Reserve as a whole be abolished the Crater Lake and Mount Hood regions be maintained as smaller and separate reserves on which sheep be not allowed to graze. . . .

In terms of how much land should be included in the closed area at Crater Lake, he recommended:

After going twice carefully over the ground at Crater Lake and consulting with various men well informed on the subject, especially Capt. O.C. Applegate, of Klamath Falls, I question whether a better area can be adopted than that covered by the special Crater Lake contour map, published by the United States Geological Survey, which extends from longitude 122° to 122° 15', and from latitude 42° 50' to 43° 04'. At present no sheep are grazed in the vicinity of Crater Lake, but for a few years up to and including 1896 a small amount of summer grazing was carried on in the watershed of Anna Creek and that of the upper Rogue River. [37]

In 1899 some of the recommendations of the Colville study were implemented. Upon the recommendation of the General Land Office the Secretary of the Interior approved permits to graze a limited number of sheep within restricted areas of the Cascade Range Forest Reserve. [38]

While the sheepherding controversy continued in the reserve Crater Lake received increasing attention in national periodicals. The thrust of these articles was for greater protection of the reserve and national park designation for Crater Lake. One such article appeared in the February 17, 1898, issue of Nature. The author described the scenic beauty and relative inaccessibility of the lake:

Crater Lake is situated nearly in 43° N. and 122° W. It may be reached from several stations on the railway between Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco, by roads, usually bad, and as yet there is no house of any kind near its shore. Leaving the Southern Pacific Railway at Medford, one may reach it by 85 miles of road up the Rogue River valley. From Ashland a road of 95 miles must be traversed; but the best road--one which is practicable for bicycles--is from Ager, Cal., past the deserted Fort Klamath, a distance of 116 miles. The whole country is covered with dense coniferous forest. In approaching the lake, there is a steep climb for about three miles; then the forest-clad mountain slope gives place to a nearly level plateau, carpeted in autumn with flowers, across which one walks a few hundred yards with nothing to see, until suddenly a precipice of 900 feet yawns at one's very feet, and deep below the dazzling blue water of Crater Lake spreads far and wide. The weird grandeur of the scene accounts to the full for the superstitious awe with which the Indians of the district regard the lake. [39]

In the aftermath of the Forest Management Act, which made provision for the survey of the forest reserves, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution on February 28, 1898, "calling on the Secretary of the Interior for a report on the survey of the forest reserves' by the U.S. Geological Survey. The summary section of the report, which was devoted to a description of the resources and activities in the Cascade Range Forest Reserve stated that it consisted of 4,492,800 acres, of which 461,920 were railroad land. Some 95 percent of the reserve was forested with 75 percent "marked by fire" and 90 percent "badly burned." Accordingly, a force of two rangers, five forest guards, and thirty fire watchers was recommended for the reserve. Furthermore the report contained the following data on the reserve:

A rugged mountainous region, densely timbered on the western slope, with much open land cleared by fire, and suitable for grazing.

Fire has done, and is still doing, very serious injury.
Irrigation is but little practiced on either slope.
Mining has little present or prospective importance.
Agriculture can attain little development within the reserve.
The grazing of sheep should be permitted tentatively and under careful restrictions.
The commercial development of this reserve is not demanded for the present. [40]

During 1900-01 various boundary changes were made to the Cascade Range Forest Reserve. On October 9, 1899, citizens of Wasco County submitted the following petition to the General Land Office:

We ask that you extend the reserve, and include within its borders the line of townships adjoining it on the east, or, in other words, we pray you that the east line of the Cascade Forest Reserve be moved 6 miles farther east than at present, between the East Fork of Hood River on the north and White River on the south, and that all of township 1 north of range 11 east of the Willamette meridian also be included in said forest reserve, and that all herded stock be excluded therefrom.

After several studies of the question were conducted by Forest Superintendent S.B. Ormsby a presidential proclamation was issued on July 1, 1901, adding 142,080 acres to the reserve. This addition included most of the land requested by the Wasco County citizens, but excluded "township 1 north, range 11 east, and the north 1/2 of township 1 south" because there were many permanent settlers on those lands. At the recommendation of Ormsby the proclamation included the addition of "township 5 south, ranges 9 and 10 east, and the strip of land lying directly south thereof and extending to the north line of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation."

On June 29, 1900, two townships comprising 46,080 acres were eliminated from the reserve by executive order. Townships 22 and 23 south, range 9 east on the eastern border of the reserve were eliminated on behalf of ranchers and sheep owners who prior to the creation of the reserve had established homes and made improvements on their lands. The townships were deemed nonessential to forest usage and water conservation purposes, their primary value being derived from agricultural utilization. As they were on the border of the reserve, it was determined that they could be eliminated without affecting the integrity or obstructing the control of the reservation. [41]

(No. 6)

By the President of the United States of America

A PROCLAMATION

[CIRCULAR.]

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
GENERAL LAND OFFICE,
Washington, D. C., June 30, 1897.

1. Under the authority vested in the Secretary of the Interior by the act of Congress, approved June 4, 1897, entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other purposes," to make such rules and regulations and establish such service as will insure the objects for which forest reservations are created under section 24 of the act of March 3, 1891. (26 Stats., 1095), the following rules and regulations are hereby prescribed and promulgated:

OBJECT OF FOREST RESERVATION.

2. Public forest reservations are established to protect and improve the forests for the purpose of securing a permanent supply of timber for the people and insuring conditions favorable to continuous water flow.

3. It is the intention to exclude from these reservations, as far as possible, lands that are more valuable for the mineral therein, or for agriculture, than for forest purposes; and where such lands are embraced within the boundaries of a reservation, they may be restored to settlement, location, and entry.

PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF LAW AND REGULATIONS.

4. The law under which these regulations are made provides that any violation of the provisions thereof, or of any rules and regulations thereunder, shall be punished as is provided for in the act of June 4,1888 (25 Stats, 166), amending section 5388 of the Revised Statutes, which reads as follows:

That section fifty-three hundred and eighty-eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended so as to read as follows: "Every person who unlawfully cuts, or aids or is employed in unlawfully cutting, or wantonly destroys or procures to be wantonly destroyed, any timber standing upon the land of the United States which, in pursuance of law, may be reserved or purchased for military or other purposes, or upon any Indian reservation, or lands belonging to or occupied by any tribe of Indians under authority of the United States, shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned not more than twelve months, or both, in the discretion of the court."

This provision is additional to the penalties now existing in respect to punishment for depredations on the public timber. The Government has also all the common-law civil remedies, whether for the prevention redress of injuries which individuals possess.

5. The act of February 24, 1897 (29 Stats., 594), entitled "An act to prevent forest fires on the public domain," provides:

That any person who shall wilfully or maliciously set on fire, or cause to be set on fire, any timber, underbrush, or grass upon the public domain, or shall carelessly or negligently leave or suffer fire to burn unattended near any timber or other inflammable material, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the same, shall be fined in a sum not more than five thousand dollars or be imprisoned for a term of not more than two years, or both.

SEC. 2. That any person who shall build a camp fire, or other fire, in or near any forest, timber, or other inflammable material upon the public domain, shall, before breaking camp or leaving said fire, totally extinguish the same. Any person failing to do so shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the same, shall be fined in a sum not more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for a term of not more than one year, or both.

SEC. 3. That in all cases arising under this act the fines collected shall be paid into the public-school fund of the county in which the lands where the offense was committed are situate.

Large areas of the public forests are annually destroyed by fire, originating in many instances through the carelessness of prospectors, campers, hunters, sheep herders, and others, while in some cases the fires are started with malicious intent. So great is the importance of protecting forests from fire, that this Department will make special effort for the enforcement of the law against all persons guilty of starting or causing the spread of forest fires in the reservations in violation of the above provisions.

6. The law of June 4, 1897, for forest reserve regulations, also provides that—

The jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over persons within such reservations shall not be affected or changed by reason of the existence of such reservations, except so far as the punishment of offenses against the United States therein is concerned; the intent and meaning of this provision being that the State wherein any such reservation is situated shall not, by reason of the establishment thereof, lose its jurisdiction, nor the inhabitants thereof their rights and privileges as citizens, or be absolved from their duties as citizens of the State.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE USES.

7. It is further provided, that—

Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting the egress or ingress of actual settlers residing within the boundaries of such reservations, or from crossing the same to and from their property or homes; and such wagon roads and other improvements may be constructed thereon as may be necessary to reach their homes and to utilize their property under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. Nor shall anything herein prohibit any person from entering upon such forest reservations for all proper and lawful purposes, including that of prospecting, locating, and developing the mineral resources thereof: Provided, That such persons comply with the rules and regulations covering such forest reservations.

The settlers residing within the exterior boundaries of such forest reservations, or in the vicinity thereof, may maintain schools and churches within such reservation, and for that purpose may occupy any part of the said forest reservation, not exceeding 2 acres for each schoolhouse and 1 acre for a church.

All waters on such reservations may be used for domestic, mining, milling, or irrigation purposes, under the laws of the State wherein such forest reservations are situated, or under the laws of the United States and the rules and regulations established thereunder.

8. The public, in entering, crossing, and occupying the reserves, for the purposes enumerated in the law, are subject to a strict compliance with the rules and regulations governing the reserves.

9. Private wagon roads and county roads may be constructed over the public lands in the reserves wherever they may be found necessary or useful, but no rights shall be acquired in said roads running over the public lands as against the United States. Before public timber, stone, or other material can be taken for the construction of such roads, permission must first be obtained from the Secretary of the Interior. The application for such privilege should describe the location and direction of the road, its length and width, the probable quantity of material required, the location of such material and its estimated value.

10. The permission to occupy public lands in the reserves for schoolhouses and churches, as provided for in the law, is merely a privilege, and is subject to any future disposition that may be made of such tracts by the United States.

11. The right of way in and across forest reservations for irrigating canals, ditches, flumes and pipes, reservoirs, electric-power purposes, and for pipe lines, will be subject to existing laws and regulations.

12. Under time term "to regulate their occupancy and use," the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to grant such licenses and privileges, from time to time, as many seem to him proper and not inconsistent with the objects of the reservations minor incompatible with the public interests.

13. The pasturing of live stock on the public lands in forest reservations will not be interfered with, so long as it appears that injury is not being done to the forest growth, and the rights of others are not thereby jeopardized. The pasturing of sheep is, however, prohibited in all forest reservations, except those in the States of Oregon and Washington, for the reason that sheep-grazing has been found injurious to the forest cover, and, therefore, of serious consequence in regions where the rain fall is limited. The exception in favor of the States of Oregon and Washington is made because the continuous moisture and abundant rainfall of the Cascade and Pacific Coast ranges make rapid renewal of herbage and undergrowth possible. Owners of sheep are required to make application to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for permission to pasture, stating the number of sheep and the location on the reserves where it is desired to graze. Permission will he refused or revoked whenever it shall appear that sheep are pastured on parts of the reserves specially liable to injury, or upon and in the vicinity of the Bull Run Reserve, Crater Lake, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, or other well-known places of public resort or reservoir supply. Permission will also cease upon proof of neglect as to the care of fires made by herders, or of the violation by them of any of the forest reserve regulations.

RELINQUISHMENT OF CLAIMS.

14. The law provides that where a tract within a forest reservation is covered by an unperfected bona fide claim, or by a patent, the settler or owner may, if he so desires, relinquish the tract to the United States and select in lieu thereof a tract of vacant public land outside of the reservation, open to settlement, not exceeding in area the tract relinquished. No charge is to be made for placing the new entry of record. This is in consideration of previous fees and commissions paid. Where the entry is in lieu of an unperfected one, the necessary fees in the making of final proof and issuance of certificate will be required. Where the entry is based on an unsurveyed claim, as provided for in paragraph 17 hereof, all fees and commissions attending entry must be paid, none having been paid previously.

15. Where an application is made for change of entry under the above provision, it must be filed in the land office for the district in which the lieu selection lies. The application must describe the tract selected and the tract covered by the unperfected entry, and must be accompanied by a formal relinquishment to the United States of all right, title, and interest in and to the tract embraced in said entry. There must also be filed with the application an affidavit, corroborated by at least two witnesses cognizant of the facts, showing the periods and length of claimant's residence on his relinquished claim, as credit for the time spent thereon will be allowed under the new entry in computing the period of residence required by law. Residence and improvements are requisite on the new entry the same as on the old, subject only, in respect to residence, to a deduction of the period covered by the relinquished entry.

16. Where final certificate or patent has issued, it will be necessary for the entry-man or owner thereunder to execute a quitclaim deed to the United States, have the same recorded on the county records, and furnish an abstract of title, duly authenticated, showing chain of title from the Government back again to the United States. The abstract of title should accompany the application for change of entry, which must be filed as required by paragraph 15, without the affidavit therein called for.

17. In case a settler on an unsurveyed tract within a forest reservation desires to make a change of settlement to land outside of the reservation and receive credit for previous residence, he should file his application as provided for in paragraph 15, including the affidavit as to residence therein required, and describing his unsurveyed claim with sufficient accuracy to enable the local land officers to approximately determine its location.

18. All applications for change of entry or settlement must be forwarded by the local officers to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for consideration, together with report as to the status of the tract applied for.

LOCATION AND ENTRY OF MINERAL LANDS.

19. The law provides that "any mineral lands in any forest reservation which have been or which maybe shown to be such, and subject to entry under the existing mining laws of the United States and the rules and regulations applying thereto, shall continue to be subject to such location and entry," notwithstanding the reservation. This makes mineral lands in the forest reserves subject to location and entry under the general mining laws in the usual manner.

20. Owners of valid mining locations made and held in good faith under the mining laws of the United States and the regulations thereunder are authorized and permitted to fell and remove from such mining claims any timber growing thereon for actual mining purposes in connection with the particular claim from which the timber is felled or removed. (For further use of timber by miners see below, under heading "Free use of timber and stone.")

FREE USE OF TIMBER AND STONE.

21. The law provides, that—

The Secretary of the Interior may permit, under regulations to be prescribed by him, the use of timber and stone found upon such reservations, free of charge, by bona fide settlers, miners, residents, and prospectors for minerals, for firewood, fencing, buildings, mining, prospecting, and other domestic purposes, as may be heeded by such persons for such purposes; such timber to be used within the State or Territory, respectively, where such reservations may be located.

This provision is limited to persons resident in forest reservations who have not a sufficient supply of timber or stone on their own claims or lands for the purposes enumerated, or for necessary use in developing the mineral or other natural resources of the lands owned or occupied by them. Such persons, therefore, are permitted to take timber and stone from public lands in the forest reservations under the terms of the law above quoted, strictly for their individual use on their own claims or lands owned or occupied by them, but not for sale or disposal, or use on other lands, or by other persons, provided that where the stumpage value exceeds $100, application must be made to and permission given by the Department.

SALE OF TIMBER.

22. The following provision is made for the sale of timber within forest reservations in limited quantaties:

For the purpose of preserving the living and growing timber and promoting the younger growth on forest reservations, the Secretary of the Interior, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, may cause to be designated and appraised so much of the dead, matured, or large growth of trees found upon such forest reservations as may be compatible with the utilization of the forests thereon, and may sell the same, for not less than the appraised value, in such quantities to each purchaser as he shall prescribe, to be used in the State or Territory in which such timber reservation may he situated, respectively, but not for export therefrom. Before such sale shall take place, notice thereof shall be given by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, for not less than sixty days, by publication in a newspaper of general circulation, published in the county in which the timber is situated, if any is therein published, and, if not, then in a newspaper of general circulation published nearest to the reservation, and also in a newspaper of general circulation published at the capital of the State or Territory where such reservation exists; payments for such timber to be made to the receiver of the local land office of the district wherein said timber may be sold, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; and the moneys arising therefrom shall be accounted for by the receiver of such land office to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in a separate account, and shall be covered into the Treasury. Such timber, before being sold, shall be marked and designated, and shall be cut and removed under the supervision of some person appointed for that purpose by the Secretary of the Interior, not interested in the purchase or removal of such timber nor in the employment of the purchaser thereof. Such supervisor shall make a report in writing to the Commissioner of the General Land Office and to the receiver in the land office in which such reservation shall be located of his doings in the premises.

The sale of timber is optional, and the Secretary may exercise his discretion at all times as to the necessity or desirability of any sale.

23. While sales of timber may be directed by this Department without previous request from private individuals, petitions from responsible persons for the sale of timber in particular localities will be considered. Such petitions must describe the land upon which the timber stands, by legal subdivisions, if surveyed; if unsurveyed, as definitely as possible by natural landmarks; the character of the country, whether rough steep or mountainous, agricultural or mineral, or valuable chiefly for its forest growth; and state whether or not the removal of the timber would result injuriously to the objects of forest reservation. If any of the timber is dead, estimate the quantity in feet, board measure, with the value, and state whether killed by fire or other cause. Of the live timber, state the different kinds and estimate the quantity of each kind in trees per acre. Estimate the average diameter of each kind of timber, and estimate the number of trees of each kind per acre above the average diameter. State the number of trees of each kind above the average diameter it is desired to have offered for sale, with an estimate of the number of feet, board measure, therein, and an estimate of the value of the timber as it stands. These petitions must be filed in the proper local land office for transmission to the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

24. Before any sale is authorized the timber will be examined and appraised, and other questions involved duly investigated, by an official designated for the purpose; and upon his report action will be based.

25. When a sale is ordered, notice thereof will be given by publication by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in accordance with the law above quieted; and if the timber to be sold stands in more than one county, published notice will be given in each of the counties, in addition to the required general publication.

26. The time and place of filing bids, and other information for a correct understanding of the terms of each sale, will be given in the published notices. Timber is not to be sold for less than the appraised value, and when a bid is accepted, a certificate of acceptance will be issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office to the successful bidder, who, at the time of making payment, must present the same to the receiver of public moneys for the land district in which the timber stands. The Commissioner of the General Land Office must approve all sales, and he may, in cases in excess of $500 in value, make allotments of quantity to several bidders at a fixed price, if he deems proper, so as to avoid monopoly. The right is also reserved to reject any or all bids. A reasonable cash deposit with the proper receiver of public moneys, to accompany each bid, will be required.

27. Within thirty days after notice to a bidder of an award of timber to him, payment must be made in full to the receiver for the timber so awarded. The purchaser must have in hand the receipt of the receiver for such payment before he will be allowed to cut, remove, or otherwise dispose of the timber in any manner. The timber must all be cut and removed within one year from the date of the notice by the receiver of the award; failing to so do, the purchaser will forfeit his right to the timber left standing or unremoved and to his purchase money.

28. Sixty days' notice must be given by the purchaser, through the local land office, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, of the proposed date of cutting and removal of the timber, so that an official may be designated to supervise such cutting and removal, as required by the law. Upon application of purchasers, permits to erect temporary sawmills for the purpose of cutting or manufacturing timber purchased under this act may be granted by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, if not incompatible with the public interests. Instructions as to disposition of tops, brush, and refuse, to be given through the supervisors in each case, must be strictly complied with as a condition of said cutting and manufacture.

29. The act provides that the timber sold shall be used in the State or Territory in which the reservation is situated, and is not to be exported therefrom. Where a reservation lies in more than one State or Territory, this requires that the timber shall be used in the State or Territory where cut.

30. Receivers of public moneys will issue receipts in duplicate for moneys received in payment for timber, one of which will be given the purchaser and the other will be transmitted to the Commissioner of the General Land Office in a special letter, reference being made to the letter from the Commissioner authorizing the sale, by date and initial and with title of case as therein named. Receivers will deposit to the credit of the United States all such moneys received, specifying that the same are on account of sales of public timber on forest reservations under the act of June 4, 1897. A separate monthly account current (form 4—105) and quarterly condensed account (form 4—104) will be made to the Commissioner of the General Laud Office, with a statement in relation to the receipts under the act as above specified.

31. Special instructions will be issued for the guidance of officials designated to examine and appraise timber, to supervise its cutting and removal, and for carrying out other requirements connected therewith.

BINGER HERMANN,
Commissioner

Approved June 30, 1897.
C. N. BLISS, Secretary

AMENDMENTS TO
RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING FOREST RESERVES.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

GENERAL LAND OFFICE,

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 21, 1898.

The following amendments and additions to the Rules and Regulations governing Forest Reserves, issued June 30, 1897, are hereby prescribed and promulgated:

Paragraph 11 is amended to read as follows:

11. The right of way in and across forest reservations for irrigating canals, ditches, flumes and pipes, reservoirs, electric power purposes, and for pipe lines, will be subject to existing laws and regulations; and the applicant or applicants for such right will be required, if deemed advisable by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, to give bond in a satisfactory surety company to the Government of the United States, to be approved by him, such bond stipulating that the makers thereof will pay to the United States for any and all damage to the public lands, timber, natural curiosities or other public property on such reservation or upon the lands of the United States, by reason of such use and occupation of the reserve, regardless of the cause or circumstances under which such damage may occur.

Paragraph 27 is amended to read as follows:

27. Within thirty days after notice to a bidder of an award of timber to him, payment must be made in full to the Receiver for the timber so awarded; or equal payments therefor may be made in thirty, sixty and ninety days from date of such notice, at the option of the purchaser. The purchaser must have in hand the receipt of the Receiver for each payment before he will be allowed to cut, remove, or otherwise dispose of the timber covered by that payment. The timber must all be cut and removed within one year from the date of the notice by the Receiver of the award; failing to so do, the purchaser will forfeit his right to the timber left standing or unremoved and to his purchase money: Provided, that the limit of one year herein named may be extended by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in his discretion, upon good and sufficient reasons being shown.

The following additional regulations are prescribed:

32. In order to meet the necessities of persons, firms, companies, or corporations, whose business requires a large and continuous supply of timber, it is hereby provided that where the annual consumption exceeds one million feet of timber, board measure, application for the succeeding year's supply may be made in time to permit the appraisement and sale of the timber desired six months in advance of its actual need.

33. Where timber has been appraised and advertised for sale and no satisfactory bid has been offered, a new appraisement and sale may be ordered, from time to time, until an appraisement and sale has been made, which shall receive the approval of the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

BINGER HERMANN
Commissioner.

Approved March 21, 1898:
C. N, BLISS,
Secretary.

The Cascade Range Forest Reserve occupies a narrow and irregular strip along the crest and on both slopes of the Cascade Mountains in western Oregon, and extends from near the Columbia River to within about 20 miles of the California line. Adjoining it on the north and west is the Bull Run timber land reserve, which, for the purposes of this description, may be considered as forming part of its larger neighbor. The Cascade Range Forest Reserve has an area of 4,492,800 acres, and includes 461,920 acres of railroad land, of which 34,560 acres are now in litigation. The Bull Run timber land reserve, with an area of 142,080 acres, includes 24,160 acres claimed as railroad land, but as to which a suit is now pending. The eastern slope of the Cascade Range is comparatively dry, and the forest is generally open enough to furnish pasturage, while the forest on the western slope is exceedingly dense and affords grazing only in the numerous areas which have been burned. The trade relations of the reserve have, so far, been restricted to the cutting of small amounts of timber on the western slope and to supplying settlers and ranchers outside of the reserve from the forests of yellow and lodge pole pine east of the summit. It will be convenient to describe the two slopes separately.

THE FOREST, EASTERN SLOPE.

The forest on the eastern slope is open and grassy in its lower part, dense and composed of smaller trees higher up, and interrupted throughout by burned areas, often of great size, on many of which grass has entirely replaced the forest. The principal trees are yellow pine and Douglas fir (red fir) in the lower portions, and lodge-pole pine and lowland fir (white fir) at higher elevations. Occasionally the latter tree predominates in a mixed forest of Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, larch, hemlock, and mountain white pine (silver pine). The Douglas fir is here a tall tree with a long, clear trunk. In the open its reproduction is vigorous, but less so under cover. It is of much smaller size here than on the western slope. The yellow pine forms the bulk of the forest at moderate elevations. Below 4,000 feet its reproduction is generally good. It has suffered very severely from the tramping out of its seedlings, in different parts of this slope, by the hoofs of pasturing sheep.

The lowland fir (white fir) is a tall tree, with clear trunk in good situations, and good reproduction throughout.

The mountain white pine (silver pine) occurs at moderate elevations in mixture with the Douglas spruce and various firs. It is a tall tree with long, clear trunk, of great value for lumber and with good powers of reproduction.

The larch reaches a diameter of from 4 to 5 feet. A tall tree with a very short crown, it reproduces itself admirably, seeding up many burned areas, if not interfered with by sheep, to the north of the Metolius River.

Lodge pole, or black pine, here, as elsewhere, is a small tree with remarkable powers of reproduction. It occupies situations avoided by more valuable trees, but is apt to disappear and be replaced by grass and brush as the result of repeated fires.

Engelmann spruce occurs chiefly in hollows and basins. Its reproduction is excellent near seed trees, and the young seedlings bear shade well. In places it is an important factor in the forest.

The black hemlock is a subalpine tree with good reproduction, but without commercial importance at present.

The white-bark pine occurs on the summits of the mountains, and need not be considered here. Other trees are the western cedar, amabilis fir, and western hemlock.

FIRE, EASTERN SLOPE.

Fires have done more injury in this reserve than all other causes put together. It is believed that fire has occurred in every township within the reserve and in nearly every section, and it is evident that many hundred thousand feet of timber have been destroyed. Fires increase, in general, proportionately to the extent of human occupation of any region up to the time when a change of public sentiment takes place. After that time the safety of the forest increases in proportion to the density of population. Protection against fire is made difficult at present by the absence of trails and by the nature of the forests.

The larger number of fires on this slope are said to be kindled by campers and Indians. Sheep men have undoubtedly been responsible for many fires in the past, and, as noted by Mr. Coville, the broken character of the forest which permits them to graze their herds on this reserve would not have existed without the agency of fire.

Fires started in heavy timber are often exceedingly difficult to extinguish. Such a fire was burning in the vicinity of the Lake of the Woods, in the southern part of the reserve, August 27 and 28, 1896, and was carefully studied at that time. At 6 p. m., although it was said to have been started on the morning of the same day, it had already burned holes from 2 to 3 feet deep, following, the roots of dead trees, and was slowly spreading along the surface. The vegetable litter on the ground was dry; but, except for the dead timber standing and prostrate in the woods, this fire would have died out of itself. It was kept alive and enabled to spread chiefly by the fallen logs. Where such a log lay on the ground the fire either crept along its under surface near the ground if the bark had fallen, or if the bark remained it moved usually beneath it, reappearing at intervals along the trunk and igniting the dry humus and litter within reach. Half-rotten logs carried the fire with bright flame even when the bark had not fallen. Dead standing stubs from 50 to 90 feet high assisted powerfully in spreading the damage, for the fire ascends such trunks beneath the bark, reappearing at intervals, and burning fiercely under the chimney-like draft established. Instead of falling at once such stubs break off high above the ground from time to time and scatter burning fragments far and wide. In heavy winds the blazing bark is detached and carried far ahead of the main fire, and so forms a powerful factor in carrying and spreading the conflagration. To extinguish this particular fire, which was said to have been wantonly started by a party of campers, would have required the labor of several men for at least a day.

Fires in the open yellow pine do much less serious damage and are far easier to control.

WATER, EASTERN SLOPE.

The effect of forests on irrigation in the lava area of the southern portion is probably not important, since all rain sinks at once into the ground and reappears in the enormous springs which dot the country here and there. Farther north the question is different. The testimony on this point is conflicting, but by far the greater weight of evidence tends to show that the flow of streams has already been seriously influenced by forest fires. The supply of water from this slope is very important to local settlements and should be protected.

MINING, EASTERN SLOPE.

I am not aware that mines of any importance have been developed or that prospects for such development exist.

AGRICULTURE, EASTERN SLOPE.

Agriculture within the reserve can never be important. A few ranches are included by the boundaries, but, so far as known, little cultivation is carried on, as the climate is unfavorable.

GRAZING, EASTERN SLOPE.

The most important question touching the reserve at this time regards the pasturage of sheep. During the past summer about 190,000 sheep were grazed within the reserve, two-thirds of which occupied ranges on the eastern slope. The careful investigation of Mr. Coville, botanist of the Department of Agriculture, the study by Mr. Henry S. Graves under my direction in 1896, and other trustworthy evidence leave no room to doubt that the pasturage of sheep on any area constitutes, so long as it lasts, a prohibitory tax on the reproduction of the forest.

It can not be questioned that sheep grazing in this reserve owes its existence directly to forest fires. Without such fires the openings where the sheep feed would never have been made, nor, after they were made, would many of them have been kept so free from trees. It is almost equally certain that sheep herders in the past have been in the habit of setting fires, although the evidence at hand goes to show that of late years this practice has been largely discontinued. Grazing in fresh burns is apt to be followed by the discoloration and cheapening of the wool.

Sheep do not feed on the leaves or seedlings of coniferous trees, except in the way of desultory nibbling or when at the point of starvation. The harm which they do is of another character altogether. The seedlings of conifers are small and very susceptible to injury during their early life. When a band of sheep passes over an area on which such seedlings grow the trampling of the sharp hoofs not only cuts and bruises the young trees, but it also exposes their roots, and so leads directly to their destruction. On dry slopes, where reproduction is difficult at best, the passage of a band of sheep makes it simply impossible until a new crop of seedlings can replace those which have been destroyed. It is in this way, and not at all by injury to the old trees (an alleged fact frequently contradicted by sheep men), that sheep hurt the forest.

In so far as sheep tend to destroy or prevent a dense forest cover, they injure the water supply, and that they have done both to some extent, at least indirectly, is evident. The effect of their action is not believed , however, to have been seriously felt hitherto. In this connection it may be well to add that actual observations at Fort Klamath and Government Camp, quoted by Mr. Coville, indicate that snow lasts about six weeks longer in the forest than in the open.

It is believed that the reproduction of considerable parts of the eastern slope may be postponed with safety to the forest, and that in consequence sheep herding may there be permitted under suitable restrictions. The importance of this industry to the three counties where the sheep are chiefly owned (Wasco, Crook, and Sherman) is so great that its sudden prohibition within the reserve would work great hardships. Under the circumstances, the wiser course appears to be to permit the pasturage of definite numbers of sheep on definite ranges for the present, and in a tentative spirit, throwing the burden of the prevention of the forest fires upon the sheep owners, and in general following the course advocated by Mr. Coville and summarized in Part II of this report. It should not be forgotten that overgrazing will lead to the extension of the ranges by means of fire. For a more extended treatment of this subject, reference is made to Mr. Coville's admirable report, in the conclusions of which I fully concur.

THE FOREST, WESTERN SLOPE.

The forest of the western slope is tall, dense, moist, and rich in valuable kinds of trees. The range is more heavily timbered in its northern and central portions than toward the south, but the forest throughout is very valuable, rapid, or fairly rapid in growth, and of great prospective commercial importance.

The most important tree is the Douglas fir (red fir), which reaches in places a height of over 250 feet and a diameter near the ground of from 10 to 12 feet. It forms very extensive forests on the lower slopes, sometimes almost without admixture of other trees. The reproduction is wonderfully good in places, especially in the open. Up to an elevation of 2,000 feet this is the most plentiful tree.

The western hemlock has great reproductive powers, and young trees of this species are plentiful in the forest, especially on fallen logs and dead stumps. Its wood is valuable for lumber, but has been little used hitherto. Its average dimensions may he given as follows: Height, 125 feet; diameter, 3 feet: length of clear trunk, 40 feet.

The western cedar, while of less size here than nearer the coast, is still a large tree of great economic value. It prefers moist land, has good reproductive powers, both within the forest and in the open, and will be one of the first trees cut in many localities.

The mountain white pine is another lumber tree of importance. It does not attain large size, but has a long, clear trunk, and produces excellent material.

The lowland fir (white fir) is often not of great size, as compared with other species growing with it, but it has as excellent reproduction, and great sylvicultural value as undergrowth.

The lodge pole pine is less widely distributed on the western than on the eastern slope. It occurs chiefly in portions where its great reproductive powers give it peculiar value.

The noble fir, a valuable lumber tree chiefly known locally as larch, reaches, in exceptional cases, a height of 300 feet, with a diameter of 6 or 7 feet near the ground. It is a common tree throughout the larger part of the reserve.

The sugar pine, whose northern limit is near the center of the reserve, extends also to the eastern slope, near Crater Lake. It is a large tree of the first economic value, but its reproduction in this locality is not strong.

Other trees are the Sitka spruce and the incense cedar, neither of which is common.

FIRE, WESTERN SLOPE.

Fire has done less damage on the western than on the eastern slope. Still, its ravages have been exceedingly severe, and it is of the first importance that they should be checked. Reference is made to the description of a fire in dense forest on the eastern slope. When such fires are assisted by violent winds they travel with great rapidity, and while the wind continues efforts to subdue them are ineffectual. As has already been mentioned in a previous part of this report, the object of organization against fire should be to reach the scene of a conflagration before it has had time to gather strength. Trails, therefore, are of the first importance.

WATER, WESTERN SLOPE.

Water for irrigation is of comparatively little importance except in the eastern part of this reserve. Floods are dangerous, and the protection of the mountain slopes is required on their account.

MINING, WESTERN SLOPE.

Mining is not known to have reached any development, nor to show promise for the future.

AGRICULTURE, WESTERN SLOPE.

Except in the vicinity of Detroit, where the agricultural lands within the reserve are practically all taken up, the climate usually forbids development of this kind within the boundaries. No special measures are required.

GRAZING, WESTERN SLOPE.

About one-third of the sheep pastured within the reserve occupy ranges on the western slope. Still more than those on the east, these bands depend for their livelihood on areas which have been cleared by fire, and from which the presence of the sheep excludes all but the most meagre reproduction. The measures which seem to be required have already been referred to.

FOREST FORCE.

It has already been recommended in Part II that one ranger be stationed at Oregon City and another at Roseburg. Five guards at or near Summit Camp, Detroit, Sisters, Big Meadows, and Fort Klamath, with 30 fire-watchers at local points, complete the list of men assigned to this reserve under the plan heretofore described.

FOREST MANAGEMENT.

Actual forest management will probably first be possible in the upper Santiam Valley, on the western slope, where the character of the reproduction indicates either clear cutting in strips or a system of selection fellings extremely localized. Operations should be delayed until a stronger demand becomes evident.

East of the summit provision will be required to furnish settlers and ranchers with small amounts of timber, but the commercial development of these forests is not at present required. Forest fires and the supervision of sheep ranging throughout the reserve must form the most important objects of management for some years to come. The regulations suggested by Mr. Coville, and quoted in Part II of this report, should be adopted; and it is here repeated that unless a year is to be lost in the enforcement of this reform measures must be taken at once to carry out Mr. Coville's plan. It is earnestly recommended that such action be taken without delay.

BOUNDARIES.

Study of the reserve has developed the fact that the present boundaries are far less faulty than had been supposed. Until more complete examination of them can be made it is recommended that they be allowed to remain without change.