80 BOTANICAL SURVEY OF THE C(EUR D'ALENE MOUNTAINS. 



these trespassers are apprehended; but it is one thing- to apprehend 

 and another to convict. 



The railroads act indirectly as trespassers through their tie and fuel 

 contractors. Little regard is paid by the latter to public ownership of 

 land. The contractor cuts his ties where the timber is the choicest. 



The miner becomes a depredator under various pretexts. An old 

 ruling or law which permits him to cut timber from the public domain 

 for mining purposes is interpreted with the utmost latitude. II' the 

 miner happens to be a mine owner as well, his view's as to his rights 

 under this old law are extremely elastic. 



The farmer living in the timber becomes a trespasser by cutting fuel 

 on the public lands and disposing of it. Sometimes he sipiats on a 

 piece of land from which the timber tit for lumbering purposes has 

 already been removed. When all that is readily converted into fuel is 

 gone, he goes too. That a farmer living upon forest-covered lands 

 entered under the homestead laws can not legally sell the timber from 

 such lands until patented to him is a matter which is not generally 

 known. 



In the case of Shiver v. I J. S., 159 U. S. B., 401, the United States 

 Supreme Court decided, in an opinion handed down by Justice Brown, 

 that lands entered under the homestead laws are not by the mere act of 

 entry so segregated from the public domain as to give the homesteader 

 a right to sell timber from his entry. The decision is in part as follows: 



Where a citizen of the United States has made an entry njion the public lands of 

 the United States under and in accordanco with the homestead taws of the Tinted 

 States,, which entry is in all respects regular, he may cut such timber as is necessary 

 to clear the land for cultivation, or to build him a house, outbuildings, and fences, 

 and perhaps may exchange such timber for lumber to be devoted to the same pur- 

 poses; but he can not sell the timber for money, except so far as it may have been 

 cut for the purpose of cultivation; and in case he exceeds his rights in this respect, 

 he may be held liable in a criminal prosecution under section 2461 or section 5388 of 

 the Revised Statutes of the United States, or either of said sections, for cutting and 

 removing, after such homestead entry, and while the same is in full force, the stand- 

 ing trees and timber found and being on the land so entered as a homestead, 



A vigorous application of this decision would have a twofold result. 

 It would very materially diminish the number of farms taken up in the 

 heavy forest and the tires that spread from the efforts of the settlers to 

 clear up the land. While it is fairly well known that a squatter can 

 not legally remove the growing timber on the land he occupies for pur- 

 poses of sale, it is not at all understood and believed that this provision 

 applies to land upon which a homestead filing has been accepted at the 

 local I nited States land office. A great many with limited means settle 

 on forest lands expecting to be able to dispose of fuel and timber from 

 their chum in sufficient quantities to enable them to tide over the time 

 that must pass before it can be made fit for tillage. While the enforce- 

 ment of this decision will work hardships to many individuals, it can 

 not but be to the advantage of the public at large eventually, inasmuch 



