DETAILS OF DISTRICT COMMISSIONER SYSTEM. 83 



concern exceeded a certain amount, say $1,000, a bond in a sum suffi- 

 ciently large to cover tlie value of the product above this sum should 

 be exacted. Miners should be placed upon the same footing as the 

 foregoing classes. The law or ruling which permits them to fell timber 

 on the public domain for mining purposes should be repealed. As it 

 now stands, mining companies take timber not only adjacent to their 

 claims, but miles away when it happens to be easier of access or choicer 

 in quality. There should be no exception. The timber standing on an 

 unpatented mining claim should require a license for its removal just 

 as much as though it were miles away. This should also apply to mill 

 sites located in connection with lode claims. The licenses issued to 

 any of the foregoing classes should be valid only in the district where 

 issued. The law permitting parties to buy timber lands valuable chiefly 

 for their timber and stone and unfit for agricultural purposes ought to 

 be repealed. It is now to a great extent a cloak made use of by the 

 big lumber concerns in the regions where it applies to acquire cheap 

 timber lands for their sawmill operations. Private ownership of forest 

 lands is a certain way to destroy the timber. The owners rarely look 

 for anything beyond some way to make it profitable as quickly as pos- 

 sible. The conservation of the forest upon any such tract is never 

 considered. 



A strong and persistent effort should be made to discourage agricul- 

 tural settlements in the heavy forest region. The value of the product 

 on many tracts of agricultural lands won from the forest will not equal 

 the value of the timber the tract could produce. More attention should 

 be directed to the capabilities of the arid regions, where the same 

 amount of labor bestowed upon irrigation as is now wasted in clearing 

 the heavy forest would result in far larger returns than can ever be 

 had from any tracts in the frosty mountain regions. No one should 

 be permitted to settle upon lands covered with a forest which requires 

 to be cleared away to fit it for agriculture without first submitting an 

 application to the district commissioner, who should examine the tract 

 in question, and if, in his opinion, the land was more valuable for agri- 

 cultural purposes than for its timber he should so indorse it upon the 

 application; and no filing at any land office upon lands covered with a 

 forest should be accepted unless indorsed in the affirmative by the 

 district commissioner. 



Xo person living upon unpatented lands, agricultural or other, should 

 be permitted to burn for clearing or remove for sale any timber growing 

 on the claim without a permit from the district commissioner. 



Parties desiring to open roads or trails through the forest which. 

 would involve the cutting of timber should be required to make written 

 applications to the commissioner, setting forth the point of beginning 

 and ending and for what purpose. 



Railroad companies operating lines which traverse the forest areas 

 should be compelled to provide thoroughly efficient spark arresters for 



