THE UNITED STATES FOREST RESERVES. 461 



and the extent of the timber already cut and the effects of the de- 

 foresting; also the relation of the timber supply to transportation, 

 local demands of miners and settlers, and the supply needed for more 

 ■distant markets. 



The examinations of the surveyors and forestry experts are not 

 limited to the present lines of the forest reserves, but, as provided 

 for in the statute authorizing the survey, they include public lands 

 adjacent to the reserves. 



It is anticipated that the sixty thousand square miles of forests 

 now included within the reserves can be thoroughly and economic- 

 ally surveyed within five years, provided adequate appropriations 

 are made for the purpose. Nearly enough if not sufficient data for 

 the construction of topographic and forestry maps have been secured 

 during the past field season to permit of an intelligent rectification of 

 the boundaries of most of the reserves containing areas where ap- 

 parent injury or injustice is being inflicted by the establishment of 

 the reserves. f 



The progress of the surveys during the short field season was 

 slow, as the reserves comprise some of the most rugged mountain 

 country in the West, much of which is covered with forests. No 

 maps existed of the larger portion of the reserves. The surveys for 

 the topographic and forestry maps of the Black Hills Reserve were 

 ■completed, and for a considerable portion of the Big Horn Reserve. 

 The forests were examined and the data platted, on Land Office and 

 sketch maps, for the unsurveyed areas of the other suspended re- 

 serves, and a large body of information was secured in relation to the 

 extent and character of the forests except on the Olympic Reserve. 



The examination of the Priest River and Teton Reserves has been 

 quite thorough, as well as that portion of the Bitter Root Reserve 

 lying in Montana. The Washington Reserve has received the most 

 careful examination in relation to its forest condition, although the 

 topographic mapping and triangulation have been limited to the east- 

 ern and western sides of the divide of the Cascade Range. Tri- 

 angulation has been initiated and extended over most of the Lewis 

 and Clark and Flathead Reserves in Montana, and in the Uinta Re- 

 serve triangulation has been carried forward upon the small area 

 mapped. 



Late in October and November the surveying parties were with- 

 drawn from the Northern States, owing to the severe weather, and 

 several of them were transferred to southern California, where they 

 are working in the San Gabriel and San Jacinto Reserves. 



Cost and Profit of Forest Reserves. — Will it pay to maintain 

 •Government forest reserves? This question is best answered by re- 

 ferring to what has been done in other countries. The published 



