FOREST SERVICE. 



365 



way last year, but not all the changes called for by the data gatli- 

 ered have yet boon made. Eventually they ^^'i^ probably result in 

 the elimination of a total of some 6,250,000 acres and the addition 

 of over 3,000,000 acres. In the States of Washington, Oregon, 

 Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado only eliminations are 

 possible under the law, although the boundary examinations dis- 

 closed some 4,500,000 acres of land suitable for inclusion NNithin the 

 Forests. 



The diminishing public lands still remaining unsettled are at pres- 

 ent to a large extent unsuitable for agriculture, and the resulting 

 inability of many would-be settlers to find homesteads on the public 

 domain has led to an increasing pressure for the elimination of land 

 from the National Forests. In some localities there is a demand for 

 the elimination of cultivable timber lands. The problem thus pre- 

 sented is one of extraordinary difficulty. An investigation empha- 

 sizes the probability that heavily timbered lands, if opened to entry, 

 would pass into the hands of large owners of timber. Of 705,000 

 acres eliminated from the Olympic National Forest in 1900 and 1901 

 on the ground that the land was chiefly valuable for agriculture and 

 that the settlement of the country was being retarded, 523,720 acres 

 passed ultimately into the hands of owners who are holding it purely 

 as a timber speculation. Three companies and two individuals own 

 over 178,000 acres, in holdings of from 15,000 to over 80,000 acres 

 each. Of timbered homestead claims on this eliminated area, held 

 by 100 settlers, the total area under actual cultivation is onl}' 570 

 acres, an average of but 5.7 acres to each claim. It will be seen that 

 the original purpose of the elimination was defeated, and that bona 

 fide settlement was not materially advanced. 



The changes in gross area are shown by States in the following 

 table : 



National Forest gross areas, in acres, by States. 



80,819 acres transferred to San Isabel from I. as Animas National Forest. 



fcgi.'j.OOO arres of the Hlackfect Naliotial Forrst \v:us established as Glacier National Tark 



f 004 acres transferred to Wcnaha from Wallowa National lorest. 



<> 56,320 acres eliminated from Cheyenne National Forest, but continued as military reservation. 



