172 



ANNUAL REPORTS OP DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The average price of the timber cut was 77 cents per thousand feet, 

 b. m., or $1.09 less than the average price obtained in commercial 

 sales. 



The free-use business of the year is shown in Table 4. 



Table 4. — Amount cut under free-use permit and from free-use areas, fiscal 



year 1917. 



State. 



Number 

 of users. 



Timber cut. 



Board feet. 



Value. 



Alaska 



Arizona 



Arkansas 



California 



Colorado 



Florida 



Georgia 



Idaho 



Michigan 



Minnesota 



Montana 



Nebraska 



Nevada 



New Mexico 



Oklahoma 



Oregon 



South Dakota. . . 



Tennessee 



Utah 



Virginia 



Washington 



West Virginia . . . 

 Wyoming 



Total, 1917 

 Total, 1916 



3,559 



50 



3,094 



3,546 



89 



101 



7,773 



17 



39 



3,751 



6 



575 



6, 650 



556 



2,406 



1,331 



70 



5,584 



38 



302 



2 



1,822 



41,427 

 42,076 



7,973,000 



6,904,000 



53,000 



7,773,000 



8,729,000 



176,000 



26,000 



20,953,000 



105,000 



57,000 



9, 456, 000 



3 000 



1,605,000 



10,094,000 



208, 000 



10,995,000 



5,078,000 



274,000 



13,977,000 



164,000 



1,256,000 



5,000 



7,209,000 



113,073,000 

 119,483,000 



$7, 718. 50 



19,449.00 



96.60 



11,215.86 



11,271.48 



358. 90 



25.00 



29,981.78 



28.15 



114.00 



14,080.38 



30.00 



2, 730. 22 



19,383.00 



113.00 



9, 161. 07 



5,245.68 



144.00 



9,886.16 



61.29 



1,203.17 



2.50 



7, 501. 52 



149, 801. 86 

 184, 715. 08 



Of the amount cut in Alaska, 7,358,000 board feet was secured by 

 the Alaskan Engineering Commission, under a permit issued in ac- 

 cordance with the act of March 4, 1915. No attempt has been made 

 to estimate the amount taken without permit from the Alaskan 

 Forests under the regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture, or the 

 number of persons in the Territory availing themselves of the privi- 

 leges afforded by these regulations. 



EXTENSION OF TIMBER ESTIMATES. 



During the year 395,892 acres of National Forest timberlands were 

 estimated and mapped on an intensive basis, and 704,267 acres on an 

 extensive basis. In all, 21,205,820 acres of Forest lands have been 

 estimated and mapped by intensive methods, and 48,002,570 exten- 

 sively. This mapping and estimating has been an essential prelimi- 

 nary to the making of large sales, since otherwise it would be impos- 

 sible to make an accurate appraisal of the stumpage value. With 

 the increase in the timber business on the National Forests it is nec- 

 essary to increase correspondingly the amount of this work, both 

 to meet the needs of new applicants and to prepare for new sales to 

 companies which are completing large sales made in former years. 



