FOEEST SERVICE. 477 



To deny the right of the public to its day in court would be to 

 open the door to frauds of every conceivable character. It is an 

 undeniable fact that there is a great deal of very valuable land in 

 the national forests. Land valuable for agriculture is open to entry 

 upon regular classification. The requirement of prior classification 

 makes it impossible to use the forest homestead law as a vehicle for 

 fraud. No such restriction is placed upon mineral entries; the final 

 report made upon these claims is the only barrier to securing under 

 the mineral laws, by means of false rej^resentations, patent to lands 

 of large value for other purposes. 



The sj'stem of requiring reports on each claim before patent issues 

 is necessary to preserve the integrity of the national forests, and is no 

 less necessary to the preservation and good standing of the mining 

 industry itself. Cases are frequent of " wildcat " companies seeking 

 to patent extensive areas of land barren of mineral or other value for 

 no other purpose than that of deceiving the innocent investor. In 

 such cases the patent issued by the Government is submitted as proof 

 of the value of the land, and investments are made based upon the 

 belief that the Government has required of the promoters a fair com- 

 pliance with the law. A system which meets with bitter protest and 

 vilification from such " wildcat " operators surely performs a duty to 

 the public, and is the friend of every legitimate mining enterprise. 



But the foregoing is only one of many classes of frauds which are 

 attempted under the guise of the mining laws. In every case the real 

 miner is the victim rather than the beneficiary. In very few instances 

 are doubtful operations promoted by practical miners or prospectors. 

 A few recent examples will serve to illustrate this very important 

 fact. 



A supposedly rich mineral strike was made in one of the national 

 forests, and there was a great rush of people to that vicinity. In- 

 dications were favorable to the establishment of a permanent gold 

 mining camp, and immediately people interested not directly in 

 mining, but in other related enterprises, flocked to the vicinity of the 

 new strike and began to establish settlements and places of business. 

 Owing to the topography of the country there was onh' one favorable 

 place for establishing a town, and this place was immediately covered 

 by mining locations. These mining claims were thereupon placed 

 in tlie hands of professional town-site boomers, who survej'ed the land 

 off into building lots under the guise of mining leases, which leases 

 carried an option of sale. By distorting the purpose of the mining 

 laws to suit their special case these speculators were enabled to retard, 

 but not actually to prevent, bona fide settlement and the establish- 

 ment of business much needed in oonneetiwi with the mineral develop- 

 ment of the country. It came out in the proofs regarding this case that 

 the leveling done by the holders of these mining leases, who in fact 

 were the actual purchasers of the ground, was construed by the town- 

 site speculators as mineral development, as was also the grading, and 

 the digging of cellars, etc. The worst feature was that there was no 

 means whereby the purchasers of these lots could secure an actual title 

 to the land purchased, the deeds being only quitclaim deeds carrying 

 no further obligation on the part of the town-site company or the 

 locators of the claims. There actually exist in Nevada, at the present 

 time, town sites portions of which are upon mining locations tlie 

 validity of which can probably never be established, and the holders 



