FOREST SERVICE. 483 



Private lands in thk forests. — Many persons have been misled 

 by the presence of private lands in tlie forests. It frequently hap- 

 pens that j^ersons passing through a forest see a great deal of good 

 agricultural land lying undeveloped and assume that because it is 

 within the boundaries of the forest it must be Government land, 

 when in point of fact it is privately owned. This has led to public 

 statements about the amount of undeveloped agricultural land in the 

 forests, which proved to be untrue, because the land referred to was 

 actually in private ownership. For years the general land laws 

 were in operation, and at the time of the establishment of the forests 

 large timber interests were amassing tracts of enormous size and 

 value. About 90 per cent of the western white pine in Idaho and 

 Montana — the most valuable tree of the Northwest — is owned by 

 private timber companies. A considerable part of this lies within 

 the national forests. The timber companies aimed to secure the 

 heaviest timber. Naturally this occurs on the best soils. Moreover 

 this private land is usually the most accessible to transportation. 



Private ownership of timberland retards agricultural develop- 

 ment. — The history of homesteads in heavily timbered regions of the 

 AVest has been that actual agricultural development has occurred 

 where the entryman had as a starting point a stretch of open land 

 such as a meadow or an area cleaned by some old fire. Heavily tim- 

 bered tracts have promptly passed into the hands of timberland 

 owners or are held by the entryman for timber speculation. The 

 reason for this condition is obvious. The timber has an actual tangi- 

 ble value for speculative purposes. The entryman is able to sell 

 out and realize a very substantial sum from a timber concern, or if 

 he is strong enough he can himself hold the timber for the increased 

 value which is certain to come. On the other hand, to clear the land 

 and destroy the timber means infinite hand labor, representing a cash 

 cost of from $75 to $250 per acre, according to the amount and condi- 

 tions of the stand of timber. The inevitable result has been acquisi- 

 tion of most of the timber by timber companies and timber holders. 



The most conspicuous example of tliis principle is found on the 

 Olympic National Forest, concerning which details were given in my 

 report for 1910. Precisely the same result has occurred in other 

 timbered regions. A careful analysis of all timbered homesteads 

 located in the Kaniksu Forest prior to its withdrawal, 95 in all, 

 showed that only l.Cl per cent of the cultivable land has been put to 

 agricultural use. A smiilar examination of 71 claims in the Clear- 

 water National Forest of Idaho showed that 1.1 per cent of the 

 claims had been cultivated. 



The effect on agriculture of j)rivate ownership of timl^erlands 

 is here very clearly shown. The timber owner holds the i)roperty 

 until he is ready to cut or until the values have risen to a point which 

 induces liim to sell. The lands are then logged and the owner offere 

 them for sale at such comjietitive prices as he can secure. The policy 

 of most companies has been to go rather slowly in selling their lands. 

 Recently public pressure has forced many comj^anies to establish land 

 departments to dispose of the agricultural liind. The prices obtained 

 range from $10 per acre up. In this process (he settler is not 

 helped. The land lies undeveloped until the company is ready to cut 

 the timber. The settler then has to pay a big price for the land. The 



