908 



ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



amounted to $500. In 37 cases prosecutions were instituted in State 

 courts under State laws, and 32 convictions were secured resulting in 

 fines aggregating $1,385, and 5 defendants were committed to jail. 

 It is interesting to note that in these cases prosecuted in State courts, 

 3 defendants were convicted for refusing to lend assistance in fighting 

 forest fires. In explanation of prosecutions in the State courts under 

 State laws it only need be said that this course is resorted to by the 

 district assistants to the Solicitor whenever more expeditious action 

 can be attained, and the practice is fuUy justified by the remarkable 

 success the department has had in these cases. 



A table, giving the details of the foregoing cases, is inserted in a 

 subsequent part of this report, beginning at page 1070, and there is 

 appended a resume of the cases by districts: 



Occupancy. — The designation "Occupancy trespasses," as used 

 in this report, includes the illegal use of unperfected mining claims for 

 conduct of saloons thereon; possession of land under clami of right 

 adverse to the United States; possession of land for water-power 

 development without permit from this department; acquirement of 

 patent to land through illegal means; and unlawful inclosure of lands. 



The office handled 42 occuf)ancy trespasses during the fiscal year, 

 3 of which were settled administratively by the receipt of $75.65, 

 representing the damage to the Government, and by the application 

 of one of the trespassers for a permit to cover the land inclosed by 

 him. Thirty-one cases were reported to the Attorney General, in 

 two of which decrees enjoining defendants from further continuance of 

 the trespasses were secured. Criminal prosecutions were had in 7 

 cases, in 4 of which defendants were fined in the aggregate $210, and 

 2 of them sentenced to jail in addition to their fines. Only 1 defend- 

 ant was acquitted. AU the other cases were pending at the close of 

 the year. Two defendants were convicted in the District of Idaho 

 for the maintenance of saloons on unj)erfected mining claims, 1 being 

 fined $150 and sentenced to 60 days in jail, and the other sentenced 

 for the same term but without the fine. Another defendant was con- 

 victed in Arizona for a similar offense and fined $50. The saloon cases 

 pending in Nevada at the close of the last fiscal year were abated dur- 

 mg this fiscal year by the elimination of the lands from the National 

 Forest. One defendant was convicted in the Western District of 

 Washington for the construction of a flume upon the Okanogan 

 National Forest without permit from the department and was fined 

 $10 and made to pay the costs of the suit, amounting to $362.21. 

 During the year 11 cases were handled involving the construction 

 upon National Forests, without permit, of water-power works. 

 ^^one of these cases was concluded during the year, but considerable 



