838 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



During nearly twelve years' service in the Indian Bureau, I have 

 always found the Commissioners of Indian Affairs sympathetic with 

 any plan for the conservation of timber resources and ready to enforce 

 any regulation for the protection of the public interest, provided it did 

 not unfairly limit the legitimate private interests of the Indian owners. 

 The Department has consistently supported the Indian Service in its 

 efforts to enforce conservative lumbering on all forest lands. On April 

 10, 1920, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior approved regulations 

 to govern logging operations under all contracts for the purchase of 

 Indian timber that I believe represent as great progress as has been 

 made in this phase of American forestry practice. 



Within the first five years after the establishment of the forestry 

 work as a separate unit in the Indian Service, in February, 1910, very 

 embarrassing situations under old timber contracts on the Bad River, 

 Grand Portage, Lac Courte Oreille, Lac du Flambeau, and Menominee 

 Reservations were cleared up, new contracts made and prices of stump- 

 age increased. Sales of timber were also effected under the Leech 

 Lake, Red Lake, and White Earth jurisdictions in Minnesota, and the 

 first sales were made on the Jicarilla, Klamath, and Tulalip Reserva- 

 tions. The sales on the Jicarilla and the Tulalip Reservations estab- 

 lished record prices for those localities and the small sales on the 

 Klamath were significant as precursors of the development of an ex- 

 tensive industrial enterprise on that reservation. 



An unfortunate combination of circumstances, the details of which 

 may not with propriety be recited on this occasion, seriously impeded 

 the development of an improved organization of fire protection, timber 

 sales administration, and cruising vi^ork on Indian lands prior to 

 July 1, 1914. 



Almost at the beginning of the fiscal year 1915 preparations were 

 begun for the cruising of the Menominee Reservation and the gathering 

 of data for a contour map. This work was followed by systematic 

 valuation surveys on the Eastern Cherokee, Quinaielt, Flathead, Red 

 Lake, Spokane, and Siletz Reservations. The work was interrupted in 

 1918 and 1919 by the war, but was resumed in 1920, and the greater 

 part of the Klamath Reservation has been covered during the past two 

 years. Only the Menominee and Quinaielt Reservations have been en- 

 tirely covered. 



These surveys contemplate the making of a fairly accurate estimate 

 of the timber on each forty-acre tract, the acquisition of reliable infor- 



