South Dakota School Lands. 29 



matters to remain unsettled pending the very remote possibility of 

 the extinguishment of the National Forests. Accordingly on 

 January 4, 1910, an agreement was entered into by the State of 

 South Dakota, and the United States for the immediate adjust- 

 ment of this question and the results of this agreement form the 

 basis for the proclamation issued by President Taft on February 

 15, 1912. 



The essential facts of this agreement stripped of all unneces- 

 sary verbiage are as follows : 



(i) That the Stiite of South Dakota relinquish all claim to 

 sections 16 and 36 within the Black Hills National Forest that 

 were unsurveyed at the time of the creation of the Forest and 

 accept in lieu thereof lands of equal value and acreage. The 

 lieu lands to be selected from lands along the exterior boundaries 

 of the Forests and the selection to be made so that they will be 

 in one or two compact bodies. 



(2) That a board of three be constituted to carry out the 

 provisions of the agreement, one member to represent the State 

 of South Dakota, one the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, and these two representatives to select the third member. 

 The board completing the work consisted of F. F. Brinker, Com- 

 missioner of School and Public Lands of the State of South 

 Dakota; Paul D. Kelleter, Forest Supervisor of the Black Hills 

 National Forest; and Seth Bullock, of Deadwood, South Dakota. 



The school sections subject to the provisions of this agreement 

 had a total acreage of 60,143.92 acres, and the lieu area agreed 

 upon presents the same acreage, as well as being equal in value to 

 the school sections. For the Board to determine upon a lieu tract 

 presenting an equivalency in acreage as well as value to the school 

 sections surrendered, presented a difficulty of considerable magni- 

 tude which difficulty was, however, finally overcome, so that the 

 finally selected lieu area represents an exact equivalency in both 

 acreage and value. 



In view of the fact that this exchange is the first of its kind, 

 it became necessary to formulate plans for the field work without 

 having the benefit of similar work previously done, and, therefore, 

 as it may be a matter of some interest, a brief account of the 

 field work and other incidental steps leading up to the final 

 compilation of the figures involved may not be amiss. 



