timber contract which provides for the moving of certain 

 portions of the merchantable stand. It is already provided. 

 however, that this removal shnll "be in accordance with the 

 best forest practices-, so that there is not only no danger of 

 forest destruction but provision is made for a natural re- 

 stocking which should be an improvement on the present stand. 

 The area contains improvements in the form of buildings, roac.s, 

 and trails, which will greatly help in the administration of 

 the forest by the government. 



Members of the commission look upon thin as the 

 best purchase which ha s yet been authorized, because the 

 forest is in the finest possible condition and less than thr -e~ 

 tenths of one per cent can be classed as burned-over land. 

 The price too is lower than the average paid for all lands 

 which have been acquired heretofore. 



With this purchase, and with, others jupt approved, 

 the total area approved for purchase under the Weeks law in 

 the eastern mountains is 1,077,000 acres. The officers of 

 the commission are the secretaries of war, agriculture, and 

 the interior, Senators Gallinger of Hew Hampshire and Smith 

 of Maryland, and Congressmen Lee of Georgia airl Hav7ley of 



Oregon. 





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