88 FOKEST KESERVES IN IDAHO. 



country, now being taken up and settled, about and adjacent to the 

 Thunder Mountain district. To Avithdraw it is to paralyze the rapid 

 growth now going on in that section of the country. 



The map furnished me does not indicate the fact with certainty, 

 l)ut I believe the proposed reserve covers the Thunder ^lountain 

 minino- district and the town of Roosevelt, which is one of the most 

 rapid-growing and prosperous new places in Idaho. There are 

 several thousand j^eople in that section of the State, who went there 

 with the intention of staying, provided they could have the rights of 

 settlers in other sections of the country without being '* supervised."' 



BITTER ROOT ADDITION. 



As to the addition to the Bitter Root Reserve, which includes the 

 towns of Xewsome and Florence, there is absolutely nothing to l)e 

 said in faTor of it. Like the Bitter Root Forest Reserve it is at the 

 head of streams flowing into regions where irrigation is not needed 

 and where the complaint is "" too much water " rather than not enough. 

 The town of Florence, which was settled in IHiVl, and Avhich with its 

 immediate surroundings has produced over $100,000,000 in gold, is 

 still a flourishing and j^roducing country, and is built up with schools, 

 churches, public institutions, and homes. A statement of these facts 

 should in itself be sufficient to make the consideration of the creation 

 of a forest reserve impossible. 



I have already discussed the town of Xewsome in a former protest : 

 it is a grooving and prosperous town on the State wagon road. The 

 country lying between these two points contains some timber, but it is 

 worth infinitely more for home making and agricultural purposes. 



SQUAW (REEK DIVISION OF WEISER RESERVE. 



The Squaw Creek division of the Weiser Reserve has some merit, 

 provided that Garden Valley, at the lower end of it, is omitted, and 

 townships 17 north, ranges 1 east and 2 east, and townships 18, 1 east, 

 are eliminated, inasmuch as a line of railroad is now actually con- 

 structed to Council, and is under contract for an extension over these 

 very lands. 



Mr. Pinchot has furnished me with a map showing these proposed 

 reserves, and I presume that 3^ou also have a map of the same kind. 

 Should such not be the case you Avill please advise me and I will have 

 the map furnished me handed to you. 



I am sending this communication to you under the statement from 

 Mr. Pinchot that the same will be forwarded by you to the Secretary 

 of the Interior, and by the Secretary of the Interior to the President. 

 as I intend that my protest shall reach the President before any fur- 

 iher action is taken in regard to this matter. I also understand that 

 Ro further orders in regard to the creation of forest reserves as men- 

 tioned herein, or withdrawals for forest reserves, will be made until 

 after any protest which I have filed shall have been reached and 

 considered by the President. 

 Very truly, youMg, 



W. B. Heyburn. 



Hon. AV. A. Richards, 



Commissioner of the General Land O-flice. 



