How the United States Lost an Opportunity^. 



. Why the Southern Half of the Turtle Mountain is not a National Forest; 



Some time ago before the matter 

 was understood as it is today there 

 was an agitation for the throwing 

 open of the Turtle Mountain Forest 

 Eeserve in Manitoba for settlement. 

 It was pointed out by a nimnber of 

 authorities that the land was unsuit- 

 ed to agriculture and that to throw 

 open "the reserve would result in the 

 stripping off of the timber and the 

 settlers would soon find they could 

 not make a living. There would then 

 follow, as in similar cases in Ontario 

 and Quebec, the abandonment of these 

 farms. The settlers would have to 

 begin over again in some other part, 

 and the Government would have to 

 do, as Ontario and Quebec are now 

 doing^ — plant up these light, hilly 

 lands with seedlings at the expense 

 of many thousands of dollars in or- 

 der to get them back into timber. It 

 was also pointed out that if well 

 handled the Turtle Mountain Re- 

 serve would be in shape in a compar- 

 atively few years to supply sufficient 

 timber year by year to keep ten saw- 

 mills of the average Ontario size run- 

 ning in perpetuity, besides supplying 

 the surrounding district with fence 

 posts and cord wood. 



The Turtle Mountain lies partly in 

 Canada and partly in the United 

 State.s, and one thing that has 

 puzzled a good many people is this : 

 Why did not the United States re- 

 serve their portion for a National 

 Forest? The Editors of The Can- 

 adian Forestry Journal therefore 

 wrote to Mr. H. S. Graves, United 

 States Forester, Washington, D. C, 

 asking him if the Forest Service had 

 ever had the district examined and 

 if so, why Avas it not constituted a 

 National Forest. The reply of Mr. 

 Graves is virtually to this effect ; that 

 when the district was examined in 

 1902 it was found that while it was 

 wpII suited to form a National Forest 



only one twenty-fourth of the area 

 remained Government land. It is 

 therefore fair to assume that had the 

 United States Forest Service been on 

 the ground a little earlier all the 

 Turtle Mountain both north and 

 south of the International Boundary 

 would have been a permanent forest. 

 Mr. Graves letter is as follows: — 



Your letter of January 7 is received. 



I am glad to inform you that a report 

 is on record in this office covering that 

 portion of the Turtle Mountains lying 

 within the State of North Dakota. This 

 report was prepared in 1902 by Mr. J. H. 

 Hatton of the Forest Service. From the 

 report it appears that that portion of the 

 mountains within the United States is 

 similar topographically and in cover to 

 the portion lying in Canada, with which 

 you are familiar. It will probably, there- 

 fore, be unnecessary to dwell in detail 

 about the topography as given in the 

 report. 



The report indicates that a more or less 

 dense growth of timber and underbrush 

 once covered all of that portion of the 

 Turtle Mountains lying north of Township 

 161 North and between Ranges 70 to 75 

 West, excepting the foothills on the south 

 of the mountains and the southern por- 

 tion of the Indian Reservation. 



As a result of fires and cutting, the 

 extent of the heavy green timber was, S,t 

 the time of the report, confined to about 

 one township, and this was being rapidly 

 removed. The report states that it would 

 be but a matter of five or six years until 

 all the heavy timber would be destroyed 

 or consumed. Reproduction is good on the 

 fire-kilI<Ml areas. The types consist of oak, 

 I)Opph', ash, birch, elm, willow, box elder, 

 and many varieties of undergrowth. 



The need of a forest cover to protect 

 the mountains from erosion is also set 

 forth in the report. The absence of erosion 

 at the time of the report is ascribed to 

 the lionsity of the cover and it is evident 

 that tlie generally hilly character of the 

 region will render erosion liable should it 

 be removed. No large streams flow from 

 the mountains, however. 



The i»rincipal industry of the region was 

 wood cutting, as this supplied immediate 

 revenue and resulted in clearings for grow- 

 ing vegetables and small crops. After the 

 clearings had been made wood cutting be- 

 came a secondary industry. 



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