The Turtle Mountain Forest Reserve 



119 



higher than the surrounding prairie. 

 About 15,000 acres of it are occupied 

 by lakes and 'sloughs', and so are 

 under water, either permanently or 

 for the larger part of the year. The 

 soil is an impervious clay and the 

 tops of the hills are sprinkled with 

 boulders. 



In the summer of 1904 a thorough 

 forest survey of the reserve was 

 made by a i)arty under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. H. D. Craig, B. S. A., F. 

 E., then Inspector of Forest Re- 

 serves, aad the report of the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior for 1906 includ- 

 es Mr. Craig's report on the reserve 

 as a result of this survey. 



Not Suited For Fanning. 



Why should not the land be oc- 

 cupied for farming? is a question 

 that naturally strikes one. For sev- 

 eral reasons the district is not nat- 

 urally suited for agriculture. To 

 begin with, the land lies at such an 

 altitude that crops would always be 

 subject to early and late frosts The 

 soil is a very heavy, cold clay and 

 could be worked only with difficulty. 

 The drainage of the tract is very 

 poor, as evidenced by the large 

 number of lakes and sloughs, and 

 the hilly topography makes it out 

 of the question to use the land for 

 any other agricultural purpose ex- 

 cept for grazing. 'The soil in the 

 reserve is mostly a clay loam with a 

 few boulders', Mr. Craig says in his 

 report on the reserve in 1905. 'but 

 the configuration is so rough and so 

 much of the area is in muskeg and 

 sloughs that it is unsuitable for 



agriculture Attempts which I 



saw to produce grain were failures'. 

 The conformation of the country re- 

 sults in the formation of many 

 'pockets', in which the frost would 

 be almost sure to cut down crops 

 except in favorable seasons. With 

 hundreds of thousands of acres of 

 desirable farming land of the high- 

 est fertility surrounding it, it seems 

 little likely that anyone would de- 

 sire such a tract for agriculture. 



Possible ProdactioD. 



Deducting the 15,000 acres of the 

 reserve that are under water, there 

 remain 55,000 acres of land suitable 

 for growing trees. Up to the pres- 

 ent the revenue derived from the 

 timber and other resources of the 

 reserve has been negligible. 



From the data secured by the sur- 

 vey party from their strip surveys 

 and tree and stump analyses, Mr. 

 Craig found that the average annu- 

 al growth per acre on the reserve 

 might be conservatively estimated 

 at one cord. Even if stocked only 

 with the species of trees at present 

 grow^ing on it, cut on a forty-year 

 rotation (that is, if the trees were 

 allowed to grow to an average age 

 of forty years) the reserve would 

 produce a supply of 55,000 cords of 

 wood per annum, or, in other words, 

 the new wood formed every year on 

 the entire reserve would be the 

 equivalent of that quantity of tim- 

 ber. This could be obtained with 

 little or no more expense than that 

 of adequately protecting the reserve 

 from fire and having the cutting 

 properly regulated; and this result 

 could be brought about through the 

 expenditure of only a few thousand 

 dollars annually. Thus, at the price 

 of $1.00 per cord on the stump 

 (surely a reasonable price in these 

 days of scarcity of fuelwood) the 

 reserve would produce an income of 

 $55,(X)0 per year. Of this amount, 

 if but $15,00<) per year were spent 

 on its upkeep, there would still re- 

 main an unexpended balance ac- 

 eumulating at the rate of $40,000 

 per year. As a matter of fact, 

 whether this amount be actually 

 realized by the cutting and sale of 

 the wood or no, the wood is still ac- 

 eumulating just as surely as hank 

 interest and the value of the wood 

 in the reserve is increasing by this 

 amount. 



The experience of European coun- 

 tries establishes the fact that the 

 larger the amount spent on the cul- 



