202 MONJANA 19U 



of the choicest timber lands of the State were chosen and desisrnated as 



&' 



follows : 



Grants — Acres. Timber. 



School 100,000 276.000,000 feet. 



Public Buildings 73,320 580,000,000 feet. 



School of Mines 15,733 95,000,000 feet. 



State Normal School 16,267 72.000,000 feet. 



Agricultural College 30,340 160,000,000 feet. 



State Reform School 5,699 28,000,000 feet. 



Deaf and Dumb Asylum 9,626 40.000,000 feet. 



University 1,920 5,000,000 feet. 



252,205 1,256,000,000 feet. 



The present value of these selected acres is at least $3,768,000 and 

 thev are becomingf more valuable from vear to vear. 



In makine the above estimates of the amount of standincr timber in the 

 forests, no account or estimate has been given of the tens of thousands of 

 acres of small spruce. lod.c:e-pole pine, which is not considered as merchant- 

 able saw timber, yet it has a very marked value and it will 

 When Poles some day come into the market to be used for making- paper 

 Are Needed and paper products when the spruce forests of the east have 

 to Make been exhausted. The area of value of this portion of the 

 Paper. forests has never been estimated, yet when the exigencies 



require it for use, it will have a value beyond our compre- 

 hension. 



The first historical report we had of Montana's forests was in 1805, 

 when Lewis and Clark made their famous expedition. They gathered seeds 

 from the larch trees and took these seeds back to the east. Some of the 

 seed found their way to Great Britain and from these seeds splendid forests 

 have been propagated. 



The great value of ^Montana's forests v.^as never considered as seriously 

 in the earlier years, but of late, with a greater realization, there has been 

 an intense interest shown, not only with the public schools but the educa- 

 tion has been g^eneral with the citizenship. The realization 

 Coming to has brought about the fact that if we are to perpetuate our 

 Know the forests, certain scientific and economical lines must be follow- 

 Value of ed. This realization has brought about the necessity of organ- 

 the Trees. ization in wliich the federal government, the state and private 

 owners are co-operating, and during- the dry seasons the 

 forests are carefully patrolled by trustworthy men whose dut}' it is to see 

 that all the rules and regulations are enforced, relative to the prevention of 

 spreading of forest fires. .So well have these societies been organized that 

 it can be truthfully said of those in charge that in some instances the for- 

 ests are patrolled during the fire season for the amazingly small amount of 

 one-fourth cent per acre, and b}^ reason of these organizations the forest 

 fires during the last three or four years have been reduced to a minimum 

 and the timber has been saved from wanton destruction for the uses of 

 future generations. 



— Montana is only at the beginning of its development. 



