22 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBKASKA AND KANSAS. 



The largast are about 12J, the smallest 6 inches in diameter. On 

 a rough basis of calculation this plantation has had an increment of 

 85 cubic feet per acre per annum in the first 19 years of its existence. 

 This represents remarkable productivity for a semiarid region. 



NATIONAL FORESTS ESTABLISHED. 



The success of this coniferous plantation of 1891 may be said to 

 have formed the foundation for the establishment, in 1902, of the 

 first National Forests, then known as forest reserves, in Nebraska. 

 The Dismal River Reserve, lying between the Dismal and Middle 

 Loup Rivers, comprised an area of 85,123 acres, and the Niobrara 

 Reserve, lying between the Niobrara and Snake Rivers, comprised 

 123,779 acres. To these were added in 1906 the North Platte Re- 

 serve, lying some distance north of the North Platte River and 

 bounded on the north by the line of the Chicago, Burlington & 

 Quincy Railroad in the vicinity of Hyannis, Nebr. This area com- 

 prised 347,170 acres. The total area of about 556,000 acres, which 

 was combined in 1908 into the Nebraska National Forest, covers 

 less than 5 per cent of the Nebraska sand hills, a large portion of 

 which are still in the public domain. 



The similarity of the Nebraska and Kansas sand hills led to the 

 belief that forests could be grown in the Kansas hills; there were, 

 moreover, successful hardwood plantations there. One is imme- 

 diately southwest of Garden City, where a plantation of black locust 

 and cottonwood, made in 1894 and covering 10 acres, was partially 

 cut in 1910, at the age of 16 years. The locust yielded a large num- 

 ber of 15 and 20 foot telephone poles, and posts at the rate of 3 per 

 tree. The stumps are now producing vigorous sprouts, which in 

 two years have attained a height of 14 feet and will soon produce a 

 second crop. 



With the idea that timber to supply local needs could be grown in 

 the region the Garden City Forest Reserve was established in 1903, 

 with an area of 97,280 acres. This was increased to 302,387 acres 

 in 1908, when the name was changed to the Kansas National Forest. 

 The area occupies a narrow strip of ground on the south side of the 

 Arkansas River, from the west boundary of the State east to Garden 

 City. 



NURSERIES ESTABLISHED. 



In the fall of 1902 the town of Halsey, Nebr., was selected as the 

 headquarters of the Dismal River Reserve, and a small nursery was 

 laid out beside the Middle Loup River, where the growing of jack 

 and western yellow pine from seed was immediately begun. Since 

 the spring of 1904, when the first seedlings became large enough for 

 planting, this nursery has been increasing steadily in size and effi- 



