1899. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



i5 



fund in the Treasury. Boom sticks also 

 to be accounted for in this way, and only 

 small trees to be used for this purpose. 

 Accounts of supply men are to be sub- 

 ject to inspection by Superintendent 

 Ross and Indian agent to prevent over- 

 charges. 



with definite boundaries for each range, 

 and to prevent too early feeding on the 

 grass in the spring. 



The Commissioner of the General 

 Land Office has issued instructions to 

 the forest officials and rangers on the 

 reserves in Colorado to co-operate with 

 State officials in the enforcement of the 

 game laws of that State. 



The right of the Government to pros- 

 ecute criminally persons grazing sheep in 

 all forest reservations, except in Wash- 

 ington and Oregon, is sustained in a 

 decision rendered by the Attorney Gen- 

 eral. 



The forest reserve officials of Wash- 

 ington and Oregon met at Tacoma, 

 Washington, on the 27th of December to 

 discuss the question of sheep grazing in 

 the reserves. 



It was practically decided to allot the 

 pasture district lying in the Mount 

 Tacoma reserve in well-defined ranges, 

 the boundaries being marked by streams 

 and ridges. These ranges will be let at 

 the rate of $5 to every thousand sheep 

 pastured each season, unless there is 

 competition for the same tract between 

 rival growers, when it will be given to 

 the highest bidder. Grazing will be 

 prohibited in the reserves until June 20 

 to allow the grass to get well started, 

 and the higher altitudes will be reserved 

 until a month later. 



The settlement of this question is one 

 of greatest difficulty, yet it is left nearly 

 altogether to the discretion of the reserve 

 superintendents, although their plans 

 have to be ratified by the Government. 

 It is believed that the reserves are already 

 pastured to the fullest extent compatible 

 with safety to the permanence of the 

 grazing. The herds are increasing every 

 year, and it has become necessary to 

 formulate a plan for allotting the district 



Spoliation on the Public Domain. 



As news items indicative of industrial 

 activity, the two following press dis- 

 patches are self-explanatory: 



Rock Springs, Wyo., Nov. 23. (Special.) 

 The Oregon Short Line Company has com- 

 pleted negotiations with the Rock Springs 

 Lumber Company for the delivery during the 

 coming year of $160,000 worth of railroad cross- 

 ties for use on its line. The ties will be cut on 

 the headwaters of Green River and floated to 

 the railroad at the town of Green River, where 

 the company has a big log boom. The lumber 

 company has at the present time a large force 

 of lumbermen employed in the mountains get- 

 ting out ties for the contract. 



Alamogordo, N. M., Dec. 8. Good authori- 

 ties state that the Alamogordo Lumber Com- 

 pany has taken a contract to furnish a Mexican 

 railroad with sixty miles of railroad ties. 



A question naturally arises in many 

 minds, when reading such items, as to 

 whether or not all these ties are to be 

 cut from patented lands. Trespasses on 

 the timber of ihe public domain have 

 been of not infrequent occurence in the 

 past and they may occur again. The 

 following from the Denver Times throws 

 some light on the character of the trans- 

 actions of the lumber company referred 

 to in the first of the foregoing dis- 

 patches : 



One of the most gigantic steals in the history 

 of the timber traffic of this country is being 

 unearthed at Wells, Uinta County, Wyoming, 

 a new town of 150 miles north of the Utah 

 line. The case is not only large of itself but 

 its ramifications are far-reaching and involve 

 parties high in power in the meshes of mal- 

 feasance in office. Binger Hermann, Com- 

 missionerof the General Land Office, is on the 

 scent and after having been notified by promi- 

 nent men of Wells of the state of affairs ex- 

 isting there, has ordered several inspectors to 

 the scene. That is the first part of the cat- 

 out-of-the-bag side of it. Despite the Com- 

 missioner's orders, to date none of his inspec- 

 tors have appeared. No reflections are made 

 on the integrity of Mr. Hermann, however. 

 It is the fact that none of the men whom he 

 had ordered to the scene have arrived that led 

 to the upheaval. Briefly summarized, the 

 methods have been as follows : The Rock 

 Springs Lumber Company has located a large 



