1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



29 



Relation of Mining to Forestry. 



The Importance of Forest Protection to Insure a Profitable Development 



of Mining Interests. 



The question of Forestry has an im- 

 portant bearing upon the mining interests 

 of any mineral-bearing country ; but es- 

 pecially is this the case where by far the 

 largest part of the mining area is either 

 destitute or timber has a very limited sup- 

 ply, and where, as in the case of desert 

 mines, the water required for mining and 

 kindred purposes has to be derived from 

 the higher and timbered regions. Large 

 quantities of timber are required in the 

 timbering of mines, as the ore is being ex- 

 tracted ; for other important uses, in con- 

 ducting mining operations; and also for 

 fuel in the reduction of ores. Water is 

 absolutely indispensable in the treatment of 

 any and all kinds of ores. 



Many an experienced prospector has 

 staked a valuable claim on the desert and 

 regretfully turned his back upon it, be- 

 cause of the absence of these indispensa- 

 bles to profitable exploitation timber and 

 water. And deposits in such claims will 

 only become available and profitable when 

 water and timber are available, either 

 through better means of transportation or 

 through the growth and preservation of 

 forests and the conservation of the water 

 supply. The latter is indisputably con- 

 ceded to be directly dependent upon the 

 former the more forest the more water, 

 and vice versa. 



The mining industry, therefore, has a 

 deep and permanent interest in Forestry. 

 The mining interests of the mountains 

 and the deserts, and the farming interests 

 in the valleys, demand alike that the an- 

 nual rainfall be stored for future use. 



The timbered forests subserve this pur- 

 pose better than any other means. It is a 

 well-known fact that by the planting of 

 forests the rainfall has been materially in- 

 creased in sections of desert country. 



Of the forest reservations in California, 

 nearly one-half are in the southern part of 

 the State, the other half being in the cen- 



tral. The San Gabriel, San Bernardino, 

 Trabuca, San Jacinto and the Pine Moun- 

 tain and Zaca Lake Reservations, contain- 

 ing 3,781,794 acres, are all in southern 

 California, while the Stanislaus, Sierra 

 and Tahoe Reservations, comprising 5,- 

 15=5,840 acres, are located in the central 

 part of the state, making a total of 8,937,- 

 634 acres in California. 



On March i, 1898, the lands embraced 

 in the Stanislaus and San Jacinto Forest 

 Reservations, which were suspended by 

 act of June 4, 1897. again became subject 

 to the operation of the proclamation of 

 February 22, 1897, creating them, which 

 added an estimate amount of 1,428,480 

 acres to the area embraced in the previously 

 created government forest reservations of 

 California. In addition to this, the Pine 

 Mountain and Zaca Lake Reserve, con- 

 taining 1,644,594 acres, was also created, 

 and an addition of nearly 57, 200 acres was 

 made to the Trabuca Reserve. 



The efforts of the government the past 

 year and a half have been primarily di- 

 rected to putting in operation the act 

 passed June 4, 1897, providing for the ad- 

 ministration and regulation of forest reser- 

 vations, but the necessary funds were not 

 appropriated by the government to put the 

 system in operation till July, 1898, since 

 which time a force of graded officers has 

 been placed in control of the reserves. 



Through the patroHing of the forests, it 

 has been found that forest fires constitute 

 the paramount danger to which the re- 

 serves are exposed. During the month of 

 October, 1898, an extensive forest fire 

 raged in that part of Los Angeles county 

 reservation situated between Strawberry 

 Mountain on the west, and Barley Flats 

 on the east, along the southern slope of 

 the Big Tejunga watershed, resulting in 

 the destruction of many square miles of 

 valuable Pine timber. Fires originate 

 chiefly by campers lighting fires for cook- 



