1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



163 



uals, who cannot afford to donate them for 

 this, or any other, purpose. None of the 

 States interested can be induced to pur- 

 chase the land for this purpose, nor should 

 they be asked to do so. Were any one 

 State to make such a purchase, it would 

 be to preserve the headwaters of streams 

 which flow through half a dozen adjacent 

 States, and which would benefit people of 

 these States in connection with their manu- 

 facturing and transportation enterprises. 

 Were any one State to set aside such an 

 area as a National park it would be for the 

 pleasure and benefit of people who visit 

 it from all portions of the country. Such 

 a park or forest reserve would be of but 

 limited benefit to the State in which it 

 might be located ; and, indeed, its estab- 

 lishment would withdraw from taxation 

 valuable lands within her borders ; but, 

 nevertheless, it would be of benefit to that 



State, as it would to all adjacent States, 

 and, indeed, to the country at large. 



There is only one way in which such a 

 park or reserve can be established; that is, 

 for the Government to purchase the lands 

 which are to be incorporated in it and per- 

 petually to dedicate the same as a park or 

 forest reserve as a part of the public do- 

 main. But, while this would entail con- 

 siderable outlay on the part of the Gov- 

 ernment, owing to the great value of these 

 hardwood forests and their proximity to 

 the great centers of population, such a Re- 

 serve, if judiciously managed, will pay 

 a good interest on the investment, be- 

 side proving of inestimable value to the 

 people of this countrv as a public resort 

 for health and pleasure, as a lesson in 

 practical forestry, and as a means of pre- 

 serving the headwaters of important rivers. 



J. A. HOLMES. 



NOTES IN OKLOHOMA. 



I. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE RED 

 CEDAR. 



Twenty years ago the Red Cedar grew 

 abundantly in western Oklahoma, espe- 

 cially in the country tributary to the Cimar- 

 ron and Canadian Rivers. Few speci- 

 mens grew in the sandy valleys of the 

 rivers, or on the better agricultural land, 

 but back in the rough country and along 

 the tributary streams and in the canyons 

 they appeared in considerable numbers. 

 Nowhere did they grow thickly enough to 

 merit the term of forest, yet in places 

 they formed almost unbroken lines along 

 the precipitous sides of the canyons. 

 Growing in poor soil and where grass 

 could not obtain a hold, they lived year 

 after year and grew, unmolested by the 

 fires that annually swept the prairies. 



For the last twenty-five years these 

 trees have furnished most of the posts 

 used by the ranchmen and settlers of 

 Oklahoma and adjacent parts of southern 

 Kansas. Since the settlement of Oklahoma 

 the post-cutting has greatly increased. 

 Large numbers of men have had little other 



business than the cutting and marketing 

 of these Cedar posts. As the accessible 

 trees have been removed, choppers have 

 entered more remote and more difficult 

 places, where often the wagons could not 

 be brought within a mile of the trees and 

 where the choppers had to drag posts out 

 with a single horse. 



A few years ago posts hauled from the 

 canyons could be bought in the nearest 

 towns for four or five cents each. As the 

 difficulty of obtaining them has increased, 

 prices have advanced continually, until 

 now those of inferior quality sell for 

 twelve or fifteen cents each. But few 

 Cedars now remain, and they are so diffi- 

 cult to reach as to be of little use. With 

 the removal of the large trees for posts, the 

 small ones have also been taken to be used 

 for ornamental purposes in yards. The re- 

 moval of these smaller trees has been an 

 almost complete loss, for probably 99 per 

 cent, of them have died in transplanting. 



In these two ways the Red Cedar of 



J 



western Oklahoma has been all but ex- 

 terminated. 



