THE FORESTER. 



December, 



the beauties of the region and behold new 

 scenes every day. One could go fishing 

 in a row boat, or hunting through the 

 forests, and camp amidst new surround- 

 ings every night for three months. 



For accessibility, within the last three 

 years, the railroads have brought the 

 region within 24 hours ride of over twenty 

 millions of people. It is 597 miles from 

 Chicago, by way of Duluth, to the eastern 

 boundary of the proposed park. From 

 Chicago to its western boundary, by way 

 of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is 600 miles. 



Two railroads extend from the Twin 

 Cities to the town of Walker on the 

 western shores of Leech Lake, the western 

 boundary of the proposed park. From 

 there one reaches Cass Lake, about the 

 center of the region, due north at a dis- 

 tance of 20 miles. The other diverges 

 from Walker northwest to Bemidji, sit- 

 uated on the lake of that name about 17 

 miles west from Cass Lake. The Missis- 

 sippi river flows through that lake on east 

 to Cass Lake. 



INDIAN RIGHTS IN THE REGION AND THE 

 NELSON LAW. 



All this territory formerly belonged to 

 the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota. They 

 are the beneficiaries of it yet. But in Jan- 

 uary, 1889, Congress enacted a law, called 

 the " Nelson Law," by the terms of which, 

 in brief, the lands in question, together 

 with all the other Indian Reservations in 

 Minnesota, were, with the exception of 

 those comprising the White Earth and 

 part of the Red Lake reservations, to be 

 surveyed and divided into 4O-acre tracts. 

 Each tract containing no merchantable 

 Pine was to be classed as "Agricultural 

 Land," and to be opened for settlement at 

 $1.25 per acre, under the homestead laws. 

 Each tract containing merchantable Pine 

 was to be classed as " Pine Land." 



The Pine on each tract of 40 acres was 

 to be estimated in the tree, and afterwards 

 each tract was to be sold at public auction 

 at not less than $3.00 per thousand feet, 

 board measure, for the Pine timber there- 

 on, which also includes the fee of the land. 



The proceeds of all these lands, agricul- 

 tural and Pine, were to be paid into the 



United States Treasury, and credited to 

 the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota. The 

 government was to pay them five per cent, 

 per annum, on the principal, for a period 

 of 50 years. 



That law also provided for the removal 

 of all the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, 

 who should choose to move, to the White 

 Earth Reservation, except those already 

 living there, and except those living on 

 Red Lake Reservation. 



All the Indians, removing to the White 

 Earth Reservation were to have individual 

 allotments there of So acres to each Indian. 

 It was also provided that any Indian, not 

 choosing to remove to the White Earth 

 Reservation, might take an individual 

 allotment of So acres on the reservation 

 where he then resided. 



The law required that a treaty must be 

 negotiated with the Indians, and the latter 

 must cede the lands to the United States, 

 as a condition of the law's going into force. 



That treaty was made and the lands 

 were ceded by the Indians to the United 

 States in that same year, 1889, over eleven 

 years ago. The total area of all the reser- 

 vations was 1,984,297 acres. The surveys 

 of the different reservations were promptly 

 made. 



But when it came to determining which 

 forty-acre tracts contained mercantile Pine, 

 and if on a given tract merchantable Pine 

 was found, to estimating the amount 

 thereof, trouble began. The new system 

 (for this was the first time the United 

 States ever sold Pine lands on the basis of 

 the amount and value of the Pine) was 

 put in operation, first, on the Red Lake 

 Reservation. All the reservations were 

 survevecl ; but it was on the above reserva- 

 tion that the first effort was made to select 

 the tracts which were to be classed respec- 

 tively "Agricultural" and " Pine" lands, 

 and to estimate the amount of Pine timber 

 on each of the latter class of tracts. For 

 over ten years (involving the discharge by 

 two different administrations of the general 

 government of two different corps of esti- 

 mators, and the indefinite furloughing of a 

 third corp by the present Administration), 

 the matter went on. 



It was found that the estimates of the 



