580 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



December 



lator, the kid glove prospector, for the 

 purpose of blackmailing the man 

 whom the Government wishes to en- 

 courage, the man who by his labor 

 and skill is honestly striving to ad- 

 vance the country's welfare. 



however, finds his nefarious schemes 

 balked and he is loud in denunciation 

 of the forest reserve system and its 

 officers. It is aptly written : 



"No thief ere felt the halter draw 

 With good opinion of tre law." 



While reserve officers are protecting The honest prospector and the bona 

 the forests from damage by fire and fide miner have nothing to fear from 

 from spoliation, they are at the same a forest reserve. It is established for 

 time vigilant to guard the Government the advancement of their interests, to- 

 against fraud in the legitimate loca- gether with the promotion of the gen- 

 tion, occupancy and use of pretended eral welfare. Examined comprehen- 

 claims by persons who from selfish sively, the relation of forest reserves 

 and sinister motives attempt to evade to the mining industry appears so in- 

 the law relative to the acquisition of timate, the success of the one so di- 

 title to mineral land. The prospector rect l y interwoven with the continued 

 or miner who in good faith is pursu- prosperity of the other, that the pos- 

 ing his vocation receives every assist- sibmt of a real antagonism between 

 ance and encouragement from forest them cannQt be entertained . The for . 

 officers ; they facilitate his operations 



and while doing so fight off the vam- est reseI 7 e s >; stem has c me as a ? er - 



pires that would bleed him to death. anent benefactor of the mining m- 



Where a forest reserve is established dust T and there 1S ever y incentive for 



in a mining locality, as soon as the mmers to , g lve . Jt , their , ty? 1 support 



novelty of the situation wears away Forest officers in the administration of 



and the reserve law and regulations reserves will labor for the common 



are fairly understood, opposition on good of all, and reciprocally, miners, 



the part of the law-abiding, law-lov- as active and efficient friends, may co- 



ing elements of the population ceases operate in the achievement of the no- 



and amicable concert of action for the ble objects alike beneficial to them- 



common good is established and har- selves and conducive to the public 



moniously maintained. The rogue, weal. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT IN 



MINNESOTA 



The Pine Lands of the Chippewa In- 

 dians Being Made Remunerative to Them 



The Minnesota Forest Reserve 

 stands alone as the only forest reserve 

 ever created by an act of Congress, 

 not by Presidential proclamation. Ex- 

 ecutive authority is limited to those 

 public lands which have not been 

 otherwise appropriated. The Minne- 

 sota reserve is a part of the land for- 

 merly set aside for the Chippewa In- 

 dians, and hence was not public land 

 subject to Presidential action. It 

 passed a law in 1902, known as the 



"Morris Bill," regulating the sale of 

 the pine timber on the 3,000,000 acres 

 ceded to the government by the In- 

 dians, and setting aside 225,00 acres 

 of it as a forest reserve. 



In addition, certain specified tracts 

 and all the islands in Cass and Leech 

 lakes were reserved as Indian lands, 

 together with 6,400 acres more to be 

 designated by the Bureau of Forestry 

 and reserved absolutely from both sale 

 and settlement. Of the 225,000 acres. 



