ENDORSEMENT OF MINNESOTA 



RESERVE 



Memorial by the Commercial Clubs of Minneapolis and 

 St. Paul calling for the preservation of this important Reserve 



IN the year 1889, there was passed 

 * by Congress an act, known as the 

 Nelson Law, in fulfillment of the 

 treaty with the Chippewa Indians of 

 Minnesota, by which they ceded their 

 land and timber to the United States. 

 The operation of this law was attended 

 with so much unnecessary expense that 

 in 1899 the Indians were actually in- 

 debted to the government. 



A sale of timber on the reservations 

 at Cass and Leech Lakes had been 

 advertised for May 15, 1899; but dis- 

 satisfaction with the law, public agita- 

 tion for the creation of a National 

 Park, and unwilingness of lumbermen 

 due at that time to a tight money 

 market to bid upon the timber, 

 caused the state legislature upon Feb- 

 ruary 20, 1899, to petition the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior to postpone the 

 sale, which was done on March 1, of 

 the same year. 



A three-years struggle then ensued 

 to determine what the character of the 

 new legislation should be. The Na- 

 tional Park advocates wished the 

 whole area set aside for public use, 

 while the lumbermen contended with 

 reason that this was impossible, and 

 urged instead the carrying out of the 

 treaty stipulations with the Indians, by 

 the sale of the pine. 



Meanwhile large quantities of tim- 

 ber were being cut under a clause of 

 the Nelson Law inserted in 1897, 

 whereby the Indian agent was allowed 

 to sell dead or down timber, to pre- 

 vent its being wasted. Thousands of 

 feet of green pine were cut in defiance 

 of the spirit of the law ; and in the 

 winter of 1900 further operations be- 

 gan in spite of the written protest of 

 the State Federation of Women's 



Clubs and other organizations, which 

 resulted in a scandal and caused the 

 Secretary of the Interior to discon- 

 tinue this feature of the law. 



In the fall of 1901 Representative 

 Page Morris, of Duluth, introduced in 

 Congress the first draft of what has 

 ever since been known as the Morris 

 Bill, providing for the sale of pine and 

 the settlement of the lands. The pub- 

 lic clamor which this aroused was so 

 strong that Mr. Morris decided to 

 modify his bill and to arrange a com- 

 promise, upon which the Minnesota 

 Congressional delegation could unite. 

 At a conference at which Mr. Gifford 

 Pinchot, Chief of the Forestry Bureau 

 at Washington, was present a new 

 draft of the Morris Bill was formu- 

 lated, to which the entire Minnesota 

 Congressional Delegation, of both 

 Houses of Congress, agreed. Dele- 

 gates from the town of Cass Lake 

 were also present and agreed to stand 

 by the compromise bill, as formulated 

 at this conference ; and that bill was 

 passed, chiefly through the efforts of 

 Senator Clapp, and became and has 

 ever since been known as the Morris 

 Law. 



In all respects this bill was a re- 

 markable measure. Under it the tim- 

 ber, instead of first being estimated 

 and then sold on the stump, is scaled 

 and sold on basis of the actual quan- 

 tity cut. The increase in scale over 

 the old estimates averages more than 

 25 per cent ; the minimum price, re- 

 reivable for the pine, was raised $1 per 

 thousand, being fixed at $4 for Nor- 

 way pine and $5 for White pine, as 

 against $3 and $4 respectively. Again, 

 the bill provides for the timber to be 

 sold under sealed bids, instead of by 



