1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



79 



charge. His assistants were men of 

 experience. Gifford Pinchot, Chief 

 Forester of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, also personally examined the 

 lands. He is probably the most ca- 

 pable forest expert in America, if not 

 in the world, and a man of rare power 

 of discernment. He had no personal 

 preference where the reserve should 

 be located, but simply acted for the 

 good of the whole nation. Mr. Pin- 

 chot, Forester, and Governor Rich- 



desiring only to do their full duty in 

 making a wise selection. 



Settlement of the land by farmers 

 was considered by some interested peo- 

 ple better than a reserve ; the cutting 

 and denuding of the vast forests of 

 pine, better than keeping them grad- 

 ually thinned out by scientific logging; 

 the quick and present financial gain 

 more to be desired than a steady and 

 permanent growth and wealth ; but at 

 a meeting of the most prominent busi- 



Good reproduction of young pine east of Cass Lake. 



ards. Commissioner of the General 

 Land Office, went over these lands to- 

 gether with Mr. Bruce, and were 

 agreed on the present location. Other 

 experts also were in accord, and now 

 comes President Roosevelt's special 

 representative, Mr. J. B. White, who 

 indorses all that has been done and 

 reports it as the very best possible se- 

 lection. 



In conversing with Mr. Pinchot, 

 Mr. Briice, and Governor Richards, 

 the writer found them all unbiased and 



ness men of Cass Lake village, held at 

 the time of this visit, both Mr. Pin- 

 chot and Governor Richards explained 

 that eventually Cass Lake would be 

 better financially and every other way 

 because of the reserve. 



Expert examination showed that the 

 bulk of the land was sandy and best 

 adapted for forestry. Herman II. 

 Chapman, late superintendent of the 

 experimental farm at Grand Rapids, 

 Minn., said, after a careful examina- 

 tion of the lands selected: "The Mor- 



