396 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



September 



private rights have been practically 

 settled by purchase or agreement. Now 

 comes the demand for more work, and 

 in the anxiety to extend operations the 

 promoters have forgotten their fear 

 that the Government would interfere 

 with private enterprise, and are more 

 fearful that it will not interfere in the 

 sense that it will not buy out the vari- 

 ous claims which are being offered for 

 sale. 



Maine 

 Forests 



pathy from the authorities who have 

 been endeavoring to negotiate these 

 purchases. 



The system of forest 

 protection which is being 

 maintained through the 

 State Land Agent's office and the 

 large timberland owners of the State 

 of Maine is constantly being extended 

 and made more valuable every year 

 by the building of new mountain ob- 



Debris from Wreck of Sawmill and Log Boom on Linville River, by Floods, in Western 

 North Carolina, in Region of Proposed National Forest Reserve 



The experience of the Secretary of 

 the Interior in buying these claims 

 and in extinguishing the various vest- 

 ed rights under different projects has 

 led to extreme caution. There is little 

 probability that he will make any fur- 

 ther purchases until the works now in 

 hand are completed and are refunding 

 money to the Treasury. The demand 

 for a large increase to the reclamation 

 fund does not meet with much sym- 



servatories. The observatories already 

 located on Squaw Mountain, Atean 

 Mountain and Mount Bigelow have 

 been the means of saving much stand- 

 ing timber from being devoured by 

 fire. These stations mentioned are lo- 

 cated where they protect the timber- 

 land around the headwaters of the 

 Kennebec River. They have already 

 demonstrated their value and every 

 one of them has a record of fires dis- 



