1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



479 



the Pocatello reserve as a part of the 

 city water shed project for the city of 

 Pocatello. Another good city water 

 shed proposition, benefitting Logan, 

 Ogden, and Provo, he also located in 

 the Uintah reserve. He reports that 

 planting is needed fc the benefit of 

 the Santa Fe and Los Vegas water 

 sheds and for the Jemez and Pecos 

 River regions. 



Rangers' nurseries are proving very 

 popular. Supervisors and Rangers 

 are. in most cases, anxious for them, 

 and representatives of the Forest Ex- 

 tension work have been helping start 

 one or two in each reserve to serve as 

 models. 



Conditions at Halsey, Neb., Mr. 

 Sterling reports to be good. Last 

 spring's plantation is looking well, and 

 about 4,000,000 seedlings are in the 

 nursery. 



Prof. George L. Cloth- 



ofTTnds 1 ' 011 ier ' representing t 1 e Di- 

 vision of Law, has been 

 investigating claims for land alleged 

 to be agricultural, in the Bitter Root 

 Forest reserve in Montana. He has 

 spent about six weeks in that vicinity. 

 He finds that the Bitter Root Valley is 

 one of the best fruit countries of the 

 west, apples in particular attaining a 

 high degree of perfection in that re- 

 gion. Under irrigation, a good apple 

 orchard will probably bring a fair rate 

 of interest on an investment of $500 

 per acre. 



Prof. Clothier reports the existence 

 of large areas of land available for 

 fruit raising, provided only adequate 

 water supply were in sight. Still larg- 

 er areas, however, are probably perma- 

 nently incapable of irrigation. 



On the Bitter Root Mountains is 

 found some of the finest yellow pine 

 of the Northwest, worth, on the 

 stump, from $60 to $100 per acre. 

 AVherever titles to timber land can be 

 obtained the lands are rapidly snapped 

 up by speculators. 



A few days ago Prof. Clothier re- 

 turned to Washington and made his 



report to the Forester. From here he 

 goes to the Mississippi Agricultural 

 College to resume the teaching of for- 

 estry. 



Examining 



Mineral 



Lands 



On August 20th Judge 

 A. C. Shaw, of the Di- 

 vision of Law, left 

 Washington for the Plumas Forest 

 reserve, at Ouincy, Cal. There he 

 was joined by Mr. E. C. Finney, Law 

 Examiner of the GeneralLand Office, 

 and L. G. Gillette, J. A. Dorsey, and 

 W. L. Walker, trained geologists from 

 the Geological Survey. 



With the assistance of the Forest 

 Supervisor, L. A. Barrett, this party 

 established a camp in the reserve at 

 Shoofly ; and under the direction of 

 both departments, Agriculture and 

 Interior, instituted an investigation on 

 the ground to determine the mineral 

 or non-mineral character of certain al- 

 leged mineral land locations in that re- 

 serve. The evidence gathered will be 

 made the basis of a hearing before the 

 Land Office, at which the validity and 

 legality of these mining locations will 

 be tested. 



From Shoofly, the party went, 

 about Sept. 24th, to Santa Barbara, 

 Cal. The camp was moved from place 

 to place. Leaving the geologists on 

 the ground to complete their investi- 

 gations, Mr. Finney returned to Wash- 

 ington, while Judge Shaw went to the 

 i)anta Barbara reserve to investigate 

 a condition alleged to be similar to 

 the one above described. From Santa 

 Barbara he went next to the Wichita 

 reserve in Oklahoma, returning: from 

 there to Washington, Oct. 7th. 



Reserve Mr. Findley Burns, of 



Administra- the Div j sion of p ub l ica _ 

 tion . 1 ta , . , 



tion and Education, who 

 devoted a number of weeks in the past 

 summer to visiting reserves, returned 

 with a very encouraging report. The 

 loyalty of rangers, assistant rangers 

 and guards to the Forest Service he 

 regards as especially noteworthv. 

 Working at salaries very moderate, 

 and often much below what thev have 



