552 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



December 



will be reached by canals which head 

 on the Yellowstone River about 20 

 miles below Glendive, Montana. The 

 land is of excellent quality, and will be 

 susceptible of a high degree of devel- 

 opment. 



Reclamation work in Montana has 

 advanced rapidly in spite of the diffi- 

 culties of securing adequate labor. 

 Many of the contractors have failed 

 or have been on the verge of bank- 

 ruptcy owing to the difficulty of se- 

 curing laborers and the advance in 

 price of the necessities of life. 



On the Huntley project, which is 

 situated on the northern end of the 

 Crow Indian reservation, the main 

 canal and distributing system are near- 

 ly completed. About 2,000 small struc- 

 tures have been built for distributing 

 the water, these consisting mainly of 

 headgates, drops, turn-outs, culverts, 

 and bridges. 



On the Lower Yellowstone, in the 

 extreme eastern end of the state, the 

 headgates of the main canal have been 



constructed, these being placed flush 

 with the bank of the Yellowstone Riv- 

 er in a high bluff, in such position that 

 it is not believed that ice gorges will 

 injure them. The dam on the Lower 

 Yelowstone has been let after much 

 delay, owing to the difficulty of secur- 

 ing favorable contracts. The main 

 canal is reaching completion and a 

 considerable part of the distributing 

 system is also well along. 



On the Sun River work is progress- 

 ing favorably on the subdivision of the 

 lands and the preparations for early 

 construction. There are a large num- 

 ber of legal questions and matters con- 

 nected with rights of way yet to be 

 settled. 



On the St. Mary River the canal 

 construction is well under way, both 

 by Indian labor and by machinery. 

 This work is not only of great magni- 

 tude, but it is situated at an altitude^ 

 such that the long winter seriously in- 

 terferes with rapid progress. 



ALL INDUSTRIES FURTHERED BY 

 NATIONAL FORESTS 



Secretary of Agriculture in His Annual Report 

 Clearly Shows Their Lasting Benefit to the West 



THE Report of the Secretary of Ag- 

 riculture for 1906 contains a 

 highly interesting exposition of the 

 National forest policy now taking 

 shape in the development and use of 

 the reserves. The broad principle on 

 which this policy rests is to secure 

 to all the people, equitably, through 

 public ownership of a great natural 

 resource, the fullest and most lasting 

 benefit from it. It is the same princi- 

 ple in accordance with which the Pres- 

 ident, in his message to Congress, rec- 

 ommends the withdrawal and use of 

 the public coal lands. ! 'The withdraw- 

 al of these coal lands," writes the 

 President, "would constitute a policy 

 analogous to that which has been fol- 



lowed in withdrawing the forest lands- 

 from ordinary settlement. The coal, 

 like the forests, should be treated as 

 the property of the public, and its dis- 

 posal should be under conditions which 

 would inure to the benefit of the public 

 as a whole." 



The report concerning the work of 

 the Forest Service was partly as fol- 

 lows : 



GROWTH OF RESERVE BUSINESS. 



In area the reserves were increased 

 during the fiscal year 1905-6 from 85,- 

 693,422 to 106,999,138 acres. In reve- 

 nue they brought in $767,219.96, as 

 against $60,142.62 for the previous 

 year. In timber sales there were dis- 



