The Dominion Forest Reserves 39 



Department determined upon their removal. They numbered 

 one hundred and twenty-six on the Riding Mountain, and 

 twenty-five on the Turtle Mountain Reserve. The task of 

 removing these people was a delicate one and required great 

 judgment and courage on the part of the forest rangers. The 

 chief ranger of the Riding Motmtains, W. A. Davis, devoted the 

 entire summer to the work. All the squatters have been removed 

 except three on the Riding Mountains and two on the Turtle 

 Mountains. These remaining ones will move early next spring. 



In this work the Department followed a lenient policy. 

 The squatters were taken to look over lands in wagons furnished 

 to them free of charge. They got free entry for the lands they 

 selected, and they received compensation for improvements they 

 had on the forest reserves. The total cost of removing all these 

 people was only $6,000. They have all made affidavits 



stating that they have been well treated and are pleased with 

 the change. 



Marking Reserve Boundaries. 



In order that the public may not unintentionally trespass 

 upon the forest reserves thinking themselves on private property, 

 or on other Dominion lands, the Department began last year to 

 mark the boundaries with iron posts. These are three-cornered 

 and hence differ in shape from the regular Dominion survey 

 posts. They are marked with the letters "D. F. R." (Dominion 

 Forest Reserve) and the part that projects out of the ground is 

 painted red so that it will be readily observable, summer and 

 winter. 



Considerable work was done in this direction last year. 

 Mr. David Beatty, a Dominion Land Surveyor, was at work 

 with a party of men on the unsurveyed portion of the boundar^^ 

 of the Porcupine Reserve and ran fifty-one miles of the line. 

 The forest rangers are working on the boundaries that have been 

 surveyed and have located 140 miles. 



This work was in many places difficult of accomplishment. 

 It was about thirty years since the lines had been surveyed and 

 some of them having been burned over, the wooden posts had 

 been destroyed and the mounds almost obliterated. People 

 familiar with the West know, also, that mosquitoes and flies 

 are numerous and troublesome in the summer months. As it is 

 the intention to have the boundar\^ line a road from which fire 

 can be fought it was cut out from six to eight feet wide. 



Much more of this work would have been done if the rangers 

 could have begun early in the spring. But during the early 

 part of the summer they were all busy with the removal of 

 squatters. 



