NATIONAL FOREST RESOURCES 225 



survey and before the filing of the plats and the 

 opening of the land to entry. A cabin would be 

 built upon the land and some unsubstantial im- 

 provements made. When the National Forests 

 were created they contained great numbers of these 

 squatters' cabins. Many were abandoned but oth- 

 ers attempted to secure title. Under the old Tim- 

 ber and Stone Act timber could be secured for $2.50 

 per acre, but the National Forests are not subject 

 to entry under this act. So as a last resort the 

 squatters tried to prove up on the land under the 

 Homestead law. When the Forests were created 

 the Service found a great many of these fraudulent 

 claims on their books, many of which were being 

 brought up annually for patent. Between Decem- 

 ber, 1908, and June 30, 1913, a total of 498 entries 

 for National Forest land were canceled in a single 

 administrative district. These entries represented 

 fraudulent efforts to secure title to 85,906 acres of 

 National Forest land for speculative purposes, in- 

 volving nearly a billion feet of merchantable tim- 

 ber. During the fiscal year 1913 alone 300,000,000 

 board feet of merchantable timber in one district 

 was retained in public ownership primarily because 

 the Forest officers brought out the facts. The lands 



