TIMBER ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 15 



of thirty-three months, opportnnity is found under cover of the declaratory statement 

 •which gives to the pre-eiuptor protection in his possession of the tract, to strip the 

 hinds of their timber and thereupon to abandon them without even the payment of the 

 minimum price. 



These remarks were chiefly applied to lands of the class designated, 

 lying eastward of the Missouri Kiver, and along the Pacific coast. But 

 a large part of the timbered region of that coast has not been surveyed, 

 and yet already "from them have been taken the vast supplies neces- 

 sary for mining and smelting operations, for the building and main- 

 tenance of railroads, and, indeed, for the supply of every form of indus- 

 try and improvement within the district of country embracing the same 

 into which timber enters as a necessary part. Data are not accessible 

 for forming an estimate of the value of the public property thus used 

 and destroyed without return to the Treasury." 



Moreover, the great mining and smelting operations of the Pacific 

 States depend largely upon a continued supply of timber, and it is 

 perfectly well known that although timber of some species grows to an 

 enormous size, and that iu some districts the yield per acre is almost 

 beyond power of belief, yet the area is not large ; much of it is difficult 

 of access, and a prudent forethought should be exercised in its preserva- 

 tion and economical use. Of course these lands cannot be sold until 

 they are surveyed, and at present they are entirely without even nominal 

 protection. As title cannot be obtained, the necessities of the country 

 lead to the procuring of timber wherever it can be got, and thus every 

 person having occasion to use forest products, is either obliged to com- 

 mit depredations upon the public lands himself, or to procure them of 

 others, " knowing them to have been stolen."^ 



' Recent investigations by a special agent of the Department of the Interior, under 

 instructions from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, have, according to 

 accounts publisbed in the public journals, and reported officially to the present Con- 

 gress, shown that the depredations upon public timber in recent years, have amounted 

 to many millions of dollars. Some lumberiag firms and individuals have acquired vast 

 wealth by these operations. The pecuniary loss thus occasioned is not the only injury 

 done, a' demoralizing effect has been wrought in the minds of a certain class, who, 

 seeing government property openly taken, under the eyes of public officers, without 

 notice, have come to regard this class of property as common, and communistic princi- 

 ples of most dangerous tendencies have been encouraged. 



Whatever may be the legal rights involved, it cannot be denied that timber growing 

 upon government lands in the newer States and in the Territories, is often loosely re- 

 garded as applicable to the wants of settlers ; and where it is scarce there is little 

 hesitation in taking it wherever found most convenient. With a public senrimeut 

 justifying this course, it is idle to expect that laws or regulations alone will ever pro- 

 tect it, or that prosecutions tried before a jury will ever lead to conviction. The same 

 may be said of the scanty belts of timber growing upon lauds granted to railroads, 

 and upon the lands of nou-resident owners. It is even doubtful whether any regula- 

 tione tending to restrain from waste or improvident use would be heeded in the absence 

 of authority upon the spot sufficient for protection. Such native growths appear to 

 be regarded, like wild fruits, a proper object for use wherever found, and it is not until 

 timber is planted and cared for by an owner that it comes to be regarded as the prop- 

 erty of the soil, to be enjoyed, like a field of grain, by the man who has planted it, or 

 his successor in title. 



These facts are stated as among the difficulties to bo met in whatever measures it 

 may be found practicable to undertake, and not in the remotest degree as a palliation, 

 much less a justification, of the sentiment believed to exist. The inducements and op' 

 portunities for this irregular proceeding are chiefly to be found iu the Territories re-* 

 mote from lines of communication, and they prevail most among the class of pioneers- 

 that precede the tide of permanent emigration — in fact, among those who scarcely ac- 

 quire a title to the lands they despoil. It is an incident that was observed under 

 somewhat different circumstances, in the first settlement of what are now the older 

 States, where the injuries, although greater in amount, were less in effect, and, per- 

 haps, where this habit of improvidence was first acquired. They may be regarded, 

 however deplorable, as not likely to continue, as the land comes under the protection 

 of resident owners, among whom we may expect a better sense of justice, as. regards 

 the rights of real estate. 



