320 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



Under the same law, the authority given the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior to prescribe rules and regulations 

 to effectuate the system outlined in the law, provided 

 the means whereby the details of the reserve policy 

 might be worked out and adapted to the conditions of 

 the mining industry as they should be encountered in 

 the different localities where mining interests and forest 

 methods might come in contact. The scheme devised 

 enables every miner to secure from forest reserves in 

 the State in which his mines are situated whatever tim- 

 ber is necessary to the prosecution of his enterprise. 



Prior to the enactment of this law, a different condi- 

 tion prevailed. Before the act of June 4, 1897, was 

 passed, almost the only way for the miner to obtain 

 timber from the public lands legitimately was under 

 the act of 1878, which allowed the cutting and removal 

 of timber from public mineral lands for mining and 

 other specified uses. This act placed miners in an 

 embarrassing position. Under the general laws, and 

 according to the policy of the Department of the Inte- 

 rior, the public lands are presumed to be non-mineral, 

 and held to be such until the contrary is shown ; hence, 

 to justify the cutting and removal of timber from a 

 given tract, under the provisions of the act of 1878 it is 

 incumbent upon miners to be in position to show that 

 the land involved is mineral in character. This neces- 

 sitates the discovery of mineral ; for ordinarily the fact 

 that some mines are known to exist in a certain region 

 does not establish the mineral character of the whole 

 territory included. To demonstrate by prospecting 

 or otherwise that a particular tract from which it is 

 proposed to cut timber is mineral lands, is to invite the 

 location of it by others as mining ground, and thereby 

 defeat the very purpose of the person needing the tim- 

 ber; for, under the mining laws, the locator has the 



