328 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



needs unless it be supplemented by adequate protection 

 against fire ; and here is where an intelligent forest 

 patrol is a necessary auxiliary to the mining industry. 

 Protection from fire makes requisite certain precau- 

 tions. Where trees are felled and removed, a minimum 

 of the debris should be left on the ground to serve as 

 a conductor of the flames, and all of it should be so 

 disposed of that when the season of least danger 

 arrives, the refuse may be burned without damage. 

 These outlines indicate the importance of enforcing 

 adequate supervision if the greatest benefit is to be 

 derived from our forests; but, aside from any theo- 

 retical view of the subject of forest preservation, there 

 is a feature of the forest reserve policy which often 

 escapes attention, but which every bona fide miner 

 must recognize and appreciate. 



I refer to the prevention of illegitimate location of 

 timber lands as mining claims. How many mining 

 enterprises of great promise have been balked by such 

 practices? Every experienced lode miner knows in- 

 stances where "stake locators" have claimed every acre 

 of timber land within miles of a promising discovery, 

 for no other purpose than to compel the owner of the 

 legitimate mining claim to purchase a fraudulent one 

 in order to secure the timber essential to the operation 

 of his property. Many of these nefarious schemes 

 have been defeated through the efforts of forest offi- 

 cers, and a more effective method of dealing with such 

 blackmailers is being carefully worked out. Illustra- 

 tions are not wanting to show that where opposition to 

 the inclusion of certain tracts within forest reserves 

 has resulted in the elimination of such tracts, and the 

 land shark relieved from the vigilance that has pre- 

 vented the carrying out of his plan, he at once makes 

 application for patent to alleged mineral land and 



