WORK OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE 



IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF 



THE RESERVES 



BY 



W. A. RICHARDS 



Commissioner of the General Land Office 



pUBLIC forest reserves under the control of the 

 * Government of the United States had their in- 

 ception in section twenty-four of the Act of Congress, 

 approved March 3, 1891, which provides: 



That the President of the United States may from 

 time to time set apart and reserve, in any State or 

 Territory having pubHc land bearing forests, in any 

 part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with 

 timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value 

 or not, as public reservations, and the President shall, 

 by public proclamation, declare the establishment of 

 such reservations and the limits thereof. 



No provision for the administration of the reserves 

 so created appears to have been a matter of legislation 

 until June 4, 1897, when Congress prescribed the con- 

 ditions under which such reserves should be estab- 

 lished, to-wit: to improve and protect the forest to 

 secure favorable conditions of water flows, and to fur- 

 nish a continuous supply of timber for the use and 

 necessities of citizens of the United States; and the 

 Secretary of the Interior was authorized to make pro- 

 vision for the protection against destruction by fire 

 and depredations upon the public forests and forest 

 reservations and to make such rules and regulations 

 and establish such service as would insure the objects 



