THE PERIOD FROM 1878 TO 1891 



109 



Congress had given $2000 in 1876 for such investigations, and as 

 much more in 1877 to enable Hough to complete his work.^®^ This 

 appropriation did not take its place immediately as an annual grant, 

 but $5000 was voted in 1880 to continue the investigations,^^" a like 

 sum in 1881,"^ and in 1882 the amount was raised to $10,000.^** The 

 Division of Forestry was organized in 1881, and was recognized by 

 Congress in 1886, when $2000 of the $10,000 given was specifically 

 set aside for the chief of that division.^^° 



In the appropriation of 1890, $7820 was given for salaries, and 

 $10,000 for experiments in forestry and in "the production of rain- 

 fall.'"*^ In 1891, the sum for investigating forestry and "rain- 

 jmaking" was raised to $15,000.'" 



THE FOREST RESERVE ACT 



While these appropriations were of great importance in providing 

 [the information upon which any intelligent forest policy must be based, 

 -information and policy alike would have been of little use had the 

 * United States never possessed any national forests; and section 24 of 

 the General Revision Act of 1891 provided that the President might 

 from time to time set aside forest reservations in any state or territory 

 having public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or under- 

 growth. This provision, definitely providing for national ownership 

 of forest lands, a complete departure from the forest policy hitherto 

 pursued, is by far the most important piece of timber legislation ever 

 enacted in this country ; and the circumstances of its enactment must 

 be briefly discussed. 



161 Cross Reference, pp. 42, 43. 



162 Stat. 21, 296. 



163 Stat. 21, 384. 



164 Stat. 22, 92. 



165 Everhart, "Handbook of United States Documents," 58: Stat. 24, 103, 



166 Stat. 26, 283, 286. Dr. Fernow gives the following account of the manner in 

 which this appropriation was secured. He says that a syndicate of capitalists had 

 built the Texas state capitol, taking 3,000,000 acres of semi-arid land in payment. 

 One of the men in the syndicate became United States Senator, and, influenced by 

 a Chicago engineer's contention that battles are usually followed by rain, secured 

 the increased appropriation, and added to the chief's function that of making 

 rain. Fernow became known in Washington as the "gapoguri," or rainmaker, 



i«7 Stat. 26, 1048, 



