HOSTILITY TO NATIONAL FORESTS 259 



Careful investigation of 116 perfected homestead claims in Idaho and 

 eastern Washington disclosed the fact that, of the timbered claims, 

 about one half of 1 per cent were later reduced to cultivation. Another 

 investigation of 160 claims in Idaho revealed 100 claims with no lands 

 susceptible of cultivation, 40 or 50 claims with about five acres each 

 which might be cultivated after the timber was removed, 20 claims 

 with an average of 10 acres, and only 10 claims with an average of 

 40 to 80 acres of cultivable lands. A careful study of 95 timbered 

 homesteads in the Kaniksu National Forest showed that only 1.34 

 per cent of the cultivable land had been put to agricultural use. A 

 similar examination of 71 claims in the Clearwater National Forest 

 of Idaho showed that only slightly over 1 per cent of the claims had 

 been cultivated. Of a total of 12,330 acres in certain contested claims 

 in the Northwest, only 47 acres were found to be under cultivation — 

 less than four tenths of 1 per cent.** 



Almost all of the heavily timbered land, of course, found its way 

 into the hands of lumber companies. Figures were obtained on nine 

 townships in Idaho adjacent to the St. Joe National Forest, and it 

 was found that, of 264 homesteads patented, 208 passed to lumber 

 companies within three years after patent was issued, and nearly all 

 the rest were being held for speculation. In another township in the 

 same state, investigation of 100 patented homesteads revealed the fact 

 that, although in many cases patent had only recently been issued, 

 70 of the homesteads had passed to lumber companies. 



At the earnest solicitation of some of the Washington delegation 

 in Congress, over 400,000 acres of land were eliminated from the 

 Olympic National Forest in Washington, on the ground that it was 

 agricultural land. The land thus eliminated for agricultural use was 

 largely taken up under the Timber and Stone Act, which required 

 oath that the land is "valuable chiefly for timber but not fit for agri- 

 culture"; and ten years later the total area in cultivation was only 

 570 acres.® Many other examples might be given to show that very 

 many of the efforts to secure the elimination of alleged agricultural 

 ■ands were not made in good faith at all, but were really attempts to 



cure valuable timber, minerals, or other resources. 



5 Report, Forester, 1914, 2, 3, 4. 



8 "Lumber Industry," I, 267: Conff. Bee, June 17, 1913, 2061. 



