The Government is Interested. 



ERY EARLY in the year the President of the Com- 

 mission entered into correspondence with the Hon. 

 Wm. Alden Smith, congressman from Michigan, 

 concerning the establishment in the near future of 

 a permanent forestry preserve in the vicinity of 

 Crawford and Roscommon counties, and he was asked to 

 interest himself in securing for this reservation the lands still 

 belonging to the government within the limits of these two 

 counties. As a result of this correspondence and Mr. Smith's 

 interest in the matter, the Secretary of the Interior directed 

 the Commissioner of the General Land Office to withdraw all 

 of the government holdings in these counties from sale, entry 



or other disposal, awaiting the action of congress which shall 

 authorize their segregation into a permanent forestry pre- 

 serve. The amount of land thus set aside is 32,462 acres. 



The Commissioner of the Land Office, in commenting upon 

 the matter, said : 



"This land is for the most part in small, isolated tracts, all 

 of said townships having been surveyed for more than forty 

 years; and it is believed, in view of the fact that but few 

 entries have been made therein during recent years, the land 

 itself is of little value for agricultural purposes. In view of 

 this fact, and the ultimate disposition sought to be made of 

 this land, it seems wise to me that they should be withdrawn 

 from settlement or other disposal pending the proposed plan of 

 making, in this vicinity, a large and permanent forestry 

 preserve." 



57 



