xiv INTRODUCTION 



"national forests," of which my more definite ideas, 

 together with all my knowledge of the romantic beings 

 known as forest rangers, derived from Stewart Edward 

 White's early novels. 



None of these and other isolated concepts of simi- 

 lar kind were related in my mind, nor do I recall ever 

 grouping national land facts nor hearing them grouped. 

 Reclamation when it was new, raising grain by the 

 square mile when this was a novelty, mining copper on 

 a great scale, and other showy Western achievements 

 reported in the press were often referred to in conver- 

 sation among the men I went with. But never, until I 

 first explored Yosemite and Glacier National Parks on 

 horseback in 1915 and two years later rode High Sierra 

 trails for many miles did the diversity, inestimable 

 value, and interrelation of our national land holdings 

 as a system dawn upon me. 



What I then first discovered existed was an un- 

 suspected organized empire of famous history, vast size, 

 colossal wealth, unbelievable opportunity, vast intri- 

 cate problems, and physical beauty and diversity be- 

 yond imagination. Living intimately with it for a dec- 

 ade since, searching its past which is that of America, 

 dealing with its problems which by now have ceased 

 to be sectional, I am impressed with nothing so much 

 as the necessity for detailed knowledge of their coun- 

 try and its problems on the part of all its people alike 

 and for nation-wide vision in perspective of the whole. 



Suddenly we have entered a new era in which the 

 destinies of the world, whether we will or not, directly 



