THE AMERICAN FORESTS 841 



lands producing live-oak and cedar, for the sole 

 purpose of supplying timber for the navy of the 

 United States. An extension of this law by 

 the passage of the act of March 2, 1831, pro- 

 vided that if any person should cut live-oak or 

 red cedar trees or other timber from the lands of 

 the United States for any other purpose than the 

 construction of the navy, such person should pay 

 a fine not less than triple the value of the timber 

 cut, and be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 

 twelve months. Upon this old law, as Mr. Bowers 

 points out, having the construction of a wooden 

 navy in view, the United States government has 

 to-day chiefly to rely in protecting its timber 

 throughout the arid regions of the West, where 

 none of the naval timber which the law had in 

 mind is to be found. 



By the act of June 3, 1878, timber can be 

 taken from public lands not subject to entry under 

 any existing laws except for minerals, by bona 

 fide residents of the Rocky Mountain states and 

 territories and the Bakotas. Under the tim- 

 ber and stone act, of the same date, land in the 

 Pacific States and Nevada, valuable mainly for 

 timber, and unfit for cultivation if the timber is 

 removed, can be purchased for two dollars and 

 a half an acre, under certain restrictions. By 

 the act of March 3, 1875, all land-grant and 

 right-of-way railroads are authorized to take tim- 

 ber from the public lands adjacent to their lines 



