NOTES 



Note 8, page 163. To the reader who is not famil- 

 iar with the origin of our forest reserves it may 

 be of interest to know how they became estab- 

 lished. By an act of Congress of March 3rd, 1891, 

 the President was empowered to segregate from 

 time to time, and for the benefit of the Ameri- 

 can people, forest areas situated within the Umits 

 of the public lands of the United States. In ac- 

 cordance with this act proclamations were issued 

 by Presidents Cleveland, Harrison, and McKinley, 

 reserving forest areas amounting thus far (Sep- 

 tember 1st, 1901) to 46,398,369 acres, or approxi- 

 mately 72,500 square miles. There are, however, 

 within these areas numerous bona fide holdings 

 of private ownership, in which the owners are 

 carrying on extensive cutting of timber. 



The reserves have been placed under the au- 

 thority of the Commissioner of the General Land 

 Ofllce, Department of the Interior, and are en- 

 trusted to the care of specially appointed super- 

 intendents, superviscfts, and rangers. Some of 

 these forest tracts are now undergoing a careful 

 study by experts in forestry, with the aim of sub- 

 jecting them to methods of treatment specially 

 adapted to them, in order that they may yield 

 both useful material and a constant revenue, 

 without impairing the productive power or vital- 

 ity of the forest. The objects will thereby be ful- 

 filled for which these reserves were established. 



172 



