24 THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 



any state, school, or granted lands, certain designated waters, 

 private lands (with the consent of the owners), and national 

 forest areas (with the consent of the Chief Forester of the 

 United States). 



An important bit of park legislation was enacted June 5, 

 1920 (41 Stat. L., 917) in the shape of a general authoriza- 

 tion to the Secretary of the Interior to accept for the National 

 Government, in his discretion, gifts of patented lands or other 

 lands, buildings or other properties within the various national 

 parks and monuments, and moneys which may be donated 

 for the purposes of the national park and monument system. 

 This provision supersedes several clauses in the sundry civil 

 act of June 12, 1917 (40 Stat. L., 152), authorizing accep- 

 tances by the Secretary of gifts in Glacier, Mt. Rainier, Mesa 

 Verde, Rocky Mountain, and Crater Lake, as well as gifts of 

 lands etc., including the upper slopes of Grandfather Moun- 

 tain, near the Boone National Forest in Western North Car- 

 olina, a region which after having been under consideration for 

 park purposes for several years has been rejected as unsuitable 

 after a careful examination by the National 'Park Service. 



Under this authorization a number of giftsi have been made 

 to the nation within the past year, the latest being a square 

 mile of forest land in the Sequoia Park, the last redwood 

 stand there which had been privately owned. This was se- 

 cured and handed over to the National Park Service at a cost 

 of $S5>ooo through the instrumentality of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society. 



Another important event having^to do with privately-owned 

 land within park boundaries "was the termination, in the Gov- 

 ernment's favor, of long-drawn-out litigation over some min- 

 ing claims in the Grand Canyon. The decision of the United 

 States Supreme Court in this case ^ established the proposition 

 that the Government can, in the public interest, examine min- 

 ing claims in the national parks and monuments with a view 

 to determining their validity, and, in the event of their prov- 



1 Cameron et al vs, United States; 252 U. S., 450 



