FOREST. POLICY. 29 



5. Purchase of absolute forest land, of non-mineral character, 

 under provisions of " Timber and Stone Act," of 1878, is open to bonr, 

 fide applicants, in 160-acre lots, at $2.50 per acre. This is practically 

 the only public land law, under which the lumberman, in 1902, can 

 increase his supplies of raw material. 



6. Railroad and telegraph companies are privileged to obtain 

 timber, for construction purposes, from adjoining vacant land, withm 

 ordinary hauling distance. 



The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad is allowed repair timber vs 

 well as construction timber. 



7. Timber from public lands must be consumed within the State 

 producing it. 



8. Unlimited stock pasture on vacant public timber land — pro- 

 vided that pastures are unfenced. 



9. Boxing of timber is forbidden. 



10. Heavy fines on firing woods, or endangering woods by fire. 



(XXIX.) HISTORY OF U. S. FOREST RESERVES. 



United States Forest Reserves are land reserved from entry under 

 any of the existing laws of entry. (See §XXVin.) They are meant 

 for public use, through .the utilization of their waters, their lumbttr, 

 their mines, their forage grounds; and are established by Presidential 

 proclamation, under the law approved March 3, 1891. 



National Parks, on the other hand, can be established only by 

 Act of Congress, and are not intended to be utilized. The United 

 States Army furnishes protection for the National Parks, but not for 

 the Forest Reserves. 



The first' reserves were established in 1891 under the auspices of 

 the then Secretary of the Interior, John W. Noble. The reserves 

 comprised, 1893, some eighteen million acres. 



In 1896 the National A.cademy of Sciences, upon the request of 

 the Secretary of the Interior, appointed a commission to report on a 

 rational forest policy for the forested lands of the U. S. This com- 

 mission was headed by Charles S. Sargent, who appointed Gififord 

 Pinchot Secretary of the Commission. After traversing the- west on 

 a flying tour, the commission advised the establishment of twenty- 

 one million acres of additional reserves, situated in Washington, Ore- 

 gon, California, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, South Dakota. 



Public opinion in the Pacific States,, however, forced the Senate 

 to suspend the proclamation of President Cleveland, issued February 

 22nd, 1897, by which these twenty-one million acres of reserves were 

 set aside, until March 1898. In the meantime, a great change of 

 public opinion in the west took place, the people becoming convinced 

 that irrigation without forest reserves is impossible. In addition, the 

 General Land Office consented to modify the regulations governing 

 the use of the reserves, permitting sheep and cattle pasture to a limited 

 degree, thus removing one of the, greatest causes for complaint. The 



