326 Proceedings oe the 



needs from the public lands to be assured for use in 

 the mines in the Black Hills, the wisest course would 

 be for every tree in the affected district to be cut and 

 the threatened disaster averted, while at the same time 

 the present young growth could be given an oppor- 

 tunity to develop and become valuable, free from the 

 blighting influence of the now tireless pest. Such a 

 cutting would result in throwing a vast amount of 

 timber on the market at once, an amount far beyond 

 the demands of the day in that immediate vicinity. 

 To attempt to retain it until the local market could 

 dispose of it, would be to allow a large part to rot on 

 the hands of the Government. Wastefulness of that 

 character would be criminal. The only reasonable 

 course would be to ship the stuff to other points, to 

 other States probably for consumption. The law, 

 however, prevents such shipments; timber cut from 

 public lands may not be transported outside the State 

 in which it is cut. Here is a dilemma. If the timber 

 be not cut, the forests will be irretrievably ruined; if 

 it be cut, it must be either burned or allowed to rot on 

 the ground instead of being utilized to satisfy the wants 

 of people in other States which nature has not blessed 

 with timber growth. 



If the timber could be cut from public lands in one 

 State and shipped to other States, the solution-' of the 

 difficulty would be easy. The insect-infested timber 

 could be cut and the surplus exported to other locali- 

 ties; and then, whenever the needs of the miners 

 of the Black Hills should require it, the forests of 

 Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho, where there 

 is no local demand at all, could be drawn upon for an 

 indefinite time and until the young growth in the South 

 Dakota hills should be again adequate to the necessities 

 of the people there. 



