36 SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 



cided litigation, and because the railroad grants do not give title to 

 mineral lands within either primary or indemnity limits. The propor- 

 tion of mineral lands in the odd-numbered sections within these limits 

 is not yet known. 



Among other cases, that of the Priest Eiver Eeserve may be cited in 

 illustration. By far the larger part of it is covered by the land grant 

 of the Northern Pacific Eailroad, within which the ownership of the 

 United States is restricted to even-numbered sections in every town- 

 ship and to the odd-numbered sections which may be found to be 

 mineral. It will be distinctly to the advantage of the Government and 

 will immensely simplify the task of administration if some equitable 

 arrangement can be made by which, through exchange, the Government 

 holdings can be consolidated. Odd -numbered sections within a reserve 

 might in this way be exchanged for the same or a different area of even- 

 numbered sections elsewhere not reserved, so as to give the Govern- 

 ment full and undivided control of its holdings and prevent the moun- 

 tain forests, so far as possible, from passing to other hands. In some 

 cases it might be necessary to exchange lands already reserved for odd- 

 numbered sections within reserve boundaries; but this course should be 

 avoided whenever possible, even at very considerable cost. Partial 

 ownership within the boundaries fixed by proclamation would thus be 

 exchanged for full ownership within the same or smaller limits. The 

 loss to some of the reserves will be very considerable unless the exchange 

 of unreserved for reserved lands can be effected, and the definite adop- 

 tion of this policy is strongly urged. It would serve the profit of the 

 railroads as well as that of the Government, since by means of it they 

 could secure solid blocks of land in grazing and agricultural regions, 

 and thus greatly increase the sale and rental values of pasture and 

 other lands within their grants. A little more or a little less than one- 

 half of the reserves will be affected by the policy adopted according to 

 the issue of suits now pending. 



FIRE. 



By far the greater part of the reserves is covered with growing trees ; 

 but they contain also considerable areas which have been more or less 

 completely stripped of live timber by older or more recent fires. In 

 many regions now covered with trees the forest itself affords unmistak- 

 able evidence that the land was once cleared by fire; and, in general, it 

 is more than probable that most of the forests throughout the United 

 States have been burned and have grown again rejieatedly during the 

 course of geologic time. There is no cause to doubt, but on the con- 

 trary conclusive reason to believe, that this process of rehabilitation 

 will be repeated once more on the forest lands which are at present 

 devastated. Indeed, some of the successive steps in the return of 

 burned areas to fertility may be observed wherever the fires have 

 cleared lands once covered with the growth of trees. Such lands will 

 resume their former character as productive forests as soon as the 

 increasing fires can be checked. They are essentially forest lands, and 

 as such belong with entire propriety to the reserves. 



With the progress of settlement and the extension of surveys the 

 useless waste of timber by fire has steadily grown. At present it is 

 the one paramount danger, both to the growing forests, whose exist- 

 ence it threatens, and to the burned forest lands, whose return to value 

 it may indefinitely postpone. In comparison with the damage from 

 fire, the loss to the national timber lands from the ax is almost insig- 



