4 SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 



is situated, the other in the General Land Office; and twenty pBotoIithographic 

 copies of the plats shall be returned, one copy for the tiles in the United States 

 surveyor-general's office of the State in which the reserve is situated; the original 

 plat and the other copies shall be filed in the General Land Office, and shall have the 

 facsimile signature of the Director of the Survey attached. 



Such surveys, field notes, and plats thus returned shall have the same legal force 

 and effect as heretofore given the surveys, field notes, and plats returned through 

 the surveyors-general; and such surveys, which include subdivision surveys under 

 the rectangular system, shall be approved by the Commissioner of the General Land 

 Office as in other" cases, and properly certified copies thereof shall be filed in the 

 respective land offices of the districts in which such lands are situated, as in other 

 cases. All laws inconsistent with the provisions hereof are hereby declared inopera- 

 tive as respects such survey : Provided, however. That a copy of every topographic 

 map and other maps showing the distributions of the forests, together with such 

 field notes as may be taken relating thereto, shall be certified thereto by the Direc- 

 tor of the Survey and filed in the General Land Office. (30 Stat. L., p. 34.) 



In coaformity with the terms of the statute, a plan of operations was 

 submitted to the Secretary of the Interior on June 7, 1 897, and received 

 his approval on June 8. (See Appendix A of this report.) 



ORGANIZATION OF THE SURVEY. 



The surveying parties were at once organized and placed in charge 

 of the chiefs of the Eocky Mountain and Pacific sections of topography, 

 Mr. E. M. Douglas and Mr. E. U. Groode, both of whom have had many 

 years' experience in the rugged and heavily timbered regions of the 

 West and Iforthwest. To each were assigned certain reserves. The 

 examination of the distribution and character of the forests and 

 woodlands, the amount of damage inflicted on them by forest fires, 

 the amount of dead timber, the extent of timber already cut, and the 

 eftects of pasturage upon the forests, was placed in charge of Mr. 

 Henry Gannett, whose long experience, first with the Hayden Survey 

 of the Territories, and since 1879 with the Geological Survey, in the 

 forest-covered area of the West, particularly qualified him for this 

 imi^ortant work. A copy of his instructions is submitted herewith as 

 Appendix B, and a copy of the instructions to topographers in regard 

 to the mapping of the wooded areas as Appendix G. - 



CHARACTER OF THE LANDS UNDER SURVEY. 



Outside of the Black Hills and Big Horn reserves comparatively 

 little was known of the physical characteristics of the areas included 

 within the several forest reserves. In considering the problem of the 

 best method to secure such information, it became at once apparent that 

 a reliable map was essential, in order to supply a proper base upon 

 which to delimit the distribution of the forested lands and also to indi- 

 cate the possibilities of utilizing the water supply. 



The forest reserves which it was proposed to survey are, with the 

 exception of the Black Hills reserve, situated in high, mountainous 

 regions, the altitudes ranging from 5,000 to 13,000 feet. They are all 

 at a considerable distance from railroads and in most cases are without 

 many settlers. Eoads and trails are very few, and in many localities 

 entirely absent. The rugged character of the mountains and the 

 density of the timber make travel oft' the lines of the roads and 

 trails often impossible, except on foot. Because of the high altitude 

 and the northern latitude, storms are frequent and snows fall in nearly 

 every locality under survey early in September, thus delaying the 

 work or causing its entire stoppage after a very short field season. 

 The surveys were prosecuted with the utmost difficulty. In many 



