SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 87 



MOUNT RAINIEE FOREST RESERVE. 



A careful examination of this reserve is required to obtain data for f 

 the revision of its boundaries, and foi' the segregation of an area, 

 including Mount Eainier, which should be included in a national park. \ 

 The extension of the limits of this reserve is desirable in many ways, 

 and will be effected without working hardships to any legitimate inter- 

 ests. Under existing rules and regulations the rights of miners are 

 fully protected. It is believed that no agricultural land of any conse- 

 quence is included within the present boundaries. Were the provi- 

 sions recommended in Part H of this report adopted, they would open 

 to entry any such land which may be included without removal from 

 the reserve. It is recommended that steps be taken at the earliest 

 practicable date to examine this reserve thoroughly, both as to its forest 

 and other conditions, and as to the influence of the former upon the 

 drier regions to the east. 



OLYMPIC FOREST RESERVE. 



S0MMAKY. 

 Situation : Western Waaliington. Acres. 



Area within present lines 2, 188, 800 



Adverse holdings, approximately 100, 000 



Per cent of 

 total area. 



Area of forest land (?) 95 



Area marked by fire (?) 90 



Area badly burned (?) 25 



Revised lines can not be drawn without further study and a map. 



Force recommended : One ranger, 5 guards, 50 Hve watchers, after other more pressing 

 reserves have been taken in hand. 



Sources of information : Personal examination, August 19 to September 3, 1897. 



A rugged broken mountain region, covered for the most part with dense forests, 

 the trees of which, on the western slope, reach an average height of 200 feet. 



Floods are dangerous to settlers in and below the reserve, whose safety demands 

 the protection tif the forests above them. 



Mining is of no imi>ortanco at present, nor is there any clear promise that it will 

 be hereafter. 



Agriculture and grazing are but little developed, and their further extension by 

 clearing the forests will involve the destruction of values immensely greater than 

 any they can create. 



The commercial development of this reserve will not be required by local needs 

 for several years to come. 



The Olympic Forest Eeserve occupies nearly the whole of the Olympic 

 Peninsula in western Washington. The region it includes consists 

 of rugged mountains and steep canyons, for the most part densely 

 foresied, and is less easily penetrated, perhaps, than any other of its 

 size in the United States. Its larger streams rise in the central mass 

 of mountains whose principal peak is Mount Olympus, and radiate 

 from it like the spokes of a wheel, reaching salt water directly on the 

 east, north, and west, and on the south by way of the Ohehalis Eiver.' 

 The area inclosed within its boundaries is 2,188,800 acres. This sum is 

 to be diminished by (i6,160 acres of railroad lands, together with a con- 

 siderable number of timber and agricultural claims. The rock is 

 granitic in character, and the mineral soil but moderately productive. 

 It is the rainfall and the deep layer of vegetable mold on the ground 

 which gives the forest of this region its wonderful development. Pre- 

 cipitation is here greater than in any other portion of the United 

 States, and the moisture which it supplies during the growing season 

 fits this region, far beyond most others, for the production of timber. 



