HISTORY 21 



division surveys have been required of the Survey by Con- 

 gress. In 1898 there was, however, an appropriation made 

 for the survey by the Geological Survey of the northern por- 

 tion of the Idaho-Montana boundary, and from time to time 

 other boundary surveys have been made by the Survey. 



The history of the Survey's geologic and topographic work 

 in the next decade is one of steady progress along established 

 lines, and a rapid development of that part of its work which 

 had direct economic application. The extension of its opera- 

 tions to Alaska, beginning in 1895, has already been men- 

 tioned. During these years, in addition to thus entering a field 

 where rapid economic development was imminent, the Survey 

 attacked in succession three major problems of the conserva- 

 tion of the natural resources of the country — the conservation 

 of the national forest lands, the reclamation of the arid public 

 lands, and the elimination of waste, both of raw material and 

 of life, in the mining industries of the country. 



Survey of Forest Reserves. From its beginning, in connec- 

 tion with its regular geologic and topographic surveys, the 

 Survey had gathered data relative to the country's forests; 

 and in 1891, on the enactment of a law authorizing the Presi- 

 dent to set aside forest reserves on the public lands, the Sur- 

 vey had been able to give advice to the Secretary of the In- 

 terior as to the determination of the boundaries of such re- 

 serves. The lack of definite information as to the conditions 

 and resources of the lands included in the forest reserves had 

 made impracticable, however, any attempt to administer them. 

 In 1897, therefore, Congress appropriated $150,000 "for the 

 survey of the public lands that have been or may hereafter be 

 designated as forest reserves by Executive proclamation," 

 specifying at the same time that these surveys should be made 

 under the supervision of the Director of the Survey (30 Stat. 

 L., 34). Under this authority the Survey began a thorough 

 survey of the national forests — their distribution, the size and 

 density of the timber, the distribution of the leading economic 

 species, the damage inflicted by fires, the amount of dead tim- 



