22 THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



ber, the extent to which the forests are pastured, the amount 

 of timber already cut and the effects of deforesting, the rela- 

 tions of timber supply and transportation, the local demands of 

 miners and settlers, and the supply needed for more distant 

 markets. Upon the basis of the information thus gathered, 

 regulations for the use of the forest reserves were framed 

 and the boundaries of the reserves were readjusted. 



The examinations of the forest reserves were carried stead- 

 ily forward for seven or eight years and covered about 

 75,000,000 acres. In addition to reports on the several re- 

 serves, the Survey undertook, in connection with these exami- 

 nations, the preparation of land classification maps of the areas 

 examined. These maps were prepared on the regular atlas 

 sheets of the Survey as bases, and showed not only the for- 

 ests with burnt and cut lands but the irrigable and pasture 

 lands. In all some forty sheets of this type were prepared and 

 published. 



During the years 1897 to 1905 the data collected by the 

 Survey relative to the forest reserves furnished the basis of 

 the regulations governing those reserves and of the adminis- 

 tration of those regulations. The actual administration of the 

 reserves was, however, vested in the General Land Office. In 

 1905 the administration was transferred to the Bureau of 

 Forestry of the Department of Agriculture, which was re- 

 named the Forest Service. To this Service was also trans- 

 ferred all further examination and classification of the for- 

 ests ; and the work of the Survey relating to forests was hence- 

 forth limited to "topographic surveys on public lands which 

 have been or may hereafter be designated as national forests," 

 an activity for which specific appropriations, varying in 

 amount from $100,000 to $75,000, have .since annually been 

 made. 



Stream Gaging and Reclamation Work. After the repeal, 

 in 1890, of those parts of the act of 1888 that provided for the 

 segregation of sites for canals and ditches and of lands made 

 available for irrigation, the appropriations made to the Sur- 



