4 MISCELLANEOUS CIKCULAR 94, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



followed closely the news of Marshall's discovery of gold, and the 

 trickle of immigrants became a flood. The Argonauts poured into 

 California by land and sea. San Francisco became a seaport. The 

 pastoral era was ended and development began. 



DEVELOPMENT OF CONSERVATION 



California began very early to take thought for the care of her 

 natural resources. Fortunately many of the pioneers and Forty- 

 niners were not only gold seekers, but statesmen, scholars, and broad- 

 minded, educated men. As early as 1850, the best thinkers of the 

 State were urging scientific care of the forests. The magazines and 

 newspapers of the seventies contained articles on forest conserva- 

 tion. In 1883 Governor Stoneman appointed a commission to look 



MISSION SANTA BARBARA 



The Spanish civilization of early California days was centered around the white-walled 

 adobe churches of the padres which dotted the Pacific Coast from San Diego to San 

 Francisco 



into the cutting of timber on the shores of Lake Tahoe, and this study 

 later included a survey of the forest problem of the entire State. 



A State board of forestry was appointed in 1885 and came to an 

 end in 1892 after publishing two reports dealing mainly with losses 

 from uncontrolled forest fires and wasteful lumbering. 1 By that 

 time the Federal act of March 3, 1891, was in effect, authorizing the 

 President to create by proclamation, " forest reserves," or national 

 forests as they have been called since 1905. In 1892 there were 

 four national forests in California. At present there are 18 forests, 

 covering over 19,000,000 acres of Government land 2 and extending 

 from Oregon to the Mexican boundary. These Federal forests 

 include within their boundaries the main bodies of timber and impor- 



1 The second State board of forestry was appointed by Governor Pardee in 1905 and is 

 still functioning. 



2 The national forests of the California district include something over 500,000 acres in 

 Oregon and Nevada. The national forests in California alone contain about 18,600,000 

 acres. 



