FOREST GROWTH AND SHEEP GRAZING IN THE CASCADE 
MOUNTAINS OF OREGON. 
INTRODUCTION. 
For the past few years a bitter controversy has been waged. in 
Oregon on the question of grazing sheep in the Cascade Range Forest 
Reserve. Recent legislation by Congress has made it necessary to 
devise a Series of regulations regarding this industry, and in the face 
of a great deal of diametrically conflicting testimony regarding the effect 
of sheep grazing, the Interior Department felt the need of a disinterested 
investigation of the facts before formulating any detailed set of rules. 
The aid of the Department of Agriculture was solicited, and the result 
of the investigation is here presented. A preliminary report was trans- 
mitted to the Secretary of the Interior on November 22, 1897.' 
Hon. Binger Hermann, Commissioner of the General Land Office, 
furnished the writer with valuable letters of introduction to several 
prominent citizens of Oregon, who were familiar with the sheep grazing 
question. Mr. John Minto, of Salem, Oreg., gave a general letter of 
introduction to the sheepmen of eastern Oregon which made it possible 
to secure a large amount of information through channels that ordina- 
rily would have been closed to a Government officer investigating this 
subject. Among the many others whose courtesy contributed materi- 
ally to the success of the investigation should be mentioned particularly 
Mr. Thomas Cooper and Mr. E. Ff. Benson of the western land office 
of the Northern Pacific Railroad, at Tacoma, Wash., who have recently 
been conducting an investigation of sheep grazing on the railroad lands. 
An outfit was procured at Klamath Falls, in the southern part of 
Oregon, and the party, consisting of the writer, Mr. EK. I. Applegate, 
acting as assistant, and a camp hand, with three saddle horses and five 
pack horses, entered the southern end of the reserve on July 23. 
From this time until September 6, when we reached The Dalles on the 
Columbia River at the northern end of the reserve, a thorough examina- 
tion of the forests was made, including not only those portions in which 
sheep now graze but other typical portions in which sheep have never 
erazed. We traversed, besides the well known parts of the Cascades, 
some of the most remote and inaccessible portions, where, traveling 
largely without trails, we interviewed sheep owners, packers, and 
'A copy of the present report was transmitted to the Interior Department on Janu- 
ary 21, i898. 
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