54 FOREST RESERVES IN IDAHO. 



this proposed addition of 452,357 acres is covered by fine commercial 

 timber, but owing to the absence of a market and transportation facil- 

 ities the use of this timber has been prevented for anything but road 

 construction and building. Near Grangeville the better timber has 

 been taken up under the homestead and timber and stone laws, and 

 small sawmills are in operation, but extensive logging can not be ex- 

 pected for many years. 



Only two mining districts have been discovered in this proposed 

 addition. In 1860 very large placer deposits were found on the broad 

 Salmon Eiver summit at Florence. Something like $50,000,000 in 

 gold was taken from this district from 1860 to 1885, Placer work 

 ceased in 1890. Since then a number of very promising quartz mines 

 have been discovered and partly developed. I believe and sincerely 

 hope that splendid mines will be discovered and developed. If this 

 hope will materialize these mines will need timber, which it will be 

 difficult for them to get in the neighborhood, for the forest district 

 around Florence was almost completely burned over, and there will 

 be no available timber there for many years. Placer gold in paying 

 quantities has been found also along the south fork of the Clearwater, 

 and they are being worked now. There is enough timber to last these 

 placer mines for a great many years in the immediate neighborhood. 



Nearly the whole addition is unsurveyed. There are about 1,000 

 acres of land under cultivation, and about 4,000 acres of land will be 

 taken up under the homestead law when the land is surveyed. As 

 nearly all the agricultural land is already taken, no damage w411 result 

 to agriculture on account of this proposed addition. 



The immense tract of agricultural land which is known as the 

 Camas Prairie, with the slopes of the Clearwater, adjoins the addi- 

 tion on the northwest. There is sufficient rainfall in this entire region 

 for the gTOwth of all crops, and the supplying of water for irriga- 

 tion does not enter the problem. The ranchers along Salmon and 

 Clearwater rivers are chiefly dependent upon cattle and their stock 

 summer range in the proposed addition. The reservation of this tract 

 will in no Avay a fleet this cattle industry. There is sufficient timber 

 outside the proposed tract to furnish fuel, posts, rails, etc., for the 

 needs of settlers for a great many years to come. 



The roads which have been built from the supply points of Grange- 

 ville and Stites to the mining districts of Florence, Buffalo Hump 

 and Elk City pass through the proposed addition, and all j^arts of the 

 region are easily reached. A stage line along Salmon River, con- 

 necting Council and Grangeville, also passes near it on the west. The 

 nearest railroad is a branch of the Northern Pacific which extends 

 up the Clearwater River to Stites, It is almost assured that an elec- 

 tric line between Lewiston and Grangeville will soon be built. 



None of the timber of the proposed addition has ever been entered 

 by lumbermen as yet. Practically the only demand for sawed timber 

 is from the Camas Prairie settlements, and there is enough timber 

 outside the proposed addition to meet all these demands for a number 

 of years. The only immediate demand for reserve timber w^ill be 

 confined to free use permits by ranchers and miners within the tract. 

 Thus on account of its remoteness and present inaccessibility, the tim- 

 ber in this proposed addition is not valuable now commercially, but 

 the time will come in the future, when the timber in^northern Idaho is 



