28 FOREST RESERVES IN IDAHO. 



They are not to be referred to any Department, but at his request 

 are to be forwarded directly to him. 



Very truly, yours, W. B. Heyburn. 



Benjamin F. Barnes, Esq.^ 



' Assistant Secretary to the President^ White House. 



Senator Heyburn to the President. 



Washhigton^ April 6, 1905. 

 The President: 



Pursuant to our conversation relative to the withdrawal of the 

 jjroposed Shoshone Forest Reserve in Shoshone County, Idaho, and 

 tlie statements concerning the reasons for its creation made by the 

 representatives of the General Land Office and the Forestry Depart- 

 ment on the evening of March 30 ultimo, at the White House, I 

 desire to suggest that the altitudes within such withdrawal are, except 

 as to the mountain peaks and higher levels of approach thereto^ 

 easily within the limits of successful and convenient settlement. 



The altitude at Wallace, Idaho, is 2,728 feet. This would apply 

 to the valley of the South Fork of the Coeiir d'Alene Elver in a 

 vicinity of several miles extent, the altitude gradually decreasing 

 down said vallev to Lake Coeur d'Alene, which has an altitude of 

 about 2,100 feet."^ 



The proposed withdrawal, which lies to the south of the said river, 

 beginning at Wallace, except as to the mountain peaks, Avhich consti- 

 tute only a small portion of the said proposed withdrawal, has a 

 general elevation of less than 5,000 feet, and there are vast quantities 

 of land within the proposed Avithdrawal ranging in elevation from 

 3,500 to 4,000 feet. That said elevations are entirely Avithin the range 

 of not only possible, but profitable and comfortable settlement and 

 residence, may be gathered from a comparison Avith elevations of 

 other extensive areas of settlement within the United States having 

 a much less comfortable climate than the portion of Idaho under 

 consideration. 



In Wyoming the A'ast plains upon which Cheyenne, Laramie, and 

 Hock Creek, and other centers of population are located, are all above 

 0,000 feet, Cheyenne being 6,105, Laramie City 7,153, Rock Creek 

 6,708. In Colorado the great plains and wheat fields about DenA^er 

 have an elevation exceeding 5,000 feet. In the Del Norte Valley the 

 elevation is aboA^e 5,000 feet ; South Park, Colorado, is aboA^e 6,000 

 feet; the Gunnison Valley is aboA^e 7,000 feet; Colorado Springs is 

 above 6,000 feet ; Manitou Valley is aboA^e 6,000 feet ; the San Juan 

 A^alley is about 7,000 feet; Greeley is 4,649 feet; the fertile and 

 beautiful A^alley of Reno, Nev., is 4,500 feet; the Great Carson ValleA' 

 in Nevada is 4,700 feet ; the Ogden Valley in Utah, noted for its 

 fruits, A^egetables, and grains, is 4,300 feet ; Salt Lake Vallev is 4,300 

 feet. 



All of these elevated sections of the country are noted for their 

 j^roduction of grains, grasses, fruits, and A^egetables, and are centers 

 of population, and Avhich a generation ago AA-ere as unforbidding in 

 appearance and promise as the lands proposed to be AvithdraAvn for 



