FOREST RESERVES IN IDAHO. l7 



I, the undersigned, being first duly sworn, depose and say : 



That my name is Thomas F. Ilanley. That I have been a resident of what is 

 now the State of Idaho for over forty years, engaged most of the time in 

 prospecting and mining. I was formerly the sheriff of Shoshone County, before 

 our admission as a State. I am familiar with the country now embraced witl-in 

 the limits of the Bitter Root Forest Reserve, and am aware of the difficulties to 

 be encountered by miners and prospectors under the rules governing forest 

 reserves. Especially do these rules become embarrassing when applied to the 

 northeast i)ortion of the reserve, owing to its long distance from the head- 

 quarters of the supervisor, who is located at Lewiston. Idaho, it being impossible 

 during six or eight months of each year to reach him at all, and, under the 

 most favorable circumstances, it reiiuires from five to eight days to reach his 

 office, and after arriving tliere he is frequently not to be found. In the locality 

 I name but little, if any. tinil)er is growing on the claims now located, the fire 

 having denuded almost the entire mountain many years ago ; consequently the 

 prospector has no timber on his own claim, or at most but little, and necessarily 

 must get it elsewhere; consequently must make application or become a tres- 

 passer before he can proceed with his work. Under paragraph No. 10, page 13, 

 of the Forest Reserve Manual, he may be considered a needy person and, by 

 making a pilgrimage to the forest supervisor, if he can locate him, may be 

 permitted to cut a load of dry firewood, the supervisor having authority to 

 grant such privilege without marking or measuring the material ; but, as noted 

 in paragraph C, no unmarked live timber can be cut, therefore it will be neces- 

 sary not only to find and obtain the consent of the supervisor, and the indorse- 

 ment of the Secretary of the Interior, but also to await such time as a forest 

 ranger or other officer can go in and mark the timber. Paragraph No. 2, page 

 21, of the Forest Reserve Manual, specifies that " all applications in any reserve 

 will be held up and delayed whenever it becomes evident that the reserve force 

 for any reason whatever fails to carry out the work according to the prescribed 

 regulations." Thus the prospector and miner is subject to the delay of finding 

 the supervisor and having his application favorably considered by the Depart- 

 ment, but is also res])()nsible for the delinquencies of the reserve force. 



Under the regulations governing the building of roads and trails on forest 

 reserves (see p. 5, Manual), it would be readily understood that approximately 

 one entire season will be consumed in obtaining the proper permit. The snow 

 lies on the ground until late in June and commences to fall again in September, 

 and, as application can not be intelligently made until the snow is off, by the 

 time the iiermit is granted, after a full investigation has been made by a forest 

 officer, the season has been entirely consumed. 



The necessity of a compliance with the foregoing rules and others equally as 

 absurd retards the development and promotion of mining prospects on forest 

 reserves, prevents the investment of capital, and converts a hitherto patriotic 

 and loyal class of citizens into a community of trespassers and violators of the 

 law. Feeling that the Government is against them, they are against the Govern- 

 ment. They can not go on to the reserve in the district I mention and abide 

 there as prospectors and miners without becoming lawbreakers and inevitably 

 being classed as criminals. 



Thomas F. Hanley. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 19th day of April, 1904. 



Fred Veatch, 

 Notary Public, residing at Moscow, Idaho. 



Senator Heyburn to the President. 



Washington, Ji(7ie ^, 1904- 

 The President: 



Referring to our conversation this morning in regard to the with- 

 cIraAval of the order of AvithdraAval from settlement of certain hind in 

 the Coeiir dWlene mining region, Shoshone County, Idaho, witli a 

 vieAv of determining the advisability of embracing the same in a 

 forest reserve, I would suggest that the time within which Mr. 

 Pinchot was instructed to act in the matter expired a month ago. 

 I earnestly hope that a^ou will issue an order at the earliest possible 



