EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE 
LAND OFFICE, 
Commissioner Williamson, in his reports, deals at length and in detail 
with the depredations, the deficiency of funds to counteract them, the 
feeling of the law-abiding citizens in regard to them, and proposed 
changes. 
Commissioner McFarland says, in 1881: 
The existing provisions of law permitting citizens te fell and remove timber on the 
public lands for mining and domestic purposes, as found in act of June 3, 1878, are, 
in my opinion, very defective. The only lands from which such cutting is authorized 
are the mineral lands. 
(1) The mineral lands are to a great extent undefined and necessarily must so re- 
main. 
(2) Large quantities of timber are absolutely necessary for the development of 
miues, while the said act authorizes the cutting thereon of the timber for other pur- 
poses. The purchaser of a mining claim has as much (if not a greater) need for the 
timber thereon as the agriculturist; and the transportation of timber to the mines 
from a distance is very expensive. ; 
(3) The law furnishes no relief to such as reside at a distance from such lands. 
The situation is practically this: The settlers on lands devoid of timber need timber 
for fuel, building, etc. Very frequently they can not get it, except from the public 
lands. If they can not get it legally still they will take it, and when taken solely 
for said purposes it is under circumstances which largely mitigate the technical legal 
offense. ; 
While parties who steal the public timber for speculation and profit deserve severe 
punishment, those who use it solely for home purposes, under the imperative necessities 
above mentioned, should have their privileges accurately and reasonably defined. 1 
deem the enactment of some law which will accomplish this end to be very desirable 
and in the public interest. 
In 1882: 
Proceedings for the protection of the public timber are now had under several dif- 
ferent statutes, some of a general and others of a more local character. Much em- 
barrassment grows out of this diverse legislation, portions of which are also contflict- 
ing. 
It is my opinion that a general law should be enacted clearly defining the rights of 
citizens to take timber from the public lands for prescribed purposes, and providing 
penalties for unlawful cutting, removal, destruction, or waste. 
Of the various classes of cases of trespass with which this office has to deal, the 
most numerous are those committed under cover of homestead entries, fraudulently 
made for the purpose of securing the timber on the land. This class of entries does 
not seem confined to any one locality, but the fraud is perpetrated wherever there 
are public timber lands subject to entry under the homestead laws. 
24738—Bull 2 2 17 

q i 
