88 



The timber-culture a^ct i.i^»iaoperiitive, and ofiEbrs facilities for fraud. 



Tlie good results of the timber-culture law overbalance all objections to it. An in- 

 spection of eavli claim before a patent issues would insure compliance with the law 

 and prevent fra.ud. 



The folio wiog extracts give valuable bints on one side of the cjuestion : 



[Extract from a recent report (188G) of Hon. S. T. Houser, governor of Montana Territory, to the Sec. 



retary of-tlio Interior.] 



There seems^ at least in one branch of Congress, a purpose to set aside a large por- 

 tioa of th© forest-clad sections of our Territory for permanent forest reservations, 

 with a view to protect the fountain heads of the great continental rivers. Under 

 proper reg-ulations and provisions for needed care such reservations might be of great 

 use and value. But it mu-st be remembered that there is no timber in this region save 

 that which grows in the mountains where these rivers rise. If this country is to be 

 occupied and developed, these forests will, to some extent, have to be put under trib- 

 ute for various domestic and mining purposes and uses. It must be further remem- 

 bered that this entire region is metalliferous, and it would not be wise to exclude 

 from these forest reservations all explor.ations for mines. 



Owing, na doubt, to a want of knowledge of our peculiar situation and the pu-r- 

 poses of the laws of Congress, adopted in 1878, in reference to the cutting of timber 

 on mineral lands in the Rocky Mountain States and Territories, there have been 

 many seizures for violation of law during the past summer, and many instructions 

 and interpretations and applications of the law that have generally been regarded by 

 our people as unwarranted and fatal to their interests. Under the regulations since 

 prescribed by your Department it is believed that all conflict and irritation will dis- 

 appear, unless too restrictive an interpretation or construction is attached to the 

 words of the law confining its operations to mineral lauds. 



[Extract from tbe report, for the year 1886, of Hon. E. A. Stevenson, governor of Idaho Territory, to 

 the Secretary of the Interior.J 



The thanks of the people of Idaho Territory are due to the Dejiartment of the Inte- 

 rior for the modification of rules 2 and 3 concerning the felling of timber, as secured 

 by the circular of August 5, 1886. The modification was well-timed and is gratefully 

 received ; but there are still some regulations in force in the Department that work 

 great injury in the Territories of the Far West. Idaho is blessed with limitless forests 

 of timber, which are of incalculable value in this western country — a great portion of 

 whose area consists of barren and treeless plains. To enable settlers to cultivate and 

 redeem these desert plains lumber must be readily accessible, else their efforts to build 

 homes would be unsuccessful. Many of the settlers are poor, having expended their all 

 in securing their land and in improvements. Under the rules and regulations of the 

 Interior Department the purchaser must enter into a certain written agreement with 

 the lumberman, and must, further, file with the mill-owner a certificate, under oath, 

 that he purchases such lumber exclusively for his own use. This formality must be 

 gone through with every time a settler desires a little lumber. It is a great incon- 

 venience. Then, again, it is a matter of expense, for theoath must be taken before 

 some magistrate qualified to administer oaths, and fees must be paid therefor. To 

 the poor settler this extra expense is a matter of some consequence. Such mag- 

 istrates are not often, in this new country, in close x>roximity to the saw-mills. The 

 natural obstacles encountered by settlers on this desert land are severe enough with- 

 out additional ones being pat upon them by the Government. It is a source of great 

 benefit to our country that this land be settled up, and to this end the policy of tlio 

 Government should be to remove obstacles from the path of the honest settler, not 

 seek to retard liis efforts by impracticable regulations. There arc in this Territory 

 great forests, sufficient to supply the homo consumption without any apparent effect 

 on their extent. 



