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Sierra Club Bulletin 



Congress, by the act approved April 9, 1912 (37 Stat., 80), authorized 

 the Secretary of the Interior, for the purpose of eliminating private 

 holdings within the Yosemite National Park and to preserve intact the 

 natural timber along the roads in the scenic portions of the park, both 

 on patented and park lands, in his discretion, to obtain by exchange 

 complete title to any and all of the lands within the boundaries of the 

 park held in private ownership. Among other things it was provided that 

 the value of patented lands within the park offered in the exchange and 

 the value of timber on park lands proposed to be given in the exchange 

 should be ascertained in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior 

 might direct. 



The subject was taken up with the Yosemite Lumber Co., which has 

 a large area of patented lands in the park, principally along the Wawo- 

 na Road, and it was found that an exchange could not be made, for the 

 reason that the value of the lands owned by the company with the tim- 

 ber thereon was far in excess of the timber on the park lands, and Con- 

 gress, by the act approved April 16, 1914 (38 Stat., 345), amended sec- 

 tion 1 of the act of 1912 so as to authorize the secretaries of the Interior 

 and Agriculture, for the purpose of eliminating private holdings in said 

 park and preserving the timber along the roads adjoining the scenic por- 

 tions thereof on patented lands, to obtain and accept for the United 

 States a complete title to any and all patented lands within the bound- 

 aries of the park "by the exchange of timber or timber and lands within 

 the Yosemite National Park and the Sierra and Stanislaus National 

 Forests for such lands and the timber thereon within the park." 



Under this legislation the matter was taken up with the Yosemite 

 Lumber Co., and a contract was entered into on January 18, 1915, be- 

 tween it and the department under which the Government is to give tim- 

 ber and timber lands in Yosemite National Park and Sierra National 

 Forest to that corporation in exchange for lands and timber owned by 

 it in the park and forest, the exchange values in each case to be equal. 

 This contract is now being carried into effect under supervision of the 

 representatives of the department in the park. 



The act of Congress approved May 13, 1914 (38 Stat., 376), for the 

 purpose of preserving scenic features and consolidating certain forest 

 lands belonging to the United States within the Sierra National Forest 

 and the Yosemite National Park, Cal., authorizes the Secretary of the 

 Interior, on the recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture — 



"and after obtaining and accepting for the Government of the United 

 States a valid title to the land to be acquired, which title shall be ap- 

 proved by the Secretary of the Interior, to exchange lands belonging to 

 the United States within the Sierra National Forest for privately owned 

 timberlands of approximately equal area lying within the boundaries of 

 said national forest and the Yosemite National Park," 



Under this statute an exchange of lands has been consummated which 

 will result in the addition of 160 acres of land toi the park. 



