Aphh. 10, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
291 
forest preseive law. and -where our newspapers and political 
parties without exception were united in advocating sucli 
legislation, I believe that the Forestry Commission has, hy 
its methods, needlessly antagonized the influences on which 
success most depends; has made its recommendations 
without sufficient knowledge of the facts; has disregarded 
the opinions and advice of those best qualified to determine 
the proper course to be pursued, and has, by these blunders, 
discredited and seriously imperiled a worthy cause. I do n it 
believe I am talking about something of which I know noth- 
ing, and shall endeavor to be fair and dispassionate, stating 
nothing but known facts, trusting in this way to escape the 
admonitions of your editorial. 
Our first objection to these reserves is that until the law is 
changed they will accomplish no useful purpose. It is the 
experience of the people of this State, and the admission of 
the Commission which recommended these reserves, that the 
present law does nothing to preserve timber from fire, the 
chief agent of its destruction. Withdrawing these areas 
from all beneficial uses is of itself of no service unless some 
provision is made for their management and for police super- 
vision. The present law makes no such provision. It with- 
draws from these reserves the protection of local interescs 
and leaves them exposed to the camp-fire of the hunter, tour- 
ist and sheep herder, the irresponsible sources of the destruc- 
tion of more timber in this State than all the causes you 
have enumerated. 
Your assurance that "no one is injured," and that all our 
objections have been "shots fired at a phantom," would be 
exceedingly comforting if true; but when we reflect that if 
a settler's home is included within the boundaries of a re- 
serve, there is no way for him to get title thereto; that if 
UQtimbered agricultural land is included within such bound- 
aries, there is no provision in our present laws for having 
this mistake corrected and the lands opened up to settlement 
and development; when we remember that there is no 
provision for the miner to continue his search for undiscov- 
ered mineral wealth or to operate mines already known; that 
there is no legislation under which we can use the splendid 
iiTigation reservoirs which exist in these mountains, or by 
which righ.ts of way can be had for ditches, roads or other 
needed local improvements, we are warranted in believing 
that the advantages of these reservations are in to wise com- 
mensurate to their abuses, but, on the contrary, no more 
serious blow can be struck at the growth or prosperity of 
any section than through the segregation of land under this 
law. 
You say that the Commission is going to recommend that 
all these abuses in the present law be remedied, and seem to 
consider that this recommendation is equivalent to the enact- 
ment of a law on that subject. For the good of Wyoming I 
wish I could believe this, but the unhappy experience of our 
people during the past six years makes me believe that there 
is a wide difference between this Commission's recommenda- 
tions and the passage of a law by Congress, In 1891 Presi- 
dent Harrison, by proclamation, set aside as a timber reserve 
a large area south and east of Yellowstone Park. It includes 
the upper portion of the valley of the Stinking Water Eiver, 
which contains no timber, but which, at the time this reserva- 
tion was inade, was partly settled by people who had con- 
structed in igation works, 'built houses and created homes. 
Including this land is an admitted blunder. There has never 
been any controversy over the facts, but repeated petitions of 
settlers and the persistent efforts of our delegation in Con- 
gress have been insufficient to secure either a modification of 
the boundaries of this reserve or the enactment of legislation 
which would give these people the right to own and enj )y 
their homes. 
On the head of Sunlight Creek, in the same reservation, is 
a mineral belt where prospecting had been going on for three 
years prior to the creation of this reserve. Discoveries of 
known value had been made, money had been raised and ar- 
rangements perfected for the development and operation of 
these mines. The creation of this reserve put an end to all 
this. Here at least is one district where tunnels have not 
been run nor shafts dug, but, on the contrary, I am informed 
that the holders of these claims were notified that they had 
' no right to continue theu- work within the boundaries of this 
reservation. 
These two illustrations were duplicated in other portions 
of this same reserve. Hence the solicitude manifested about 
the results of this extension, and which will continue until 
we learn whether or not the Forestry Commission is able to 
control legislation and secure results not possible to our Con- 
gressional delegation. 
But if there was no objection to the law governing these 
reservations, there can be no two opinions as to the methods 
pursued by the Forestry Commission in fixing the bound- 
aries of some of those recently made. It is no sufScient 
answer to the criticisms which have been made on this score 
to say that its members are of high rank and distinguished 
attainments. In my judgment this fact only renders the 
criticism to which they have been subjected the more de- 
serving. The reservation made on the summit of the Big 
Horn Mountains was one of the most important with which 
this Commission had to deal. It affects the most important 
agricultural district In Wyoming. It deals with an area in 
which there are important mining camps and a large num- 
ber of valuable reservoir sites, some of which have been im- 
ptoved. It withdraws from the settlers occupying this region 
every opportunity of making a legitimate or harmless use 
of the timber, and in one way and another vitally affects 
fully one-fourth of the people of this State. 
I cannot understand how a commission could expect to 
deal intelligently or adequately with so important a measure 
as this without informing themselves fully, from personal 
observation or otherwise, as to the actual situation and the 
consequencas of their action if taken. 
The Commission made no examipation whatever. They 
passed through Wyoming on the fast train of the Burlington 
Kailroad, which at no place is within fifteen miles of ttiese 
mountains. When this train stopped at Sheridan the people 
of that town, having become accidentally advised of the 
.presence of the Commissioners, solicited them to stop at least 
for a day and make an examination of the reservoirs and 
irrigation works akeady built within the limits of the forest 
areas on these mountains. Provision for their transporta- 
tion, all the expenses of their maintenance were to b3 pro- 
vided, not by interested parties, but by a member of the 
State Board of Water Control of the State and one of the 
officials of the Slate most interested in forest preservation. 
Instead of doing this, they preferred to pass on without stop- 
ping and to consider these matters in the attractive and salu- 
brious surroundings of Yellowstone Park, a hundred mUes 
from the area with which they were dealing. 
Later on a member of this Commission wrote to the State 
Hagineer of Wyoming, requesting him to mark the bounda- 
ries of the forest areas on the Big Horn Mountains on a Land 
Office map. In reply thereto the engineer explained that it 
was impossible for him to fix accurately these boundaries, and 
th«it the map which he sent theni was only an approximate 
outline. After expressing his interest in forest preservaiion 
in Wyoming, he made the following suggestion, vrhich is 
worthy of consideration, in view of the complete change of 
public sentiment on this subject which has followed the Com- 
mission's action : 
"I trust, therefore, you will not think I am lukewarm in 
the cause if I suggest that I beheve it would be much better 
policy to withhold making these segregations until provibion 
can b3 made for a survey which will accurately define the 
boundaries of the timbered areas and only include these, thus 
avoiding the withdrawal of agricubural land. The segrega- 
tion of any considerable areas not timbered furnisbe3 a basis 
for criticism and for bringing into local disrepute the whole 
policy of forest preservation. 
"I am also convinced that there ought to be immediate 
provision made for policing these reservations and for the 
proper disposition of timber to settlers. The simple segrega- 
tion without some measure (Jf police supervision does little 
good in either preventing fires or in restricting the depreda- 
tions of sheep, while on the other hand it is very irritating 
to the settlers on contiguous areas if such segregation hap- 
pens to include a little land not timbered on which they wish 
to file, or think they do. 
' T offer these suggestions because I want your recommen- 
dations in regard to comprehensive laws to receive the sane 
tion of Congress, and I believe this is of far more importance 
than a little delay in securing additional segregations, and I. 
am fearful that some of these will arouse antagonisms in the 
arid States which might defeat for the present the whole pro 
posed reform." 
The reservation as made on the Big Horn Mountains in- 
cludes a number of irrigated farms which liave been occu- 
pied and improved, but not filed on because of the absence of 
accepted public land surveys. It includes extensive areas of 
land on which till re is no timber. It includes the region 
around several improved reservoir sites and through which 
ditches have been built. It includes mining camps and dis- 
tiicts believed to be rich in mineral wealth, while it excludes 
the most densely timbert d portion of the Big Horn Moun- 
tains, in which the camps of a railroad tie contractor are 
located. 
It is the belief in this State of those best informed on this 
subject that to extend reservations under the present law is 
to multiply abuses instead of benefits; that the first thing to 
do is to enact an adequate law governing these forest areas; 
that ii these reservations are of sufficient importance to be 
made at all, they are of sufficient value to justify the making 
of a preliminary survey to determine what iands are timbered 
and what lands are agricultural, and that no such important 
action should be taken until there has been at least a person- 
al examination. It is the general belief tha every reserva- 
tion which has thus far been made in this State has been 
improper^ made; that they embrace large areas which have 
no timber, and that they exclude equally large areas densely 
timbered, and which should have been included if the law 
itself was of any value. No one in Wyoming has ever been 
able to furnish a rational explanation for the boundaries of the 
limber reserve south and east of Yellowstone Park It in- 
cludes large areas of untimbered lands south of the Park and 
east of the Park. By not being extended along the entire 
east side of the Park, it excludes one of the most densely tim- 
bered sections of the State. It is suggested that this exclu- 
sion was made through the influence of Montana parties, 
whose interests would thereby be affected. It was not left 
out through any consideration for either the irrigation, for- 
est or any other material interests of the State of Wyoming. 
The opposition to the recent reservation is not opposition 
to forest preservation. It is a protest against the abuses and 
inadequacies of the forest leserve law. and the arbitrary and 
incompetent methods pursued in its enforcement. It is 
neither captious nor ignorant, but is based upon an unhappy 
experience in its previous operation, and grave solicitude as 
to the character and success of the proniised measures for 
its betterment 
VV M A. EiCHARDS, Governor of Wyomin g. 
Everett, Wash., March 20.— Editoi- Forest and Stream: 
In my letter appearing in your issue of March 20, protest- 
ing against the forest reserve and asking you to point out 
in what manner the segregation of millions of acres in 
Washington will redound to the benefit of the Western 
country, you reply by characterizing the alarm manifested 
as groundless because based on an entire misapprehension 
of facts. Permit me to say that the people of this State 
most earnestly desire those facts, as the conclusions arrived 
at by the Forest Commission are not warranted by the con- 
dition of affairs as viewed by the residents of the territory 
involved. It may be that the Forest Commission has 
divining powers superior to any possessed by the people of 
this State in looking to our future welfare, but it is logically 
certain that the people of this coast claim to be more com- 
petent to judge of the effect of the reserve order on the 
present condition of business interests here than the non- 
resident gentlemen who, in making up their reports, seg- 
regated the lands without consulting the persons first 
interested. It seems to me that the protests of the people 
directly concerned should be accorded a fair hearing, not 
thrust aside as the hasty talk of persons who "go olF at 
half-cock," ignorant of what they are talking about. Nor 
does your suggestion to wait until fui-ther information will 
enable them to form an intelligible opinion on the subject 
seem pertinent when it is asserted that injury has already 
been sustained. 
When persons see their homes and business invaded it 
s natural to express some apprehension of the results that 
may follow, and enter their protest; hence it is logical, 
when this interference intrudes under the guise of benevo- 
lence, to hold the alleged benefactor at arm's length until 
he can give an account of his proceedings. 
The proposition to set aside the lands in Washington did 
not emanate from residents of this State, but from people 
on the Atlantic coast. The Eastern press is loudly in favor 
of the reservation, while the Western press opposes it, and 
in the face of statistics it would appear that some of the 
Eastern papers are as densely ignorant of things concern- 
ing our country as are some of the foreign writers on 
American institutions. 
The New York Tribune, cotnraeDting on the reserves, says: "It 
has insured so far as Its operation extends a lasting timber supply, 
protected the headwaters of streams, and incidentally preserved 
scenery and game in regrions where both were exposed to unprofitable 
ravage." "If the opposition proceeds from persons claiming that 
their privileges are attacked, it is true and pertinent to reply that 
they are them elves trespassers." 
The Springfield (Mass.) Republican says: "Who then are the people 
of Washington and the other States about those reservations who 
are making their clamor roar against the act of the President? They 
belong no doubt to that class of timber thieves and prospectors and 
ranchmen who make a business of appropriating public land to their 
own uses without authority or expense." 
The Boston (Mass.) Jowmai says concerning the opposition: "It 
is doubtless inspired primarily by the individuals and corporations, 
concerned in the promiscuous cutting of timber on the public lands. 
There is no reason why consideration should be shown to these tim- 
ber thieves." "By a dispatch it is estimated that 900,000 homes, 
would be wipsd out by this order. This is non.«ense. Doubtless 
there are some settlers who would be incommoded." "But these 
lands * * * are all public lands " "How happened these settlers 
to he on lands which do not belong to them?" "No one who has 
given intelligent and disinterested consideration to the subject doubts 
for a moment that the proposed reservations are in the public inter- 
est and are practically indispensable if anything is to be done to pre- 
vent the drying up of water courses and the sterilizing of soil througti 
toe destruction of forests. It is monstrous that this reform shotiid 
be thwarted by the clamorous greed of the very men who have henn 
foremost in producing the evil whose consequences it is attempted to 
relieve " 
The Louisville (Ky.) Courier- Journal says: "Mr. Clark, of Wyo- 
ming, in discussing (in the U. S. Senate) the setting apart of forest 
reservations, complains that the fourteen Senators of the States 
affected by it had not been consulted. Mr. Clark appears to think 
that the public lands of the United States belong to the mining 
camps On the contrary, they belong to the whole people of the 
United States, and the fourteen imitation Senators have no more to 
do with it than Senators from real States." 
The above are samples of the arrogance and ignorance 
as well as falsehood displayed by prominent Eastern 
papers that seek to pose as public educators. Their false 
and presumptuous statements may be disposed of in short 
order. Anyone at all conversant with the homestead laws 
of the United States knows that the people who have set- 
tled on the public lands are not trespassers, because they 
were invited to go on those lands for settlement or location 
by the terms and provisions of those laws wherein they 
were assured that they would be accorded a preference 
right to entry as soon as the lands become surveyed. 
Millions of dollars have been paid to the Government by 
settlers, and if the United States had used the money in 
surveying out the remaining lands these people would be 
the owners. 
Furthermore, it will be news to individuals and corpora- 
tions in Washington that they make a business of appro- 
priating public land to their own use without authority or 
expense, as the effde Massachusetts press puts it. We have 
heretofore, and are still deeply impressed with the fact 
that public lands here cannot, under the existing laws, be 
appropriated in the manner stated any more than private 
lands. If the editors of the Massachusetts and Kentucky 
press will inquire at any of the United States Land offices 
located in this State they will be able to obtain some valu- 
able information concerning subjects pertaining to the pub- 
lic domain, of which they are now densely ignorant. In 
fact, an Everett schoolboy can give them some valuable 
points on the land practice. But why should the people 
of Massachusetts and Kentucky show such an interest in 
the welfare of this State to the exclusion of our having a 
voice in a matter virtually concerning us? The public 
lands in Washington never cost those States nor the Fede- 
ral Government |l of the people's money; and when the 
people residing within the borders of this Territory and 
Oregon desired to come into the Union the Representa- 
tives of Massachusetts vigorously opposed recognition of 
these lands. Both Massachusetts and Kentucky, on their 
becoming parts of the Union, were, upon their imperious 
demands, left in possession of the public lands lying with- 
in their respective borders. Is not their assumed dictator- 
ship over our people somewhat strained? 
The three proposed reservations in Washington consti- 
tute nearly one-quarter of the entire State. They consti- 
tute an area almost twice the size of the State of Massachu- 
setts, and nearly one-third as large as New York. The 
mineral land included in one single reservation in the Cas- 
cades will contribute more wealth to the world in the next 
twenty years than the whole State of Kentucky has con- 
tributed in the 100 and more years of its settlement; and 
to-day with only seven years of age as a member of the sis- 
terhood of States, Washington has more white inhabitants 
than had Kentucky when she gave to the Whig party its 
national leader. 
Let me next call your attention to a paragraph in' -the 
description of the Washington reservation covering the 
Cascades, contained in Section 8 of the order: '"The re- 
gion embraced extends over both sides of the Cascade 
Mountains, and is exceedingly broken and entirely clothed 
with forests. The reserve is one of the most rugged, dffii- 
cult, least known and least settled partsof the United States." 
The italics are mine. Mr. Editor, you can, I am sure, 
verify my assertion that the description is false by refer- 
ring back to various columns in your journal. Were I to 
state to you that the Cascades are clothed entirely with 
forests, as the Forestry Commission has asserted to mil- 
lions, I should expect to be severely rebuked. From my 
oflace window is visible the Cascade range, from Mt. 
Baker to Mt. Eainier; and summer and winter the moun- 
tain tops present a snow line in distinct relief against the 
clear blue of the eastern sky. 
From personal examination, and from reliable informa- 
tion derived from engineers, prospectors and miners, I be- 
lieve fully three-fourths of the Cascade country embraced 
by the reserve always has been, and is destitute of timber 
worth marketing, while one-fourth of the area is devoid of 
trees, and is a vast tract of snow, glaciers and naked rocks, 
rich in mineral. The Cascade tract includes more than 
half of the counties of Whatcom and Skagit and one-third 
of Snohomish, while on the eastern slopes one-half of 
Okonogan county is included. In Snohomish county 
where I reside there are thirteen prosperous towns included 
in the reserve whose mining properties give employment 
to over 1,000 people and the means of support to 20,000 
more. There are over 4,G00 mining locations in this single 
county, and there has been expended in their develop- 
ment, and in the construction of concentrators, tramways, 
tunnels, smelter, railroads and fixtures, an aggregate of 
$6,500,000. Aside from these millions there have been ex- 
pended enormous sums in purchasing and bonding mines 
in this county. In the other counties there have been ex- 
pended large amounts, although not to the extent of tt« 
development done in Snohomish county. From this f 
certainly does not appear that our Monte Cristo district is 
the least known and least settled part of the United 
States. 
Few have any conception of the difficulties to be over- 
come to carry out the work of exploration, location and 
development. With the opening of spring this work 
would have been renewed on a larger scale than ever. 
