Department in Washington had been afforded opportunity for makings investigation. It was a bitter pill for the timber thieves to swallow, and they did so with equal grace to that displayed by a shark in becoming reconciled to the unexpected loss of its prey.
Indignation meetings were cleverly arranged by those mostly interested in the operations of the looters, at which resolutions were adopted protesting against the action of the President in creating the reserves. The leading spirits at these demonstrations included the editors of local newspapers who had prospered inordinately under the stimulus of innumerable timber land notices; timber cruisers who were being paid enormous fees for their services, and hotel keepers and liverymen, temporarily intoxicated by the tonic of the wealth produced by the activity of the men who were robbing themselves and their children of their most magnificent heritage. They were bartering their birthright for a mess of pottage, but blindness to every consideration except selfish greed led them to kiss the chastening rod.
One of their principal arguments was that the creation of these forest reserves would ruin the mining industry, and it appeared to be a trump card in the game, because nearly everybody in that region was more or less interested in mining. Believing that the State Mining Bureau was primarily responsible for the changed conditions, as its representative I came in for a goodly share of censure, so that when I reached Greenville, in Plumas county, George Standart, one of their leading agitators, was waiting for me, primed with reasons why the reserves should not be created.
We engaged in a wordy combat to a finish in front of the local hotel, before an audience that represented practically every interest of the community, and I let him harangue the crowd to his heart's content upon the theory that the creation of the forest reserves would prevent further filing of mining locations. It was the one string to his oratorical fiddle, and he played upon it with an artistic zeal that would have done credit to a better cause. In words of pathos, he painted a dire picture of the people being shut up in these reserves like caged animals, and denied the right to acquire title to their mining property, or even explore undeveloped territory.
After he had finished with his masterly effort, I produced a small paper-covered volume that came from the Government printing office in Washington, and proceeded to read a few chapters from its pages for the edification of those gathered around me, with the result that my opponent received more than his full measure of ridicule from those who had previously championed his contentions. The pamphlet contained all the laws relating to the establishment of forest reserves, in which the fact was emphasized repeatedly that title to mining ground can be acquired in any forest reserve of the country, and prospecting prosecuted unmolested, where no other industry would be permitted to flourish excepting under annoying restrictions.
In view of the circumstances, it dawned upon the crowd that forest reserves were the most effective means of protecting them from the encroachment of the timber thieves, and they lost no time in making themselves heard upon the proposition. Eventually it became generally recognized that the policy of President Roosevelt in establishing these reserves was based upon sound principles of public welfare.
Although it was conceded that the action of the President in making the temporary suspensions had placed a severe check upon timber entries of all descriptions, I continued on to Susanville, and spent some time investigating various phases of the situation. Imagine a small hamlet of a few hundred inhabitants suddenly aroused from its pastoral slumbers by the clang and clamor of commercial greed, and the reader will have a fair idea of the conditions that prevailed incident to the abnormal rush of Eastern speculators and their hordes of followers to acquire title to the valuable timber lands of that region. Unquestionably the finest body of sugar pine timber in the world existed in the basin known as
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