that account. Anyhow, they ought in some way to help hear the extra burden incident to the maintenance of the reserves because the hitter certainly give their holdings an added value.
"The period covered by the months of July, August, September and October embraces the most dangerous season in regard to forest fires. I would suggest, therefore, that during this spell additional rangers should be employed. There is not much danger at any other time of the year, and very few men are needed. Through the danger period referred to, patrols should be posted all around the reserve, at distances of ten miles apart, while on the high peaks within the confines of the reserve, at a distance say of 20 miles apart, there should be signal stations, arranged so that the location of a fire could be determined instantaneously, as too much importance cannot be attached to the matter of quick action whenever a fire is discovered."
The system pursued by the Forestry Service in the management of the National Reservations contemplates the division of the forests of the country into districts, constituted as folows:
- District No. 1—Montana, Northern Idaho, Northwestern Wyoming.
- District No. 2—South Dakota, Southeastern Montana, Eastern Wyoming, Minnesota. Nebraska. Kansas, Colorado, Southeastern Utah.
- District No. 3—Southern Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma.
- District No. 4—Southern Idaho, Western Wyoming, Eastern Nevada, Utah, Northern Arizona.
- District No. 5—California, Western Nevada.
- District No. 6—Washington, Oregon, Alaska.
The act of June 4, 1897, provides that "any mineral lands in any forest reservation which have been or which may be shown to be such, and subject to entry under the existing mining laws of the United States and the rules and regulations applying thereto, shall continue to be subject to such location and entry," notwithstanding the reservation. This makes mineral lands in the forest reserves subject to location and entry under the general mining laws in the usual manner.
The act also provides that, "The Secretary of the Interior may permit, under regulations to be prescribed by him, the use of timber and stone found upon such reservations, free of charge, by bona fide settlers, miners, residents, and prospectors for minerals, for firewood, fencing, buildings, mining, prospecting, and other domestic purposes, as may be needed by such persons for such purposes; such timber to be used within the State or Territory, respectively, where such reservations may be located."
In June, 1907, a Public Lands Convention was held in Denver, and was attended by delegates from every public land state in the Union, Colorado being especially well represented, as it was apparent that the representatives from that state were axious to control the convention, and force through a set of resolutions calculated to create the impression that the whole country was up in arms against the President's forestry policy. The schemers failed lamentably in this undertaking, however, those from outside states being sufficiently aggressive to keep down any expression of extremely hostile sentiment, and the publicity given the proceedings through the press indicated that the President had a sufficient number of adherents in attendance to thwart all attempts to cast discredit upon his policies.
This convention was the medium for a wade range of discussion relative to the respective merits of the various issues involved, and called forth opinions from every section, the consensus of which was to sustain the President's policies upon public land questions, and to condemn the action of the Colorado delegation in seeking to secure the adoption of expressions from the general body that reflected nothing more than local feelings of prejudice. On the last day of this convention, a letter was read by Secretary of the Interior James R. Garfield, from President Roosevelt, wherein was reflected the latter's views upon the questions coming before the body. The President's letter follows:Page 460
