National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1877-01-15
The Primeval Forests Of America Rapidly
Vanishing.

The Primeval Forests Of America Rapidly
Vanishing.
Few persons are aware of the rapidity with
which the great prlmeval forests Of America are
disappearing of the face Of the earth. Those who
oflate have taken an interest in the preservation
of the forest trees in every section Of the country
have, 1t is true written and published interesting
accounts of the wastefulness which has always
characterized the slaughter Of timber by specu-
lators in lumber, and warned the people that IN
less the rapidly decreasng timber is replaced by
the cultivation of orchards Of valuable woods the
day is not far distant when lumber will be as
scarce in this country as in many countries of the
Old World, where its use is regulated by law.
The Commissioner of the General Land Office,
who ip his last report had much to say on this
subject called attention to the depredations upon
the timber on our public lands which have been
committed time out Of mind, unchecked and un-
controlled, until there is great danger that the
timber lands will cease to have any value and
sorbed BY the rapacity of the lumber specu-
lators.
the Land Office for the last thirty years has
urged upon Congress some legislation by means
OF which depredations Of lumbermen upon the
ya,uaGie mPer per. Oh Ene uniIea states cSeid Dc
missioner states that the entire amount received
by the Government in twenty years for the &C.
sl54, 900, or less than the stumpage q 1--WE thou.
sand acres would bring at the minimum price Of
lumber in any Of the lumber markets Of the
states that hundreds Of thousands of acres are
stripped every year and millions Of dollars worth
S
America. The timber lands are not agricultural
lands, and under the laws now existing the public
poses and upon q three years residence.
OF course 20 attempt to construct farms on the
high mountain sides and IN the deep ravines Of
would be q starving business, and the conse-
quence is that such lands, in the absence Of any
the timber upon them, become the spoil of the
lumbermen; the Government gets nothing, the
timber melts away, and the lumberman. WITH
grows rich without any investment OF capital,
and upon the careless and thoughless indifference
done nothing to interfere with his profitable
depredations Last year Congress appropriated
the immense sum Of Y. ooo to enable the Commits
depredators on the public lands. II the sum had
been $4,000 it would have been worth the while
for preventing the piracy OF timber in various
sections OF country where the valuable wooded
lands of the Government lie. ASH is, the amount
given is so totally inadequate as to render any
attempt to accomplish any practical purpose
entirely futile. 49,,
The commissioner has recently received long
communication from two surveyors in Louisiana.
who call his attention to the extent of the depre
dations committed on the public lands in the
eOutnWeeteru part OF tnat STATE during the past
year. They state that nearly the whole region,
from the Sabine to the, NeZ Pique and from the
base line to The Gulf, which abounded in valua-
BILE forests Of pine timber, such as had no equal
for fneness of quality and value. and for density
OF growth and size, length and symmetry Of
the trees, had been robbed of all the good trees,
which had been ioated down to the mills near
Lake Charles and on the coast. What is true Of
the section referred to, which embraces twelve
townships is also true Of all the streams DR. Ain.
into the Sabine or the Gulf
There are large number of mills on the lower
the trees foated down to them for the lumber
markets of Texas, Mexico, Cuba, Central Amer
lea, sc. Most OF this robbery has been upon
lands upon which fictitious homestead entries
the cutters and rsftsmen. The causes of these
robberies are many, but among them was the
war, and from 1851 to 1869 the consequent de-
rangement Of the land system and closing Of land
for persons honestly inclined to acquire title to
lands they desired to cut timber from. Then,
from 1863 to the present time, the lands valuable
for Pine timber have been entirely beyond the
reach Of ordinary purchasers or locators for cash
Under the act of June q, 1866, applying the
homestead law to the Southern States, all the
old methods Of di.posing Of the public domain
tual settlements substituted. Another cause
has been the outrageous way in which the original
township and sectional surveys in most Of that
part Of the State were executed in the fields. The
is fictitious, and in the fields no trace remains OF
the work. Few men Of the Oldest settlers know
what township they are in until the resurvey is
made. Thus thousands of good men have &C
sections to buy, even when they sought to secure
their homes and improvements. The depreda-
tions referred to have been going on for nearly
half a century.