The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-18
THOUSANDS OF SQUARE MILES
How 1t Is Proposed to Prevent the De-
struction of the Water Courses
of California.
Special to THE NoRSINe CALL.

1881, which READS as f0ll0Ws:
1.-The President of the United States may
from time to time set apart and reserve, in
any State or Territory having public land
bearing forests, or in any part of the public
lands wholly or in part covered with timber
or underground, whether of commercial
value or not, as public reservations; and the
President shall. by public proclamation. de-
clare the establishment of such reservation
and the limits thereof"
The CALL correspondent had an inter-
esting talk with Secretary Noble to-day
concerning the reservations Of forest lands.
1T is matter Of no small consequence TO
lift 1000 square miles of land out of the pub
lie land area and reserve 1t from entry or
settlement" said the Secretary. 'This
land is situated in the mountains of Cali
fornia and is Sparely populated. In the
winter time the snow there is from ten to
forty feet deep and the country is unin-
habted, except for few timber-culture
claimants and for sheep herders. Notwith-
standing this the department always re-
ceives numerous protests against reserving
such land. These parties, of course. imagine
that they are being badly treated. but
we are only actuated by the most bene-
fcent purposes and which will re-
suit in the greatest good to the greatest
number Of the people. This department
recommended to Congress the passage of
the act giving the President the right of
making these reservations, and it was done
for good reasons. The lands are thickly
timbered, and the trees and underbrush h
keep immense bodies of snow from sliding
and from melting too fast. Where the TIM
Der has been cut from the mountains the
snow slides and melts rapidly, causing
freshets in the spring and droughts in sum-
mer. The design is TO cause more steady
and equal flow of water from the mountains
for irrigation and other purposes.
The Sierra forest reserve embraces the
watersheds of eight rivers and their hun
dreds of tributaries. all flowing into the
great San Joaquin River.
"The objects for which these reserya-
tions are made, or are to be made, although
not defined by law. are represented TO be
the protection of forest growth against
destruction by fire and the preservation Of
forest conditions upon which the watetflow
is said to be dependent. The policy of re-
serving forest land has. therefore. been
confined mainly to those localities in which
agrieulturists are dependent upon irriga-
tion. and the avowed purpose Of this policy
is to maintain favorable forest conditions
without, however, excluding the use Of these
reservations for other purposes.
Although BY law such reservation does
not appear to change the condition of these
Iands so-faT g the power of the Secretary Of
the Interior is concerned. constructivey
their status seems not to be fully defined.
1t becomes, therefore. desirable to define
their status and provide by legislation for
the means and methods by which to protect
and administer this public property In the
sense Of the policy outlined.
Experience has shown that the army
can be usefully employed in patroling and
protecting such public property as will ap-
pear from the reports of the officers de-
tailed for such service in various national
parks.
These reservations are not to be sure
in the nature of parks set aside for nom
use except to satisfy pleasure and curiosity.
They are established solely for econ mic
reasons. 1t becomes, therefore, necessary
also to prescribe the manner and methods
by which timber growing thereon, the min
eral contained therein. the water powers
furnished by them. and the pasturage
within the same shall be used, so as not to
injure or destroy the primary objects for
which these reservations have been made,
namely to secure suclf forest conditions as
are necessary to preserve an even water
flow.
1T is not the intention of the department
to exclude every man from the reservation.
Under certain conditions n small amount
of tim ber may be cut. The conditions will be
regulated, however, by the department, and
we should have additional facilities at our
command to properly enforce the exclusion
Of all prohibited parties. An appropriation
should be made TO patrol the reservation.
aud to protect the forest from being burned
by sheer pherders. The sheep also DO an i'm
mense amount OF mischief in destroying
young pines. / concur in the conclusions
of the Commissioner of the General Land
Office, and in my opinion there should be
Appropriation adequate to enforce the rules
and regulations and to give proper supplies
to guard to extnguish fires and to other.
wise protect the forests. and authority
should be bestowed to arrest offenders.
"These grand forests should not be at the
mercy of few men. The hills should be
kept clad with timber as they were created,
and as far as the Big Tree parks are con-
cerned think the people of California. as
well as most of the intelligent people of the
whole country. will sympathize with the
efforts of this department to preserve these
magnificent forests. l have recommended
that the Kaweah colonists be paid some
thing for their improvements, but they must
not be allowed to remain in the Sequoia
Park Reservation. Mr.. Felton's bill to ap-
praise their claims is all well enough, how
ever.
81 shall cause shortly to be made a reser-
vation of the wonderful petrlfied forests Of
Arizona, although | fear that the United
States Supreme Court, if called upon.
might decide that stone trees are not to be
classed. in the timber category. Another
reservation Of timber / shall make is the
forest of the Colorado Canyon"
The Secretary gave out the following
list of reservations already made and to be
made hereafter:
In Colorado, White River Plateau, estab
lished, 1885, $50 acres; Pixies Peak. estab-
lished. 1884, $40; Plum Greek. established,
III, 700; Wet Mountain. under consdera-
'tion; North Fork, under consideration.
In New Mexico, Pecos River established,
81, 04O.
In Wyoming, Yellowstone Park Exten-
sion. established. 1.239,040.
In North Dakota. Turtle Noun tain, proc
lamation prepared. 1920.
In Washington, Mount Rainier, proclama-
tion prepared.
In Oregon. Bull Run. established, 142, $50;
Cascade Mountain, proclamation prepared,
$50. 400.
In California. San Madre. proclamation
prepared, 395. $40; San Bernardno, proc
lamaton preparing. about $4,000; Sierra
Nevada, proclamation issued yesterday,
4,4S0.000.
The proclamation issued by the Presi-
dent, reserving the Sierra Nevada forrest,
bears date February IA. 1t is quite a
lengthy document, giving technical de-
scripton of the boundary. There are ex-
cepted from the force and effect of the
rrncla tinn al iands hich q ha We hean