The record-union., 1898-01-30
THAT FOREST RESERVATION.

The Record Union called attention
to the provisions of an Act approved
June 4, 1897, entitled AN Act makir g
appropriations for sundry civil expenses
of the Government for the fiscal year
ending June 80, 1895" from which the
following extract is taken:
That in cases in which a tract COW
cred by an unprotected bona fide claim
or by a patent is included within the
limits Of a public forest reservation, the
settler or owner thereof may, if he de-
sires to do so, relinquish the tract to
the Government, and may select in leu
thereof tract of vacant land open to
settlement not exceeding in area the
tract covered by his claim or patent;
and no charge shall be made in such
cases for making the entry Of record or
issuing the patent to cover the tract
selected.
We called attention to the liability of
the REIMBURSEMENT of such land as had
been denuded of timber within a forest
reservation and the selection of other
land in lieu thereof.
Referring to this, the Oakland
Times says that the prediction is far
fetched. A little examination will con-
vince our contemporary that the liabil-
ity actually exists.
It win be observed that the Act in
which the peculiar provision above
quoted is found was an Act making
appropriations for sundry civil ex-
penses of the Government for the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1898. What had
the cases Of unprotected bona fide
claims or patents to lands in forest res
ervations to do with a sundry civil bill?
1t was not a matter Of revenue? It
does not provide for income to the Gov
eminent, nor for the disbursement of
funds. But the provisions of the Act
itself are very significant If the own
er Of private land within a forest reser-
walton desires TO do so, he may relin-
quish the tract owned by him, or to
which he has a claim, to the Govern
ment, and may select in lieu thereof a
tract of vacant land not exceeding IN
area the tract covered by the claim or
patent. AS this is purely voluntary
the relinquishments would relate only
TO such lands as are no longer valuable,
and to such cases wherein the privi-
lege Of the selection OF land in lieu Of
the tract relinquished would be worth
more than the land relinquished.
Our contemporary viii note that this
is perfectly obvious. In all cases where
the land owned within a forest reser-
walton was more valuable than the
right to select land In lieu Of 1t, with
out further payment to the Govern
ment, the party would hold on to It.
Thus the bill does not vacate the for
est reservation, except as to the land
less valuable than the privilege Of it's
relocation. The Government would
get all the bad bargains and the own
ers of private lands would hold on to
all the good bargains
In the case Of the Tahoe reservation,
there are at least $4,000 acres of pri-
vate land in that reservation covering
the SUBMITS, or the central axis, of
the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Much
OF this land is found at an altitude of
at least 10000 feet and more of it at
six thousand feet. The privilege Of re-
locating. or selecting land IN lieu Of 1t.
would be more valuable than the land
itself, and hence that proceeding may
be depended upon with certainty
The 81, 900 acres of timber land with
in the proposed forest reservation on
the borders of Lake Tahoe have been
source of supply for lumber, wood and
mining timbers for the Comstock Lode
and other enterprises in Nevada for the
past twenty-five years. Except imme-
diately on the margin of the lake. the
land when denuded of timber has no
value and viii be exchanged at once
without cost to the present owner for
other timber land because 1t is unrea
sonable TO expect man TO surrender
timber land for any other class of prop
erty
Moreover. it remains to be noted that
the plan will not extinguish the pri-
vate claims within the reservation All
the picturesque spots have been appro-
priated. Everything in the way OF