Williams news., 1903-09-19
SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED
Some of the Reserve Transactions Seem
 to Need Light on Them

There IS undoubtedly something rotten at the bottom of this present reserve business It seems that the administration is not satisfied that half of Coconino county is already a forest reserve, but we understand that a new one-to be called the Cedar reserve-is about to be estab- lishad just west of here which is to join the San Francisco Mountains reserve. As we stated last week, were there any benefits to be de- rived from such mowes-by this or other sections of Arizona, either in the protection of forests or the head waters of streams-we would have no kick to make against it. But it is foregone conclusion that the only benefciaries in the matter are those who will receive in lieu of worthless lands here, valuable tim Der lands elsewhere. It is an un- disputed fact that at present more than one-third of the San Francisco mountains reserve is as barren of timber as the prairies of Kansas and Nebraska. Of course there are patches of forest, but in most cases this is held by lumber companies who will continue to cut lumber therefrom. It would seem that the proposition to make most of this county a reserve was caused by few who will be direct winners in the transfer of their barren and worthless holdings here to the gov ernment for valuable lands else where. If the government is look ing out for the good of all it would avoid doing anything that would deprive the citizen of his individual rights, and that is what is being done when large corporations are allowed to surrender worthless land, given them as bonus by the gov ernment, and take up valuable tracts elsewhere. We will cite the case of the Santa Fe: When the road was building the government gave the company, as bonus, every other section of land for forty miles, each side of the track. Part of this was valuable timber land and the rest could have been made a source of profit to the company by leasing same to stockmen. Some one saw a chance to make bunch of money and started forest reserve agita- tion. A reserve was formed, stock excluded-that is, except as to linn ited numbers-and the possible source of revenue from grazing eliminated. As the land inside the San Francisco Mountains re- serve and the Grand Canyon re- serve were assessed at fair valua- tion-$1, ,36S, ,647 07-at the tax rate of $3.76 on each $100 valuation, it can readily be seen that the company would be anxious to escape paying $5l ,461.13 in taxes annually, and therefore another incentive was brought out to make the transfer to the government. This transfer could only be made successfully by deluding people as to the necessity of a forest reserve, and after that had been created the next step, in the transfer of worthless land and receiving in lieu thereof valuable land. was made easy.
 Relative to the transfer of lands within the San Francisco Mount aims reserve there are a few things which it would seem would bear in vestiga ton. For instance: In the transfer of lands to the government by the railroad company some SO,-I GOO acres of good timber land were turned over with string attached to it. This string was nothing less than an agreement by the govern ment to carry out the contracts the railroad had made with the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company, of Flagstaff, and the Saginaw X Man istee Lnmber Company, of Wal Hams, whereby they could cut all the timber thereon over eleven