Mohave County miner., 1907-10-12
Tho Forest Reserves.

the benefits that accrue to the general public through their establishment and maintenance.
 To the mining industry the estab- lishment of these reserves is of espec- ial benefit, and this fact will be more fully realized and appreciated when conditions within the environments of these government-patrolled areas be- come more generally known, and when it is impressed upon the public that these reserves were established to pro- tect the rights of the individual as well as to conserve, for the use of the present and rising generations, the for ests, the streams and the watersheds of certain portions of Uncle Sam's do- main. The impression prevails that mining is not allowable within the boundaries of the forest reserves. This is mis- take, and the prospector and the min ing man may locate claims on the res ervations the same as he can on other public lands, and he can have the use of water and timber on his claims sub feet to certain rulings of the govern ment as to the size of the timber cut, and the care of growing forests. The idea of the government is that only bona fide claimants shall locate within the reservations, and that claim grab bers and spectators shall be barred, which gives the legitimate operator chance that has long been denied him. With this in view, the government, when the claim owner applies for a patent, gives orders for the inspection of the ground in question to forest ranger, who reports conditions to the department, stating amount of devel- opment work performed, its value, the amount and character of mineral dis closed, the character of land, the acreage involved, and the nature of the water supply. With such an in spection it would be difficult for the land grabber to get in his work. and the interests of the legitimate claim holder and prospector, and the gen. eral public are thus carefully and closely guarded.
 In days gone by, before the estab- lishment of these forests reserves, the rights of the mining man were ser iously incroached upon by the cattle man, the sheepman, and the timber rustler, and the feed and foliage of the ranges were so devastated and de. stroyed by grazing focks that the mining man could hardly keep even a horse in the hills, without taking in with him beautiful supply of grain Now, however, these conditions are changed, and on mountain plateaus and in little valleys along the noun tain streams, there are meadows breast high, with waving grass, while the underbrush is undisturbed. Instead o hillsides laid bleak and bare by the in roade of thousands of sheep and cattle the destruction of the watersheds, tht trampling down of young and growing timber, and the transformation of { beautiful country into dry and with cred desert, a scene of enchantmen now greets the eye of the visitor t, the forests reserves. While grazln! is allowable to certain extent, thu number of the flock or herd is limited and no locality must be used by tn sheep or cattle owner more than ? hours: and these rules are enforced b. forest rangers; and so strictly tha sheepmen and cattlemen are begin ming to take their flocks and herd elsewhere rather than submit to gov ernment requirements.
 The rangers also keep careful watc that forest fires do not denude the re. ervatic n, of their timber growth, an it is pleasing to be able to state ths
 primal conditions are beginning to e,
 ist again in localities where, fe
 days ago, the avarice and selfishne.
 of certain cliques of men were yearl
 working havoc and destruction to tn
 public domain. Streams which wer
 nearly extinct because of the destru
 tion of the watersheds, are now foy
 ing their full quota from one end
 the year to the other; springs agai
 sparkle in the sun, and the evils
 floods have been largely overcome.
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