The daily sentinel., 1908-12-23
THIS COUNTY COT
SHARE OF THE WORK

Colorado has a natural interest in
that part of the report of the
secretary of agriculture which is de-
voted to permanent improvements on
the governments national forests.
Such work as the construction of
miles of trail and roads, telephone
lines, drift and pasture fences. ranger
houses and barns has opened up and
improved many square miles of ter
ritory in the eighteen national for.
ests in the state. and for these and
similar purposes S65,7OO.S6 was
spent during the last fiscal year. end
ing June so. 1908.
Two hundred sixty-six and one
fourth miles of trail and AZ l. miles
of road were built, SIT miles of tele-
phone line were strung, and the for
est ranges were improved by the con-
struction of 81 q miles of drift and
93A miles of pasture fence. During
the year 40 houses to be used for
ranger quarters, and II barns for
rangers horses were built bridges
were constructed, watering places
on the range were improved. and
various miscellaneous improvements
were made. In speaking of the per-
manent improvement work on all the
national forests. the secretary of agri-
culture has the following to say in his
annual report:
The agricultural appropriation
act of sos included an item of $780,
600, which was made available for
permanent improvement work on the
national forests. The object of this
work is to help open up the forests
to more use and provide means for
their better and more economical pro-
lection, through the supply of means
of communication and transportation,
well-located field quarters, fire lines,
fences to assist. in the handling of
stock, and watering places. These
improvements are essentially invest
ments of capital. which add greatly
to the value and usefulness of the
forests.
'The work completed during the
year included 3.40O miles of trails,
$500 miles of telephone line, 100
miles OF wagon road. 40 miles of fire
line, 250 bridges, $50 cabins al
barns, and 600 miles of pasture and
drift fences. In addition to the sum
provided by the special improvement
fund. over. S100,0 900 from the general
fund of the service was turned from
current expenses to defray the cost of
this work. but much of the work plan
ned and urgently needed could not
be carried out because there was
nothing with which to pay for it.
Detailed estimates covering u
total of $2,000,000 for permanent i'm
provements, which it was desired to
complete in 1903. We're submitted to
the Congress. They showed for the
entire amount exactly what 1t was
proposed to undertake on each ma
tional forest, and at what cost The
amount provided by the appropria-
tion was 100000. For 1910 esti-
mates will again be submitted for
permanent improvements, the cost of
which aggregate 974,9S1. These esti-
mates are the result of specific and
fully itemized plans, which are on
file in the forest reserve. They are
in no sense n request for lump
sum, the spending OF which remains
TO be planned in detail after approp-
ration is made. II is of urgent i'm
portance that this work should be
provided for
Though the construction of per-
manent improvements entails the
need of provision for their mainte-
nance the added efficiency of the
forests as economic resources secur-
ed through these improvements rich
ly repays the cost. With the national
forests as with any other resources,
which development takes place
through judicious outlays of capital.
If the land is not to remain wilder
ness it must be made serviceable to
the needs of civilized man by con-
structive expenditures"