The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-12-18
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GRABS
MORE IDAHO LAND.

In announcing that the federal gov
eminent had further despoiled the
Mountain district to adjacent forest
reserves, the fores, bureau puts 1t in
this way:
I'm accord with almost unani-
nous sentiment in Idaho, and in
response to considerations vitality
affecting adjoining national for
ests, congress has set apart L.
10000 acres of land in Idaho
known as the Thunder mountain
region as national forest lands.
This great tract, difficult of ac-
cess and having not over ! per
cent of its area suitable for agri-
culture, has for years been the
scene of destructive fires and
devastation due to o~vergraZlng. 1t
Is now to he added to the Payette
national forest, which adjoins 1t on
the south and west, and the Idaho
national forest, which adjoins 1t
on the north and west"
Evidently the people who are engag-
ed in mining in Idaho, the prospectors
who are looking for new mines, and
the thousands of people who are de-
pendent upon the mining industry,
,nr~o.nrt a sD,n1l and ,tn,nnYtan NJ
partsof the population Of the state, in
the estimation of the gentleman who
prepared the above statement, since
he says that the taking over of the
Thunder Mountain district is "in ac-
cord with almost unanimous senti-
ment in Idaho AS a matter of fact.
we believe that the people living in
the mining section of the state are
practically unanimous against any
further additions to the vast area held
as forest reserves in Idaho, and we
believe this feeling prevails to a
great extent in all other parts of the
state. The opposition is not based
merely upon the a~ntagonistic attitude
of the forest service toward the miner
which invariably shows up when APP
~plication Is made for patent to min
ing claims on forest reserves, 1t is
based upon the principle that the fed
eral government has no right to de-
spoil the state of its resources. Other
and older states have had the advan-
tage of controlling their own natural
and utilizing them for their
own benefit, and the newer states of
the west are entitled to the same pri-
vilege. over two-thirds of the state
Of Idaho is held by the federal govern,
ment as forest reserves or as power
sites, a perpetual warning to private
enterprise to keep out. And now over
a million more acres have been added
to make the solitude of central Idaho
more complete and the discourage |
ment to development more effective, |
In order to justify this raid upon the
states resources, the forest state
ment points out that during the past
~ years 800, 900 acres in the Thunder
Mountain section have been swept by
fires, destroying approximately
700, 900, 900 feet of timber. This state
might carry some force were ii
for the fact that during the same
period a greater loss was sustained
through forest fires in Shoshone coun-
ty where the forest service was in
complete control and using every eff
'ort to prevent and extinguish the
Tres. AS a matter of fact, the state :
md private owners of timber are full
y as capable of preventing and fight Y
ng forest fires as the forest service,
md perhaps more so.
Further commenting on the Thun-
Ter Mountain section, the forest bu- q
eau INDUCES, Internationally of r
curse, in this fine bit of satire: n
Some high grade ores have 4
been found, and the general belief n
Is that the region contains an p
abundance of low grade ore, but I,
it's commercial use has not been
possible because of inadequate 9
transportation facilities. Control Of e.
the area as national forest land. g
once opposed because 1t was fear ),
ed that 1t might retard mining de-
velopment, is now seen to be a "
practical step toward proper use m
Of the mining resources, as well as III
conservative utilization of graz II
ing facilities" i,
Forest service control a practical
tep toward proper using of the min l.,
ig resources! In view Of the con-
record of the forest service in