Milford chronicle., 1927-06-17
SUMNER WHITE HOUSE IN
BLACK HILLS ADJ0INS MILLION
ACRE NATIONAL FORESTS

The Summer White House" in
the Custer State Park in the Black
Hills OF South Dakota, where Pres
ident Coolidge will spend the sum-
mer months, adjoins the Black
Hills National Forest and the Har-
ney National Forest, which are not
only rich in Indian lore and pioneer
historic interest but furnish one of
the earliest examples of forest
management in the United States.
The President will therefore have
the opportunity both of enjoying
the hospitality of the State of South
Dakota and of making himself at
home on a millionaire Federal
forest estate.
The State park, of $4,000 acres,
where the Summer White House is
located, is adjacent to the Harney
National Forest and few miles
south of the Black Hills National
Forest. This park was the south
east corner of the Harney National
Forest until the Federal Govern
ment exchanged it, as a solid block,
for State lands scattered through
out the Federal holdings. The two
forests, set aside by President
Cleveland in 1897, have a net area
of 1.135.167 acres of Government
land. $4,000 acres of which are in
the Theodore Roosevelt Game Pre-
serve and $4,000 aeTes in a Federal
game refuge adjoining the State
mark. Within the present bound
aries of the forests there are also
24O457 acres of patented LANDS,
some of them in prosperous farms
and ranches on the stream bottoms,
some timberland more or less "a
bused by hard cutting and fire, and
some mining claims.
The name BLACK Hills" was Civ
en- to the region by the Sioux In
dians. In their tongue. it was
"Paha Sapa," in allusion to the
somber appearance of the forest
clad heights as seen from the plains.
The Harney Forest was named for
General Harney who was one OF
the early explorers of the region.
The President will have oppor-
tunity to see how National Forests
are administered and developed. He
can see how timber salcC are made
under methods Jnat. keep the forest
growing; how grazing is regulated
to keep the range green; and how
land more valuable for farming
than for timber growing has been
made available for homesteading.
The first timber sales in any
National Forect were in the Black
Hills in 1899 and $4,000, and the
timber to be cut was so carefully
selected, under scientific forestry,
that the area can be cut again by
1885. About 25,000,000 board feet
of logs are cut each year from these
Federal timber-landS under the
same methods, with such an i'm
provement to the forest that the
foresters expect to maintain this
annual harvest forever, and even to
increase it to 40,000,000 feet. This
is partly because the old defective
trees in the virgin forest are re-
moved in the first cut. and the
thrifty sound trees left to grow.
When the logger. comes back 35
years later, the timber he then gets
as much more free from rot and
other defects than was that cut the
first time. Also, young timber is
coming in on old burns and other
barren places and will thus increase
the areas which can be cut over
every 35 years.
Within and near the Black Hills
and Harvey National Forests are
many points of scenic or recre-
ational interest. The famous Hot
Springs at the southern end of the
Black Hills are visited by thous-
ands, and the Wind Cave National
Park and Jewel Cave National Mon
ument also are well known. Har-
ney Peak the highest point in the
United States east of the Rocky
Mountains, Custer Peak, the Need
les, and Sylvan Lake are other
points of interest, as well as the
old mining town of Keystone, where
is located the famous Holy Terror
mine, from which came the richest
gold ore ever found in the world.
Tradition says this mine was named
in honor of the discoverer's wife.