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GOVERNING

FOREST RESERVES |

Established Under Section 24

OF THE

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(26 STATS., 1095.)

WASHINGTON :
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1897.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

GOV ERNING

FOREST RESERVES

Established Under Section 24
OF THE
AOT OF MARCHE 8, 1891.

(26 STATS., 1095.)

WASHINGTON :
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1897.

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Pp DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
GENERAL LAND OFFICE,
WasuHineton, D. C., June 30, 1897.

1. Under the authority vested in the Secretary of the Interior by the
act of Congress, approved June 4, 1897, entitled ““An act making appro-
priations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year
ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other
purposes,” to make such rules and regulations and establish such serv-
ice as will insure the objects for which forest reservations are created
under section 24 of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095), the fol-
lowing rules and regulations are hereby prescribed and promulgated:

OBJECT OF FOREST RESERVATION.

2. Public forest reservations are established to protect and improve
the forests for the purpose of securing a permanent supply of timber
for the people and insuring conditions favorable to continuous water
flow.

3. It is the intention to exclude from these reservations, as far as
possible, lands that are more valuable for the mineral therein, or for
agriculture, than for forest purposes; and where such lands are embraced
within the boundaries of a reservation, they may be restored to settle-
ment, location, and entry.

PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF LAW AND REGULATIONS.

4. The law under which these regulations are made provides, that
any violation of the provisions thereof, or of any rules and regulations
thereunder, shall be punished as is provided for in the act of June 4,
1888 (25 Stat., 166), amending section 5388 of the Revised Statutes,
which reads as follows:

That section fifty-three hundred and eighty-eight of the Revised Statutes of the
United States be amended so as to read as follows: ‘‘ Every person who unlawfully
cuts, or aids or is employed in unlawfully cutting, or wantonly destroys or procures to
be wantonly destroyed, any timber standing upon the land of the United States which,
in pursuance of law, may be reserved or purchased for military or other purposes, or
upon any Indian reservation, or lands belonging to or occupied by any tribe of Indians
under authority of the United States, shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred
dollars or be imprisoned not more than twelve months, or both, in the discretion of the

court.”’
This provision is additional to the penalties now existing in respect
to punishment for depredations on the public timber. The Govern-

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ment has, also, all the common-law civil remedies, whether for,the pre-
vention or redress of injuries, which individuals possess.
5. The act of February 24, 1897 (29 Stat., 594), entitled ““An act to

prevent forest fires on the public domain,” provides,

That any person who shall wilfully or maliciously set on fire, or cause to be set on
fire, any timber, underbrush, or grass upon the public domain, or shall carelessly or
negligently leave or suffer fire to burn unattended near any timber or other inflammable
material, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof in any
district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the same, shall be fined in a
sum not more than five thousand dollars or be imprisoned for a term of not more than
two years, or both.

Src. 2. That any person who shall build a camp fire, or other fire, in or near any
forest, timber, or other inflammable material upon the public domain, shall, before
breaking camp or leaving said fire, totally extinguish the same. Any person failing to
do so shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof in any
district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the same, shall be fined ina
sum not more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for a term of not more than
one year, or both.

Src. 3. That in all cases arising under this act the fines collected shall be paid into
the public-school fund of the county in which the lands where the offense was com-
mitted are situate.

Large areas of the public forests are annually destroyed by fire, orig-
inating in many instances through the carelessness of prospectors,
campers, hunters, sheep herders, and others, while in some cases the
fires are started with malicious intent. So great is the importance of
protecting forests from fire, that this Department will make special
effort for the enforcement of the law against all persons guilty of start-
ing or causing the spread of forest fires in the reservations in violation
of the above provisions.

6. The law of June 4, 1897, for forest reserve regulations also pro-
vides, that

The jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over persons within such reservations shall
not be affected or changed by reason of the existence of such reservations, except so far
as the punishment of offenses against the United States therein is concerned; the intent
and meaning of this provision being that the State wherein any such reservation is sit-
uated shall not, by reason of the establishment thereof, lose its jurisdiction, nor the
inhabitants thereof their rights and privileges as citizens, or be absolved from their
duties as citizens of the State.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE USES.
7. It is further provided, that

Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting the egress or ingress of actual set-
tlers residing within the boundaries of such reservations, or from crossing the same to
and from their property or homes; and such wagon roads and other improvements may
be constructed thereon as may be necessary to reach their homes and to utilize their
property under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the
Interior. Nor shall anything herein prohibit any person from entering upon such forest
reservations for all proper and lawful purposes, including that of prospecting, locating,

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and developing the mineral resources thereof : Provided, That such persons comply with
the rules and regulations covering such forest reservations.

The settlers residing within the exterior boundaries of such forest reservations, or in
the vicinity thereof, may maintain schools and churches within such reservation, and
for that purpose may occupy any part of the said forest reservation, not exceeding two
acres for each schoolhouse and one acre for a church.

All waters on such reservations may be used for domestic, mining, milling, or irri-
gation purposes, under the laws of the State wherein such forest reservations are situ-
ated, or under the laws of the United States and the rules and regulations established
thereunder.

8. The public in entering, crossing and occupying the reserves, for
the purposes enumerated in the law, are subject to a strict compliance
with the rules and regulations governing the reserves.

9. Private wagon roads and county roads may be constructed over
the public lands in the reserves wherever they may be found necessary
or useful, but no rights shall be acquired in said roads running over
the public lands as against the United States. Before public timber,
stone, or other material, can be taken for the construction of such roads,
permission must first be obtained from the Secretary of the Interior.
The application for such privilege should describe the location and
direction of the road, its length and width, the probable quantity of
material required, the location of such material, and its estimated
value.

10. The permission to occupy public lands in the reserves for school-
houses and churches, as provided for in the law, is merely a privilege,
and is subject to any future disposition that may be made of such tracts
by the United States.

11. The right of way in and across forest reservations for irrigating
canals, ditches, flumes and pipes, reservoirs, electric power purposes,
and for pipe lines, will be subject to existing laws and regulations.

12. Under the term “to regulate their occupancy and use”, the Sec-
retary of the Interior is authorized to grant such licenses and privi-
leges, from time to time, as may seem to him proper and not inconsistent
with the objects of the reservations nor incompatible with the public
interests.

13. The pasturing of live stock on the public lands in forest reserva-
tions will not be interfered with, so long as it appears that injury is not
being done to the forest growth, and the rights of others are not thereby
jeopardized. The pasturing of sheep is, however, prohibited in all for-
est reservations, except those in the States of Oregon and Washington,
for the reason that sheep-grazing has been found injurious to the forest
cover, and therefore of serious consequence in regions where the rain-
fall is limited. The exception in favor of the States of Oregon and
Washington is made because the continuous moisture and abundant
rain-fall of the Cascade and Pacific Coast ranges make rapid renewal
of herbage and undergrowth possible. Owners of sheep are required

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to make application to the Commissioner of the General Land Office
for permission to pasture, stating the number of sheep and thé location
on the reserves where it is desired to graze. Permission will be refused
or revoked whenever it shall appear that sheep are pastured on parts
of the reserves specially liable to injury, or upon and in the vicinity of
the Bull Run reserve, Crater Lake, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, or
other well-known places of public resort or reservoir supply. Permis-
sion will also cease upon proof of neglect as to the care of fires made
by herders, or of the violation by them of any of the forest reserve
regulations.
RELINQUISHMENT OF CLAIMS.

14. The law provides that where a tract within a forest reservation
is covered by an unperfected bona fide claim, or by a patent, the settler
or owner may, if he so desires, relinquish the tract to the United States
and select in lieu thereof a tract of vacant public land outside of the
reservation, open to settlement, not exceeding in area the tract relin-
quished. No charge is to be made for placing the new entry of record.
This is in consideration of previous fees and commissions paid. Where
the entry is in lieu of an unperfected one, the necessary fees in the
making of final proof and issuance of certificate will be required.
Where the entry is based on an unsurveyed claim, as provided for in
paragraph 17 hereof, all fees and commissions attending entry must be
paid, none having been paid previously.

15. Where an application is made for change of entry under the
above provision, it must be filed in the land office for the district in
which the lieu selection lies. The application must describe the tract
selected -and the tract covered by the unperfected entry, and must be
accompanied by a formal relinquishment to the United States of all
right, title and interest in and to the tract embraced in said entry.
There must also be filed with the application an affidavit, corroborated
by at least two witnesses cognizant of the facts, showing the periods
and length of claimant’s residence on his relinquished claim, as credit
for the time spent thereon will be allowed under the new entry in com-
puting the period of residence required by law. Residence and improve-
ments are requisite on the new entry, the same as on the old, subject
only, in respect to residence, to a deduction of the period covered by
the relinquished entry.

16. Where final certificate or patent has issued, it will be necessary
for the entryman or owner thereunder to execute a quit-claim deed to
the United States, have the same recorded on the county records, and
furnish an abstract of title, duly authenticated, showing chain of title
from the Government back again to the United States. The abstract of
title should accompany the application for change of entry, which must be
filed as required by paragraph 15, without the affidavit therein called for.

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17. In case a settler on an unsurveyed tract within a forest reserva-
tion desires to make a change of settlement to land outside of the reser-
vation and receive credit for previous residence, he should file his
application as provided for in paragraph 15, including the affidavit as
to residence therein required, and describing his unsurveyed claim with
sufficient accuracy to enable the local land officers to approximately
determine its location.

18. Ali applications for change of entry or settlement must be for-
warded by the local officers to the Commissioner of the General Land -
Office for consideration, together with report as to the status of the
tract applied for.

LOCATION AND ENTRY OF MINERAL LANDS.

19. The law provides that ‘‘ any mineral lands in any forest reserva-
tion which have been or which may be shown to be such, and subject
to entry under the existing mining laws of the United States and the
rules and regulations applying thereto, shall continue to be subject to
such location and entry”, notwithstanding the reservation. This makes
mineral lands in the forest reserves subject to location and entry under
the general mining laws in the usual manner.

20. Owners of valid mining locations made and held in good faith
under the mining laws of the United States and the regulations there-
under, are authorized and permitted to fell and remove from such mining
claims any timber growing thereon, for actual mining purposes in con-
nection with the particular claim from which the timber is felled or
removed. (For further use of timber by miners, see below under head-
ing “‘ Free Use of Timber and Stone’’. )

FREE USE OF TIMBER AND STONE.
21. The law provides, that

The Secretary of the Interior may permit, under regulations to be prescribed by him,
the use of timber and stone found upon such reservations, free of charge, by bona fide
settlers, miners, residents, and prospectors for minerals, for firewood, fencing, buildings,
mining, prospecting, and other domestic purposes, as may be needed by such persons
for such purposes; such timber to be used within the State or Territory, respectively,
where such reservations may be located.

This provision is limited to persons resident in forest reservations
who have not a sufficient supply of timber or stone on their own claims
or lands for the purposes enumerated, or for necessary use in develop-
ing the mineral or other natural resources of the lands owned or occu-
pied by them. Such persons, therefore, are permitted to take timber
and stone from public lands in the forest reservations under the terms
of the law above quoted, strictly for their individual use on their own
claims or lands owned or occupied by them, but not for sale or disposal,
or use on other lands, or by other persons: Provided, that where the

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stumpage value exceeds one hundred dollars, application must be made
to and permission given by the Department. _

SALE OF TIMBER.

22. The following provision is made for the sale of timber within
forest reservations in limited quantities :

For the purpose of preserving the living and growing timber and promoting the
younger growth on forest reservations, the Secretary of the Interior, under such rules
and regulations as he shall prescribe, may cause to be designated and appraised so much
of the dead, matured, or large growth of trees found upon such forest reservations as
may be compatible with the utilization of the forests thereon, and may sell the same
for not less than the appraised value in such quantities to each purchaser as he shall
prescribe, to be used in the State or Territory in which such timber reservation may be
situated, respectively, but not for export therefrom. Before such sale shall take place,
notice thereof shall be given by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, for not
less than sixty days, by publication in a newspaper of general circulation, published in
the county in which the timber is situated, if any is therein published, and if not, then in
a newspaper of general circulation published nearest to the reservation, and also in a
newspaper of general circulation published at the capital of the State or Territory
where such reservation exists; payments for such timber to be made to the receiver of
the local land office of the district wherein said timber may be sold, under such rules
and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; and the moneys arising
therefrom shall be accounted for by the receiver of such land office to the Commissioner
of the General Land Office, in a separate account, and shall be covered into the Treasury.
Such timber, before being sold, shall be marked and designated, and shall be cut and
removed under the supervision of some person appointed for that purpose by the Secre-
tary of the Interior, not interested in the purchase or removal of such timber nor in the
employment of the purchaser thereof. Such supervisor shall make a report in writing
to the Commissioner of the General Land Office and to the receiver in the land office in
which such reservation shall be located of his doings in the premises.

The sale of timber is optional, and the Secretary may exercise his
discretion at all times as to the necessity or desirability of any sale.

23. While sales of timber may be directed by this Department with-
out previous request from private individuals, petitions from responsible
persons for the sale of timber in particular localities will be considered.
Such petitions must describe the land upon which the timber stands by
legal subdivisions, if surveyed; if unsurveyed, as definitely as possible
by natural land marks; the character of the country, whether rough,
steep or mountainous, agricultural or mineral, or valuable chiefly for
its forest growth; and state whether or not the removal of the timber
would result injuriously to the objects of forest reservation. If any of
the timber is dead, estimate the quantity in feet, board measure, with
the value, and state whether killed by fire or other cause. Of the live
timber, state the different kinds and estimate the quantity of each kind
in trees per acre. Estimate the average diameter of each kind of tim-
ber, and estimate the number of trees of each kind per acre above the
average diameter. State the number of trees of each kind above the
average diameter it is desired to have offered for sale, with an estimate

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of the number of feet, board measure, therein, and an estimate of the
value of the timber as it stands. These petitions must be filed in the
proper local land office, for transmission to the Commissioner of the
General Land Office.

24. Before any sale is authorized, the timber will be examined and
appraised, and other questions involved duly investigated, by an official
designated for the purpose; and upon his report action will be based.

25. When a sale is ordered, notice thereof will be given by publica-
tion by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in accordance
with the law above quoted; and if the timber to be sold stands in more
than one county, published notice will be given in each of the counties,
in addition to the required general publication.

26. The time and place of filing bids, and other information for a cor-
rect understanding of the terms of each sale, will be given in the pub-
lished notices. Timber is not to be sold for less than the appraised
value, and when a bid is accepted a certificate of acceptance will be
issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office to the success-
ful bidder, who, at the time of making payment, must present the same
to the receiver of public moneys for the land district in which the
timber stands. The Commissioner of the General Land Office must
approve all sales, and he may, in sales in excess of five hundred dollars
in value, make allotments of quantity to several bidders at a fixed price,
if he deems proper, soas to avoid monopoly. The right is also reserved
to reject any or all bids. A reasonable cash deposit with the proper
receiver of public moneys, to accompany each bid, will be required.

27. Within thirty days after notice to a bidder of an award of timber
to him, payment must be made in full to the Receiver for the timber so
awarded. The purchaser must have in hand the receipt of the Receiver
for such payment before he will be allowed to cut, remove, or otherwise
dispose of the timber in any manner. The timber must all be cut and
removed within one year from the date of the notice by the Receiver of
the award; failing to so do, the purchaser will forfeit his right to the
timber left standing or unremoved and to his purchase money.

28. Sixty days notice must be given by the purchaser, through the
local land office, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office of the
proposed date of cutting and removal of the timber, so that an official
may be designated to supervise such cutting and removal, as required
by the law. Upon application of purchasers, permits to erect temporary
sawmills for the purpose of cutting or manufacturing timber purchased
under this act may be granted by the Commissioner of the General
Land Office, if not incompatible with the public interests. Instructions
as to disposition of tops, brush and refuse, to be given through the
supervisors in each case, must be strictly complied with, as a condition
of said cutting and manufacture.

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29. The act provides, that the timber sold shall be used in the State
or Territory in which the reservation is situated, and i§ not to be
exported therefrom. Where a reservation lies in more than one State
or Territory, this requires that the timber shall be used in the State or
Territory where cut.

30. Receivers of Public Moneys will issue receipts in duplicate for
moneys received in payment for timber, one of which will be given the
purchaser, and the other will be transmitted to the Commissioner of the
General Land Office in a special letter, reference being made to the
letter from the Commissioner authorizing the sale, by date and initial,
and with title of case as therein named. Receivers will deposit to the
credit of the United States all such moneys received, specifying that
the same are on account of sales of public timber on forest reservations
under the act of June 4, 1897. A separate monthly account-current
(form 4-105) and quarterly condensed account (form 4-104) will be
made to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with a statement
in relation to the receipts under the act as above specified.

31. Special instructions will be issued for the guidance of officials
designated to examine and appraise timber, to supervise its cutting and
removal, and for carrying out other requirements connected therewith.

BINGER HERMANN,
Commissioner.
Approved, June 30, 1897.
C. N. Briss,
Secretary.

The text of the law under which the above rules and regulations are
prescribed is as follows:

[Pusiic—No. 2.]

AN ACT making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the
fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other
purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the
same are hereby, appropriated, for the objects hereinafter expressed,
for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-
eight, namely :

*k * *k * * * 2

For the survey of the public lands that have been or may hereafter
be designated as forest reserves by Executive proclamation, under sec-
tion twenty-four of the Act of Congress approved March third, eighteen
hundred and ninety-one, entitled “An Act to repeal timber-culture laws,
and for other purposes,” and including public lands adjacent thereto,
which may be designated for survey by the Secretary of the Interior,
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to be immediately available :

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Provided, That to remove any doubt which may exist pertaining to the
authority of the President thereunto, the President of the United
States is hereby authorized and empowered to revoke, modify, or sus-
pend any and all such Executive orders and proclamations, or any part
thereof, from time to time as he shall deem best for the public interests :
Provided, That the Executive orders and proclamations dated February
twenty-second, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, setting apart and
reserving certain lands in the States of Wyoming, Utah, Montana,
Washington, Idaho, and South Dakota as forest reservations, be, and
they are hereby, suspended, and the lands embraced therein restored
to the public domain the same as though said orders and proclamations
had not been issued: Provided further, That lands embraced in such res-
ervations not otherwise disposed of before March first, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-eight, shall again become subject to the operations of
said orders and proclamations as now existing or hereafter modified by
the President.

The surveys herein provided for shall be made, under the supervision
of the Director of the Geological Survey, by such person or persons as
may be employed by or under him for that purpose, and shall be exe-
cuted under instructions issued by the Secretary of the Interior; and
if subdivision surveys shall be found to be necessary, they shall be
executed under the rectangular system, as now provided by law. The
plats and field notes prepared shall be approved and certified to by the
Director of the Geological Survey, and two copies of the field notes
shall be returned, one for the files in the United States surveyor-gen-
eral’s office of the State in which the reserve is situated, the other in the
General Land Office; and twenty photolithographic copies of the plats
shall be returned, one copy for the files in the United States surveyor-
general’s office of the State in which the reserve is situated ; the origi-
nal plat and the other copies shall be filed in the General Land Office,
and shall have the facsimile signature of the Director of the Survey
attached.

Such surveys, field notes, and plats thus returned shall have the
same legal force and effect as heretofore given the surveys, field notes,
and plats returned through the surveyors-general; and such surveys,
which include subdivision surveys under the rectangular system, shall
be approved by the Commissioner of the General Land Office as in
other cases, and properly certified copies thereof shall be filed in the
respective land offices of the district in which such lands are situated,
as in other cases. All laws inconsistent with the provisions hereof are
hereby declared inoperative as respects such survey: Provided, however,
That a copy of every topographic map and other maps showing the
distribution of the forests, together with such field notes as may be
taken relating thereto, shall be certified thereto by the Director of the
Survey and filed in the General Land Office.

All public lands heretofore designated and reserved by the President
of the United States under the provisions of the Act approved March
third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, the orders for which shall be
and remain in full force and effect, unsuspended and unrevoked, and
all public lands that may hereafter be set aside and reserved as public
forest reserves under said act, shall be as far as practicable controlled
and administered in accordance with the following provisions:

No public forest reservation shall be established, except to improve

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and protect the forest within the reservation, or for the purpose of
securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish*a contin-
uous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the
United States; but it is not the purpose or intent of these provisions,
or of the Act providing for such reservations, to authorize the inclu-
sion therein of lands more valuable for the mineral therein, or for agri-
cultural purposes, than for forest purposes.

The Secretary of the Interior shall make provisions for the protec-
tion against destruction by fire and depredations upon the public for-
ests and forest reservations which may have been set aside or which
may be hereafter set aside under the said Act of March third, eighteen
hundred and ninety-one, and which may be continued; and he may
make such rules and regulations and establish such service as will
insure the objects of such reservations, namely, to regulate their occu-
pancy and use and to preserve the forests thereon from destruction ;
and any violation of the provisions of this Act or such rules and regu-
lations shall be punished as is provided for in the Act of June fourth,
eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, amending section fifty-three hun-
dred and eighty-eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States.

For the purpose of preserving the living and growing timber and
promoting the younger growth on forest reservations, the Secretary of
the Interior, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe,
may cause to be designated and appraised so much of the dead,
matured, or large growth of trees found upon such forest reservations
as may be compatible with the utilization of the forests thereon, and
may sell the same for not less than the appraised value in such quanti-
ties to each purchaser as he shall prescribe, to be used in the State or
Territory in which such timber reservation may be situated, respec-
tively, but not for export therefrom. Before such sale shall take place,
notice thereof shall be given by the Commissioner of the General Land
Office, for not less than sixty days, by publication in a newspaper of
general circulation, published in the county in which the timber is situ-
ated, if any is therein published, and if not, then in a newspaper of
general circulation published nearest to the reservation, and also in a
newspaper of general circulation published at the capital of the State
or Territory where such reservation exists; payments for such timber
to be made to the receiver of the local land office of the district wherein
said timber may be sold, under such rules and regulations as the Secre-
tary of the Interior may prescribe; and the moneys arising therefrom
shall be accounted for by the receiver of such land office to the Com-
missioner of the General Land Office, in a separate account, and shall
be covered into the Treasury. Such timber, before being sold, shall be
marked and designated, and shall be cut and removed under the super-
vision of some person appointed for that purpose by the Secretary of
the Interior, not interested in the purchase or removal of such timber
nor in the employment of the purchaser thereof. Such supervisor shall
make report in writing to the Commissioner of the General Land Office
and to the receiver in the land office in which such reservation shall be
located of his doings in the premises.

The Secretary of the Interior may permit, under regulations to be
prescribed by him, the use of timber and stone found upon such reser-
vations, free of charge, by bona fide settlers, miners, residents, and
prospectors for minerals, for firewood, fencing, buildings, mining, pros-

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pecting, and other domestic purposes, as may be needed by such persons
for such purposes; such timber to be used within the State or Territory,
respectively, where such reservations may be located.

Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting the egress or ingress
of actual settlers residing within the boundaries of such reservations,
or from crossing the same to and from their property or homes; and
such wagon roads and other improvements may be constructed thereon
as may be necessary to reach their homes and to utilize their property
under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary
of the Interior. Nor shall anything herein prohibit any person from
entering upon such forest reservations for all proper and lawful pur-
poses, including that of prospecting, locating, and developing the mineral
resources thereof: Provided, That ‘such persons comply with the rules
and regulations covering such forest reservations.

That in cases in which a tract covered by an unperfected bona fide
claim or by a patent is included within the limits of a public forest
reservation, the settler or owner thereof may, if he desires to do so,
relinquish the tract to the Government, and may select in lieu thereof
a tract of vacant land open to settlement not exceeding in area the tract
covered by his claim or patent; and no charge shall be made in such
cases for making the entry of record or issuing the patent to cover the
tract selected: Provided further, That in cases of unperfected claims the
requirements of the laws respecting settlement, residence, improvements,
and so forth, are complied with on the new claims, credit being allowed
for the time spent on the relinquished claims.

The settlers residing within the exterior boundaries of such forest reser-
vations, or in the vicinity thereof, may maintain schools and churches
within such reservation, and for that purpose may occupy any part of
said forest reservation, not exceeding two acres for each schoolhouse
and one acre for a church.

The jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over persons within such
reservations shall not be affected or changed by reason of the existence
of such reservations, except so far as the punishment of offenses against
the United States therein is concerned; the intent and meaning of this
provision being that the State wherein. any such reservation is ‘situated
shall not, by reason of the establishment thereof, lose its jurisdiction,
nor the inhabitants thereof their rights and privileges as citizens, or be
absolved from their duties as citizens of the State.

All waters on such reservations may be used for domestic, mining,
milling, or irrigation purposes, under the laws of the State wherein
such forest reservations are situated, or under the laws of the United
States and the rules and regulations established thereunder.

Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, with the
approval of the President, after sixty days’ notice thereof, published in
two papers of general circulation in the State or Territory wherein any
forest reservation is situated, and near the said reservation, any public
lands embraced within the limits of any forest reservation which, after
due examination by personal inspection of a competent person appointed
for that purpose by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be found better
adapted for mining or for agricultural purposes than for forest usage,
may be restored to the public domain. And any mineral lands in any
forest reservation which have been or which may be shown to be such,
and subject to entry under the existing mining laws of the United

14

States and the rules and regulations applying thereto, shall continue
to be subject to such location and entry, notwithstanding any provisions
herein contained.

The President is hereby authorized at any time to modify any Exec-
utive order that has been or may hereafter be made establishing any
forest reserve, and by such modification may reduce the area or change
the boundary lines of such reserve, or may vacate altogether any order
creating such reserve.

* * xk x * * xk

Approved, June 4, 1897.

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