Section 5264, U. S. R. S., provides for the use of timber by telegraph companies for

the construction, maintenance, and operation of lines of telegraph. Section 5388, U. S. R. S., provides a fine of not more than $500 and imprisonment not more than twelve months in every instance in which timber is unlawfully cut or injured on lands reserved or purchased for military or other purposes. (See secs. 2460 and 2463, U. S. R. S. See also act of June 4, 1888; 25 Stat., 166, amending this section.)

Act of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 481), section 1, provides a fine of not exceeding $500 or imprisonment not exceeding twelve months in instances in which ornamental or other trees on public lands which have been reserved or purchased by the United States for any public use have been cut or injured. Section 2 provides a fine not exceeding $200 or imprisonment not exceeding six months for the breaking open or destroying of any gate, fence, hedge, or wall inclosing any lands reserved or purchased by the United States. Section 3 provides a penalty of not exceeding $500 or imprisonment not exceeding twelve months for the breaking in of any inclosure around lands reserved or purchased by the United States, and permitting cattle, horses, and hogs to enter therein when they may or can destroy the grass, trees, or other property of the United States.

Act of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 482), grants the right of way through the public lands of the United States to any railroad company which has filed with the Secretary of the Interior due proof of its organization, etc., and also the right to take from lands adjacent to the line of the road timber necessary for the construction of the road. The several land grants to railroads also authorize them to cut timber from public lands for construction purposes. This authority, however, is confined strictly to timber for construction purposes in every grant except that to the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, which authorizes said road to take timber for repairs also on the part of the line constructed thereunder.

Act of September 29, 1890 (26 Stat., 496), forfeited the grants to all uncompleted railroads to the extent of the grants for the unconstructed portions of such roads. Act of April 30, 1878 (20 Stat., 46), section 2, provides that if any timber cut on the public lands shall be exported from the Territories of the United States it shall be liable to seizure by United States authority wherever found. Act of June 3, 1878 (20 Stat., 88), authorizes citizens and bona fide residents of Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Dakota, Idaho, and Montana, and all other mineral districts, to use for building, agricultural, mining, or other domestic purposes, timber on public lands therein, said lands being mineral and not subject to entry under existing laws of the United States except for mineral entry.

Act of June 3, 1878 (20 Stat., 89), section 1, provides for the sale of unreserved, unoffered surveyed public timber lands in California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington, in quantities not exceeding 160 acres, to any one person or association of persons, at $2.50 per acre. Section 4 prohibits the cutting, removing, or destroying of any timber on public lands in the States named with intent to export or dispose of the same, under penalty to the trespasser and the owner or consignee of any vessel or railroad on which the timber is transported, of a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000; and provides "that nothing herein contained shall prevent any miner or agriculturist from clearing his land in the ordinary working of his mining claim, or preparing his farm for tillage, or from taking the timber necessary to support his improvements." Section 5 provides that any person who is prosecuted in the States named for trespass under section 2461, U. S. R. S., if not for export from the United States, may be relieved from prosecution by paying a sum equal to $2.50 per acre for the land on which the timber was cut.

This act was made applicable to all the public-land States by act of August 4, 1892 (27 Stat., 348).

Act of June 15, 1880 (21 Stat., 237), provides that where timber was unlawfully cus from public timber lands prior to March 1, 1879, and the lands have subsequently been entered and the Government price paid therefor in full, no criminal proceedings for trespass shall be further maintained; and no civil suit shall be maintained for timber taken in clearing the land for cultivation, or working a mining claim, or for agricultural or domestic purposes, or for maintaining the improvements of a settler, etc., or for timber taken or used without fraud or collusion by any person who in good faith paid the officers or agents of the United States for same, or for an alleged conspiracy in relation thereto. Act of June 4, 1888 (25 Stat., 166), provides 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.'

Act of February 16, 1889 (25 Stat., 673), provides that the President may authorize the Indians residing on reservations or allotments, the fee to which remains in the United States, to fell, remove, and dispose of the dead or down timber thereon for the sole benefit of the Indians.

It is further provided that whenever there is cause to believe that the timber has been killed or otherwise injured for the purpose of securing its sale under this act such authority shall not be granted.

Act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1093), entitled "An act to amend section eight of an act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one," etc., provides that "in the States of Colorado, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota, Wyoming, and the District of Alaska, and the gold and silver regions of Nevada and the Territory of Utah, in any criminal prosecution or civil action by the United States for a trespass on such public timber lands, or to recover timber or lumber cut thereon, it shall be a defense if the defendant shall show that the said timber was so cut or removed from the timber lands for use in such State or Territory by a resident thereof for agricultural, mining, manufacturing, or domestic purposes, under rules and regulations made and prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and has not been transported out of the same; but nothing herein contained shall operate to enlarge the rights of any railway company to cut timber on the public domain, provided that the Secretary of the Interior may make suitable rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this act, and he may designate the sections or tracts of land where timber may be cut, and it shall not be lawful to cut or remove any timber except as may be prescribed by such rules and regulations; but this act shall not operate to repeal the act of June third, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, providing for the cutting of timber on mineral lands."

(See below act of February 13, 1893 (27 Stat., 444), extending this act to New Mexico and Arizona, and act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat., 1436), extending the act to California, Oregon, and Washington.)

Section 24 of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095), provides for the establishment of forest reservations in any State or Territory having public lands bearing forests.

(See below act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat., 34-36), providing for the administration of forest reserves created under this section.)

Act of August 4, 1892 (27 Stat., 348), extends the provisions of the act of June 3, 1878

(20 Stat., 89), to all the public-land States.

Act of February 13, 1893 (27 Stat., 444), extends the provisions of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1093), to include the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona. Act of January 19, 1895 (28 Stat., 634), provides for the utilization of burned timber on certain unperfected homestead entries in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. Section 2 of the act of February 20, 1896 (29 Stat., 11), to open certain forest reservations in the State of Colorado for the location of mining claims, authorizes the owners of such claims to fell and remove timber therefrom for actual mining purposes in connection with the particular claim from which the timber is felled or removed, but prohibits the felling or removing of timber from any other portions of said reservations by private parties for any purpose whatever. Act of February 26, 1897 (29 Stat., 599), entitled "An act concerning certain homestead lands in Florida," provides "that all persons actually occupying homesteads in good faith in any of the following-named counties in said State of Florida, to wit, Alachua, Lafayette, Levy, Suwanee, Bradford, Baker, and Columbia, at the time of the storm on or about September twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, are hereby granted the right to sell or otherwise dispose of the fallen timber on their homestead entries felled by said storm, and to devote the proceeds of such sale or barter to the improvement of their homesteads or support of themselves or their families."

Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat., 34–36), provides for the survey of the public lands which have been or which may be designated as forest reserves under section 24 of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095), and for the control and administration of such reserves.

Act of June 7, 1897 (30 Stat., 90), provides that the Secretary of the Interior may authorize the Indians residing on any Indian reservation in the State of Minnesota to fell, cut, remove, sell, or otherwise dispose of the dead timber on such reservation, or any part thereof, for the sole benefit of such Indians; also that he may authorize the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota who have any interest or right in the proceeds derived from the sales of ceded Indian lands or the timber growing thereon, whereof the fee is still in the United States, to fell, cut, remove, sell, or otherwise dispose of the dead timber on such ceded land.

It is further provided that when there is reason to believe that the timber has been killed or otherwise injured for the purpose of securing its sale under this act the authority shall not be granted.

Act of May 14, 1898 (30 Stat., 409), section 2, grants to any duly organized railroad company the right of way through the lands of the United States in the district of Alaska upon compliance with certain conditions, and also "the right to take from the lands of the United States, adjacent to the line of said road, material, earth, stone, and timber necessary for the construction of said railroad." Section 6 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to issue a permit, subject to certain restrictions and conditions, to any responsible person, company, or corporation, for a right of way over the public domain in Alaska, to construct wagon roads and tramways, and "the privilege of taking all necessary material from the public domain in said district for the construction of said wagon roads and tramways," etc. Section 11 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to cause to be appraised the timber, or any part thereof, upon the public lands of Alaska, and from time to time to sell so much thereof as he may deem proper, at not less than the appraised value, in such quantities to each purchaser as he shall prescribe, to be used in the district of Alaska, but not for export therefrom, such sales to be limited to actual necessities for consumption in the district from year to year.

It is also provided that the Secretary of the Interior may permit, under regulations to be prescribed by him, the use of timber found upon the public lands in Alaska, by actual settlers, residents, individual miners, and prospectors for minerals, for firewood, fencing, buildings, mining, prospecting, and for domestic purposes, as may actually be needed by such persons for such purposes.

Act of July 1, 1898 (30 Stat., 593), grants the right to cut timber for mining and domestic purposes at such prices, and subject to such regulations, as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, from that portion of the Colville Indian Reservation in the State of Washington which was vacated and restored to the public domain by the act of July 1, 1892 (27 Stat., 62), the net proceeds to be set apart and disposed of according to the provisions of section 2 of said act. Act of July 1, 1898 (30 Stat., 618), provides "that section eight of an act entitled 'An act to repeal the timber-culture laws, and for other purposes,' approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, be, and the same is hereby, amended as follows: 'That it shall be lawful for the Secretary of the Interior to grant permits, under the provisions of the eighth section of the act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, to citizens of Idaho and Wyoming, to cut timber in the State of Wyoming west of the Continental Divide, on the Snake River and its tributaries, to the boundary lines of Idaho for agricultural, mining, or other domestic purposes, and to remove the timber so cut to the State of Idaho.'"

Act of May 5, 1900 (31 Stat., 169), provides "that an act entitled 'An act to prevent fires on the public domain,' approved February twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: 'That any person who shall willfully or maliciously set on fire, or cause to be set on fire, any timber, underbrush, or grass upon the public domain, or shall 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.

"SEC. 2. That any person who shall build a fire in or near any forest, timber, or other inflammable material upon the public domain shall, before 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 in the United States having jurisdiction of the same shall be fined in a sum not more than one thousand dollars or be imprisoned for a term of not more than one year, or both.

"SEC. 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 committed are situated.""

Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat., 1436), provides "that section eight of the act entitled 'An act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes,' approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, as amended by an act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, chapter five hundred and fiftynine, page ten hundred and ninety-three, volume twenty-six, United States Statutes at Large, be, and the same is hereby, amended as follows: After the word 'Nevada,' in said amended act, insert the words 'California, Oregon, and Washington.""

Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat., 1439), provides "that the provisions of chapter five hundred and fifty-nine of the Revised Statutes of the United States, approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, limiting the use of timber taken from public lands to residents of the State in which such timber is found, for use within said State, shall not apply to the south slope of Pryor Mountains, in the State of Montana, lying south of the Crow Reservation, west of the Big Horn River, and east of Sage Creek; but within the above-described boundaries the provisions of said chapter shall apply equally to the residents of the States of Wyoming and Montana, and to the use of timber taken from the above-described tract in either of the above-named States."

RECAPITULATION.

ACTS FOR THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC TIMBER.

Sections 2458 and 2459, U. S. R. S. Authorize the selection and reservation of public lands containing live-oak or red-cedar timber for the sole purpose of supplying timber for the Navy of the United States.

Section 2460, U. S. R. S. Authorizing use of Army and Navy to prevent timber depredations in Florida.

Section 2461, U. S. R. S. Prohibiting the cutting of timber from any public lands for any purpose whatever, except for the use of the Navy of the United States. Section 2462, U. S. R. S. Providing penalties for transporting or exporting any timber cut from any public lands not reserved or purchased for furnishing timber for the Navy,

Sections 2463 and 4205, U. S. R. S. Providing that collectors of customs in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi must see to it that no live-oak timber is transported or exported out of said States.

Section 4751, U. S. R. S. Providing relative to recovery and disposition of penalties and forfeitures under sections 2461, 2462, and 2463.

Section 5388, U. S. R. S. Prohibiting the cutting or destroying of timber on reserved lands. (Amended by act of June 4, 1888; 25 Stat., 166.)

Act of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 481). Prohibiting the cutting, destroying, or injuring of any trees on reserved lands.

Act of April 30, 1878, section 2 (20 Stat., 46). Providing that if any timber cut on the public lands shall be exported from the Territories of the United States it shall be liable to seizure by United States authority wherever found. Act of June 3, 1878, section 4 (20 Stat., 89). Prohibiting the cutting of timber in California, Oregon, Nevada, or Washington for export, disposal, or transportation. This act is made applicable to all the public-land States by the act of August 4, 1892 (27 Stat., 348).

Act of June 4, 1888 (25 Stat., 166). Prohibiting the cutting of timber on lands reserved for military or other purposes, or on Indian reservations, etc.

Act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095). Authorizing the President of the United States to make forest reservations.

Act of August 4, 1892 (27 Stat., 348). Extending the provisions of the act of June 3, 1878 (20 Stat., 89), to all the public-land States.

Act of February 20, 1896 (29 Stat., 11). Opening certain forest reservations in the State of Colorado for the location of mining claims.

Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat., 34-36). Provides for the survey, government, and protection of forest reserves created under authority of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095).

Act of May 5, 1900 (31 Stat., 169). To prevent forest fires on the public domain.

ACTS AUTHORIZING THE USE OF PUBLIC TIMBER.

Section 5264, U. S. R. S. Providing for the use of public timber by telegraph companies.

Act of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 482). Authorizing right-of-way railroads to procure timber from public lands for construction purposes.

The several acts making land grants to railroad companies.

Act of June 3, 1878 (20 Stat., 88). Authorizing the cutting of timber from public mineral lands in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Dakota, Idaho, and Montana for domestic purposes.

Act of June 3, 1878 (20 Stat., 89). Authorizing the sale of public timber lands in California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington, and the cutting of timber by miners and agriculturists for use on their claims, and the taking of timber for the use of the United States.