The timber and stone act, passed the same date,


243] Condition of Forests on the Public Lands. 59


applies only to the Pacific States and Nevada. Under
this act land chiefly valuable for timber and unfit for
cultivation if the timber is removed, can be pur-
chased for $2.50 per acre under certain restrictions.
The act of June 15, 1880, permitted timber tres-
passers to purchase the land on which they had com-
mitted their depredations, at the usual price, but as
that applies only to trespasses committed prior to
March 1, 1879, it is of little importance now.
By the act of March 38, 1875, all land grant and
right-of-way railroads are authorized to take timber
from the public lands adjacent to their lines, for
construction purposes only; in addition to which the
Denver and Rio Grande railroad has the right to cut
also for repairs.
The various appropriation bills, authorizing the
employment of special timber agents, by implication
recognize their authority to protect the public timber.
The settlement laws, under which a settler may
enter lands valuable for timber as well as for agri-
culture, furnish another means of obtaining title to
public timber. None of our timber-bearing lands
should be subject to such entry, for reasons that will
appear later in this address.
With the exception of the timber culture act, de-
signed to stimulate the planting of small areas of
trees upon the treeless plains, the above is the only
legislation of consequence affecting the public tim-
ber lands, or aiming to promote or preserve forests.
In no other way than under some one of the above
laws can a citizen of the United States use the public
timber.
