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Show ITxl !K:i,irlit.Mu;?.!;M,"nu,n.rr;,,r v ItSS JBSf 'SSBSk9KkX ' mendous,y iuuY"u'a ln the 4 B I I , . f , t. , , ,,, V"' 1. ' ploitation of the region north I f ..A JOmt resolut ou S- ?er' JSSKnmm t of the Grand canyon. Senator It was the original suggestion that the President should create : "The President's Forest" by ex-ecujlve ex-ecujlve order. The President however, preferred action by i By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN ti REPARE for "The President's I Forest !" Something new ! Some-V Some-V I I thing significant ! interesting! J9 I A joint resolution (S. J. Res. congress to insure jjei tumid... j. Hence the joint resolution. Sen" ator Smoot was pleased to intro- i duce the resolution. Utah is tre- mendousiy interested In the ex- , ploitation of the region north j of the Grand canyon. Senator ; io4) "creating tne rresiueui a I JC j Forest within the present Kaibab ' National forest, Arizona," has been introduced by Senator Reed -s cart Smoot of Utah and referred to tff itJ tlie committee on public lands ciifl&u and surveTS- The resolution, tygPT after defining the boundaries. provides that the land and tim-tSa tim-tSa ber "are hereby withdrawn from settlement, location, occupancy, grazing or disposal under the laws of the United States aud dedicated and set apart as a game sanctuary and forest preserve Cor the benefit and enjoyment of the people, and shall hereafter be known us the President's Forest." "The President's Forest," if this resolution Is passed by bot!i houses, will therefore be the name of approximately 500,000 acres of timber forever set aside for the people and forever barred to purchaser, pur-chaser, homesteader, miner, stockman, lumberman, resident, hunter and trapper. Under the present form of the resolution control will remain in the forest service of the Agricultural department, which controls the Kaibab National forest and all national forests. To all intents and purposes the forest will be a part of the Grand Canyon National park, which runs into ft on the south and is in charge of the national prtrk service of the Interior department. So "The President's Forest," is something new. The name, for one thing, is new, And why "The President's Forest"? Because the United Static Is a nation governed by laws rather than by men. Presidents come and presidents go. As long as there Is a United States there will be a president. And as long as there Is a president there will be "The President's Forest." And "The President's Forest" is new in form Smoot says it is a "wonderland." It is indeed n , land of scenic beauties, of geological marvels, of strange contrasts, of romantic history. The High plateau of Utah is divided by canyons , into nine distinct plateaus which drop the surface in successive cliffs from nearly the summit-level of the Wasatch mountains to the desert out of which rises the Kaibab plateau. These cliffs expose ex-pose ln turn strata representing many millions of years of world-building. They curve and twist In fantastic outlines. They take every possible j erosional form. They literally run the gamut ol color and shade and tint. There Is no space here for detailed description ; of the Pink cliff, the White cliff and the Vermil-ion Vermil-ion cliff; of the great Hurricane fault, the Natural bridges and the Rainbow bridge ; of the Painted desert ; of Lee's ferry across the Colorado, where John D. Lee hid out for 20 years after the Mountain Moun-tain Meadows massacre ; of Utah's "Dixit;", land of cotton and semi-tropical fruits ; of the variegated varie-gated hills of sediment from a prehistoric sea along the Pariah river where are gold and free mercury. Zion National park a deep, many-colored gorge cut in the plateau by the Rio Virgin Is famous. Cedar breaks, a marvel of erosional forms and stratified color, is yet to be seen by the public. Bryce canyon, a thousand-foot niche in the top of the Pink cliff, an amphitheater-like canyon showing show-ing an endless variety of erosional forms painted In every color, shade and tint of the artist's palette, pal-ette, is one of the most gorgeous spectacles of the world. Southern Utah and northern Arizona are working j together to exploit this land of wonders. A branch railroad is likely to be run from Lund to Cedar City ; the steel may be extended front Marysvale to Pangultch. Cedar breaks, Bryce 'canyon, Zlon and "The President's Forest" are to be connected flowers and for wild strawberries about a spring. This vast, remote, rugged, heavily-timbered Kaibab Kai-bab National forest is still a wild place In spite of the fact that thousands of cattle and sheep have been grazing in It for years. It is still so wild that there are at least 10,000 black-tail deer in it, though they shrink in disgust from the cattle and sheep. There are many mountain lions that live on the deer. This is the way Senutor Smoot's joint resolution resolu-tion came to be introduced : Stephen T. Mather, director of the national park service, drove from the north through the Kaibab National forest to the North Rim of the Grand canyon. Upon his return to Washington he wrote the following letter let-ter to President Harding: Dear Mr. President: Last summer- I visited the wonderful country at the "North Rim of the Grand canyon and was profoundly pro-foundly Impressed with the splendid forest and the extraordinary display of wild life to be found there. This region has been so Isolated from transportation centers that it has remained almost untouched, and Is one of the very largest areas of virgin forest in the country. It Is reliably estimated that there are some thirteen thousand deer In the Kaibab National forest I was accompanied by Mr. Emerson Hough, the well-known writer, who suggested for this splendid tract the name of "The President's Forest." A few weeks later ln Los Angeles 1 met Mr. E. J. Marshall, president of the Grand Canyon Cattle company, the corporation which has conducted cattle grazing operations in this forest for a number of years, and was very much gratified to find a ready and enthusiastic response to the Idea o-f maintaining this region solely as a game preserve and for public enjoyment. Since then he has very generously made the offer which I have the honor of transmitting to ydju In the accompanying letter. This offer means a very real sacrifice on the part of the Grand Canyon Cattle company in abandoning the Improvements which they made and relinquishing the prospect of a considerable profit from their operation. Mr. Marshall's Mar-shall's other interests, however, are considerable, and he cheerfully makes this sacrifice in a truly public-spirited public-spirited manner. May I express the hope. Mr. President, that you may find an opportunity of visiting the President's Forest yourself and feeling the Inspiration of its vast-ness vast-ness and unspoiled beauty. The leter of Mr. Marshall to President Harding is in part as follows : The Grand Canyon Cattle company, a California corporation, has been operating here for a number of years under leases from the United States forest service, serv-ice, and during that time has made extensive and valuable improvements, particularly in the development develop-ment of water supply and the erection of stone cattle cat-tle camp buildings. The company owns certain patented pat-ented tracts of land within the boundaries of the forest for-est reservation and several tracts of located scrip lands in the immediate vicinity. At the present time we are grazing a herd of breeding cattle, numbering about 4,500 head, under permit from the forest service. We desire to register our willingness to vacate and abandon the Kaibab forest reservation and the public pub-lic lands immediately adjoining to the east thereof, recognizing that by so doing the purposes of former President Roosevelt in establishing a game preserve here could be more completely fulfilled, and making the entire region avialable for the public enjoyment. Our only request Is that a reasonable time be given the company to dispose of and move Its livestock and other personal property, and that In recognition of our action such grazing permits be not hereafter issued to other livestock Interests In the area now covered by our permit. Arrangements have been made through private in-dlvldcaU in-dlvldcaU for acquiring the company's patented land holdings, which are to be presented to the United States without cost to tho government. too. There s nothing Just like It. It's nearest In form to a national park. It has size, majesty nnd beauty. Private and commercial Interests are barred. It Is a game sanctuary It Is purely "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." All of which closely describe a national park. Certulnly It Is far removed in form from a national na-tional forest. The national forests, as established by law, are purely commercial and Industrial Institutions In-stitutions for the application for profit of scientific scien-tific lumbering and grazing tf the nation's wood-lots, wood-lots, though as a matter of fact there is Instead of a profit an annual deficit of a million und more and the forest service is exploiting the national forests as recreational ri als to national parks. Anyway, "The President':". Forest" will be one forest for-est where the forest service cannot insist upon trying to combine cattle and campers, wood-choppers and tree-lovers, sheep and tourists. Cattle in a wild beauty spot are a calamity ; sheep ure a cutastrophe. The movement to create "The President's Forest" For-est" has a significance that gladdens the nature-lover's nature-lover's heart. It betokens an increasing national appreciation of the value of scenery as a natural resource, as u national asset. It betokens an Increasing In-creasing na'.ional consciousness that It Is not well to lay the ax to every forest, to turn the cuttle and sheep loose on the shrubs and flowers of every ev-ery wild beauty spot. The Kaibab National forest Is approximately 40 miles square, and contains 1,072,900 ncres. It stnnds on the Kaibab plateau, which rises up from the desert that surrounds it on the north, east und west and slopes down to 8,000 feet at the North Rim of the Grand canyon. "The President's Forest" Is the enst half of the Kaibab National forest. The northwest part of "The President's Forest" shoulders up on to Buckskin Buck-skin mountain. So there are mountains and valleys val-leys covered with gnarled one-seeded Juniper and pinon and with majestic western yellow pine which are three and four feet through and rise 100 feet. There is some Douglas fir nnd some spruce. Ravines are clad with the lighter green :f the aspen which changes to vivid yellow, gold Uld red ln the fall. In the little parks within the forest the trees stop half-way down the rimming dopes and leave room for white clover, grass and by automobile highways over the routes indicated by the broken lines, according to present plans. A bridge across the Colorado at Lee's ferry Is planned. Two of the Colorado-Utah highways to be constructed by Colorado under the federal aid plan will strike southern Utah, thus connecting this region with Mesa Verde and Rocky Mountain National parks. There is a bill ln congress to make Bryce canyon the Utah Nutlonal park. It is more likely to be made a state park. Cedar breaks may be added to Zlon National park. So there will soon be thousands of tourists pushing from the north to the North Rim there were 1,200 last season. And now that the Kaibab Suspension bridge has been built across the Colorado Col-orado in the Grand canyon a large proportion of South Rim visitors of whom there were 06.218 last year will cross to the North Rim. On the North Rim there is scant room for the public within with-in the national park lines. Hence the need of "he President's Forest." "ln these circumstances," asks Mr. Average Man, "why not make 'The President's Forest' a part of the Grand Canyon National park?" "Because it can't be done," answers the experienced experi-enced national park enthusiast, "at least not now. The people will be lucky to muster enough votes In congress to get the Joint resolution through. The Agricultural department and the forest service serv-ice as usunl would tight to the last ditch to prevent pre-vent the transfer of national forest land to a national na-tional park and the Interior department nnd the national tark service. Huh ! Didn't Theodore Koosevelt make the Grand canyon a national monument mon-ument January 11, 1908, with the Idea that It would be made a national park at once In response to the nation-wide demand? But the monument was put in charge of the Agricultural department instead of being transferred to the Interior department. de-partment. And didn't It take the people Just eleven years, one month and fifteen days from January 11. 1IH18. to get their Grand Canyon National Na-tional park? Verb. sap. !" One enthusiast writes of "The President's Forest" For-est" as "the grandest natural work of Almighty God row left in all the world." Suffice It to sny that as a forest It Is a worthy companion to tho Grand Canyon the Canyon of Canyons! |