Show FOREST SERVICE AND MINING NG attempted frauds under the laws are usually resorted to by interests 1 j no way associated with mining 19 say gai henry S graves in his annual retort report i a I 1 forester but the appeal to popular brej dice has been made in the name e of tl th mining industry he adds however thi tha he is glad to be able to report that the r lations of the forest service with the m me who desire to develop the mineral resource of the country are increasingly cordial at the same time the report adds tt th mining laws afford the greatest cloak fo f land frauds in the national forests an ai have been more commonly misused the tha the other laws because all land in the n na dional forests is open to mineral esplor tion and entry As a rule 91 says the report insi insistent stene upon compliance with the law works m no hardship but benefit to miners the min mi ing laws were passed to promote their in i teresta te rests and the special requirements 0 their business were kept clearly in mind min it is only in unusual cases that the best in i teresta of either the mine or the mine mim would be served by going contrary to tl th law or beyond the limits which the law ha has set even when the law works against the th interest of single individuals its impartial im parti enforcement is in the interest of the industry as a whole and of the public mr graves says that the agitation of the alleged inaus tice done the mining industry by the ns n dional forest system has been either in ii by motives quite distinct from th welfare of that industry or the result c 0 misapprehensions apprehensions mis has grown increasingly evident during the past year the amerl amer can mining congress has provided for th formation of state committees to take u cases in which injustice seems to have ave be bee done doile miners by forest officers and la them before the higher officials of the sei se vice or if necessary before the sec of agriculture A grievance committee ap ai pointed by the idaho mining congress las year has presented but one case and tha was found to be a case in which no couls corns 1 other than that followed was possible W u der the law nevertheless it is my stron hope that similar committees will be selee select ed by the miners in every state in chic their industry is of importance on natian forests and that these committees will v I 1 porously and consistently represent the nj I 1 teresta of that industry in its relations wit wital the forest service one of the objects of the national fo toj ests is provision for mining on which sj S largely depends the prosperity of the wes that the forests are in point of fact fulfill fulfil fulfill fulfil ing these objects is attested by the mine minera 0 themselves contributions to mining J jou o nals have pointed out during the past fe tej months month that had not the national fora foresi V ands been reserved from private acquisition athe the field open to prospectors would even biow ie be greatly diminished that wildcat generally recognized reco by miners as one on g f handicaps dicapi under which of f the se severest verest han the legitimate industry struggles is curtailed hy the refusal of patent to would be vendors d ors of worthless property and that the forests protect miners against extortionate prices for local timber qt it has often been asserted that the national forests have operated as a bar to legitimate le l mining development figures collected in colorado during the past year show that it if anything there is more act activity in prospecting on the forests than on the he public land outside in an address be fore ore the idaho mining congress at its boise meeting last winter the reasons for the 1 comparative inactivity in prospecting an inactivity which some have sought to ascribe to the effect of setting aside the na ional dional forests were analyzed by one of the speakers ip eakers a well known mining man this speaker gave a as the principal causes the rise in the price of provisions and decline in the game supply with the consequent great increase in the costliness of outwitting outfitting out fitting 1 and living in the mountains the change in the character of labor employed in mining whereby the supply is now drawn very largely from races which lack the spirit of venturesome enterprise independence and fondness for nomadic wilderness life characteristic te of the prospector and the biffi difficulty cul in finding forage for pack animals which has resulted from the expansion of the grazing crazing industry i i in a word it grows steadily more apparent that the national forests are not an ail iti incubus cubus on the mining industry but on the contrary an aid to it just as it has proved an aid to the best development of the stock industry on the forests both in the in interest ter of the industry itself and in the interest of the people who consume the product As with the stock industry the proper relations of the forest service with the ing industry should be cooperative it is entirely suitable that matters in dispute between the forest service and individual In anners iners or matters of administration affecting the industry as a whole should be adjusted through the instrumentality of an ail or organization which the service can regard as a representative of the miners and with which it can deal in a spirit of mutual f fairless airless and regard for all rights and interests involved both individual and public in practical working such a system will prevent further misleading of public opinion by claimants whose real grievance against the forest service is their inability to perpetrate frauds through misuse of the wining laws such fraudulent claimants are e seldom bona fide miners while frauds committed or sought to be committed in the alamp me of the mining industry are legion all but ut a very few of them are only remotely if at all connected with either mines or mining this fact is illustrated by many examples mining claims are located on the national forests in order to get title to land valuable for townsite town site purposes to land valuable because of scenic surroundings of worldwide world wide fame to land controlling timber sales negotiated by the service to sites for summer cottages to land around watering places which gives control of sheep or cattle range to land which controls mineral and medicinal springs to valuable farms and agricultural land without complying with the homestead laws residence requirements quire ments to valuable power sites to reservoir sites valuable for power and irrigation to rights of way for power transmission lines and to sites for saloons and kindred enterprises not permitted upon national forests specific instances in which the provi of the mining laws have been sought to cover these purposes other than legitimate mining development are given in the report |