To the westward the mountains break precipitously, and from the foot of the steep, long, timber-covered ridges reach out toward the valley of the Flathead River. Between these ridges and extending up the canyons of the higher range are many miles of lakes, joined by rushing streams similar to those on the eastern side. The whole region is inhabited by wild animals. The streams and lakes abound in fish of many varieties. In the higher barren rock areas the white goat is found in great numbers, while on the slightly lower ridges, where some protection is afforded by stunted timber growth, brush, and slide rock slopes, the bighorn Rocky Mountain sheep has his haunts. In the valleys and on the lower spurs are many deer and moose; in places a few elk are found, and over the whole area, from high glacier and snow field to huckleberry bush of valley and flat, the grizzly roams. All the game animals use the higher mountain districts for summer range only, as the area is too high and the snowfall too heavy to permit of winter use. It would seem advisable to have a protected area include at least that part of the North Fork Valley which lies to the east of the river in order to supply feed under all circumstances. This would not prevent the use of the west side of the valley for railway purposes, as later suggested. A portion of the plains to the east of the mountains might be added to facilitate this condition. The experience of the Government in the Jacksons Hole, in relation to the animals of the Yellowstone Park, need hardly be referred to. The rocks of the whole region are largely of sedimentary origin-limestone, sandstone, and shale-and the conditions are particularly adapted to the study of the structure and history of mountain ranges of these materials, as great folding of the once horizontally bedded rocks is frequently evident and faults of some importance are plain. At one time prospectors for copper flocked to the region, but no finds were made that warrant the belief that the region is one of any value for this metal. Indications of oil have been found on both the east and west sides of the range, but none of the explorations have proved productive. There are numerous passes through the higher ranges. Across these the game trails lead from valley to valley; following the game came the Indian; the hunter and the trapper, looking for easy routes of travel, followed the Indians; then the government engineers, exploring and mapping, and finally the hardier of the tourists and lovers of nature. Most of these passes are closed for many months of each year by snow; some of them are available only after the use of the axe to give footing on the hard ice of glaciers lying close to the divide, but one or two of them are of such a nature as to eventually accommodate wagon roads, by which persons unfitted for the strenuous efforts now required to reach the higher country may have opportunity to view it at close range. None of them that are south of the Canadian boundary will ever be used for a railway route. At some future day the locomotive may cross from Canada to the waters of the Flathead River and wend southward to the towns and farming valleys adjacent to Columbia Falls and Kalispell and form a link with the Great Northern Railway. A route on the west side of the Flathead River is very available for the location of a railroad track. In the valley of the Flathead River are several square miles of land which are admirable for grazing purposes, but over the greater part of the area the soil is so thin as to preclude its extensive use for farming. The area shown on the map herewith incloses about 1,340 square miles. Within these limits there are 250 lakes, ranging from 10 miles to a few hundred feet in extent; there are more than 60 glaciers between 5 square miles and a few acres in area; there are animals, plants, and rocks in numbers and quantities to satisfy the most ardent student, and views of great variety, beauty, and grandeur to gratify the artist and lover of nature. The area is in every way suited to the purposes of a national park and game preserve. The benefits which would come to the persons living close to or within the area would in a very short time compensate them generously for any temporary inconvenfence they may experience. REFERENCES. Northern Boundary Report. U. S. C. & G. S. and U. S. G. S., pp. 45-54. B. Willis. Oil of the Northern Rocky Mountains. Engineering and Mining Journal, vol. 72, p. 782. 1901. B. Willis. Bulletin Geological Society of America, vol. 13, pp. 305-362. B. Willis. National Geographic Magazine, vol. 13, No. 10, October, 1902. R. H. Chapman. о 60TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( REPORT 2d Session. No. 2101. AMENDING THE HOMESTEAD LAWS, ETC FEBRUARY 9, 1909.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. GRONNA, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 24837.] The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred House bill 24837, having had the same under consideration, respectfully submit the following report: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the following: That section three of an act entitled "An act to amend the homestead laws as to certain unappropriated and unreserved lands in Nebraska," approved April twentyeighth, ninteen hundred and four, be, and the same hereby is, amended to read as follows: "SEC. 3. That the fees and commissions on all entries under this act shall be uniformly the same as those charged under the present law for a maximum entry at the minimum price. That the commutation provisions of the homestead law shall not apply to entries under this act, and at the time of making final proof the entryman must prove affirmatively that he has placed upon the lands entered permanent improvements of the value of not less than forty cents per acre for each acre included in his entry: Provided, That a former homestead entry shall not be a bar to the entry under the provisions of this act of a tract which, together with the former entry, shall not exceed six hundred and forty acres. As thus amended, your committee recommend that the bill do pass. The only change that the amended bill, if enacted into law, will make in the present law is the reduction of the value of permanent improvements required for final proof from $1.25 per acre to 40 cents per acre. The reason for this change is that the present requirement that the entryman place permanent improvements of a value of not less than $800 on the section of land entered by him in many cases causes a hardship. It amounts to a debt of $800 that must be paid in five years, a requirement that it is not only extremely difficult in many cases for the entryman to meet, but which prevents him from investing his money in the live stock which is necessary for a profitable use of the land. It does not appear to your committee that the expenditure of as large a sum as at present required in permanent improvements is necessary in order to insure good faith on the part of the entryman, as no commutation proof is allowed of entries under this act, and the five years' residence required in order to make final proof is better evidence of good faith than the expenditure of money in improvements. The bill has been submitted to the Secretary of the Interior, and from his letters, copies of which are attached hereto and made part of this report, it appears that the department believes that the bill as amended should pass. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, SIR: At the request of Hon. M. P. Kinkaid, I call your attention to the following extract from a carefully prepared report made by A. Baker, chief of the Seventh Field Division of Special Agents of the General Land Office, relative to the operation of the act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stats., 547), commonly known as the "Kinkaid Act,” for consideration in connection with H. R. 24837. Mr. Baker, who has an intimate knowledge on the subject, says, after giving a careful review of the operations of the act: "There are a large number of bona fide settlers who are now residing on entries under this act. The provisions of the law granting the right of additional entry, I find, has also been of inestimable benefit to hundreds of small settlers who were already in the territory and living on 160-acre homesteads. In some localities the Kinkaid Act has given rise to dairy industry, and it is being maintained in those localities by the 'Kinkaider,' as he is socalled. I can not see any good reason for fixing the value of the improvements under the Kinkaid Act at $1.25 per acre. I believe this provision should be repealed and the improvements considered as under the original homestead laws. I have found numerous instances where entrymen are residing upon the land taken under this law in the utmost good faith, but, starting with almost nothing, and with a desire at the expiration of five years to show genuine improvements of the value of $1.25 per acre, this requirement becomes a hardship. I can no better describe it in a typical case of this kind than to compare it to a mortgage of $800 hanging over the head of the claimant, to be paid in five years. For a poor man a portion of this amount instead of being expended on the land would be a greater blessing invested in cows or some other income-producing stock. Very respectfully, Hon. F. W. MONDELL, Chairman Committee on Public Lands, JAMES RUDOLPH GARFIELD. Secretary. House of Representatives. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, SIR: I am in receipt of your request for a report on H. R. 24837, entitled "A bill to amend section 3 of the act entitled 'An act to amend the homestead laws as to certain unappropriated and unreserved lands in Nebraska,"" and beg to submit the following: The section of the act which this bill proposes to amend provides, among other things, that entrymen under what is known as the "Kinkaid Act" shall not be allowed to commute their entries and shall be required to show an expenditure of $1.25 per acre in improvements on the land before they can obtain patent. This bill proposes to extend the commutation provisions of the homestead laws to lands entered under that act and to require the expenditure of only 40 cents an acre in improvements. A careful study of the entries heretofore made under this act convinces me that it would not be wise to extend the commutation provisions of the homestead laws to lands entered under it, but that it would be wise to reduce the expenditures for improvements to 40 cents per acre. The present law requires an expenditure of $800 on each section entered. This is a heavy tax upon many of the persons who enter these lands, and prevents them from investing their savings in live stock, which is necessary to the profitable use of the lands. If the bill is amended to conform to these suggestions, I know of no reason why it should not be enacted. Very respectfully, Hon. F. W. Mondell, JAMES RUDOLPH GARFIELD, Secretary. AMENDING LAWS RELATING TO NAVIGATION. FEBRUARY 9, 1909.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.. Mr. CALDER, from the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 27970.] The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 27970) to amend section 8 of the act approved May 28, 1908, entitled "An act to amend the laws relating to navigation, and for other purposes," having considered the same, report the following substitute and recommend that it do pass: That the requirements in regard to life line or rope contained in section eight of the act approved May twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and eight (being chapter two hundred and twelve of the Statutes at Large, first session Sixtieth Congress), entitled "An act to amend the laws relating to navigation, and for other purposes," shall not apply to any scow or boat the deck outside the coaming or rail of which shall not exceed one foot in width. On any such scow or boat its name or number and owner's name painted in letters and numbers, at least fourteen inches long, on both ends of such scow or boat shall be a compliance with the provisions of the said section in regard to name, number, and owner's name. This bill applies exclusively to scows or boats operated in New York Harbor and seeks to permit the owners of these scows to place their name and number on the ends rather than the sides, and eliminates from the operation of the law flat-deck scows or boats, in so far as it applies to the life line or rope. These flat-deck scows and boats rarely go outside of the landlocked harbor, and the way in which they are loaded renders the life line or rope not only impracticable, but absolutely useless, and even dangerous. This bill is recommended by the Chief of Engineers of the War Department and the supervisor of the port of New York 60TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( 2d Session. { REPORT No. 2103. EXTENSION OF TIME FOR COMPLETION OF BRIDGE ACROSS MISSOURI RIVER AT YANKTON, S. DAK. FEBRUARY 9, 1909.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. SHERMAN, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 7378.] The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (S. 7378) to extend the time for the completion of a bridge across the Missouri River at or near Yankton, S. Dak., by the Winnipeg, Yankton and Gulf Railroad Company, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass without amendment. Senator Gamble, who introduced this bill in the Senate, informs the committee that the interests which are represented by the incorporation are bona fide interests and are making progress toward the financing of the enterprise, and are about to enter in contract for the construction of the work. The bill has the approval of the War Department, as will appear by the following indorsements: War DepartmENT, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War. The object of the accompanying bill (S. 7378, 60th Cong., 2d sess.) is to extend the time for commencing and completing a bridge originally authorized by an act of Congress approved April 5, 1904, to be built by the Winnipeg, Yankton and Gulf Railroad Company across the Missouri River at or near the city of Yankton, S. Dak. The time for commencing and completing this bridge has heretofore been extended by acts of Congress approved February 11, 1905, February 5, 1906, February 19, 1907, and May 30, 1908. I do not know any objection, so far as navigation is concerned, to the further extension proposed by this bill, the provisions of the original act being considered satisfactory. W. L. MARSHALL, Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army. WAR DEPARTMENT, December 17, 1908. Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, inviting attention to the foregoing report of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army. о ROBERT SHAW Oliver, |