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President Theodore Roosevelt thanks Gifford Pinchot for the suggestions he sent and will use Pinchot’s speech to the National Irrigation Congress in his message. Roosevelt wonders how the press would have reacted if he, rather than Pinchot, had made the remarks about a tariff on lumber.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-16
Idaho Governor Gooding laments to President Roosevelt that most people associated with the prosecution of the alleged murderers of Governor of Idaho Frank Steuenberg have been indicted and accused of connection with the alleged timber land frauds in the state.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-15
Billings F. Cash informs Attorney General Bonaparte that he is convinced that Calvin Cobb and Governor Frank Robert Gooding were involved in timber fraud. The special agents involved in this case – Gorman, Goodwin, and O’Fallon – connected this timber fraud case to a senator who is serving as the prosecution in the trial of the murder of Governor Frank Steunenberg.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-23
This article praises President Theodore Roosevelt for his conservationist efforts, and as a result, protecting western forest lands from politicians such as Senator Charles William Fulton of Oregon and Senator Weldon Brinton Heyburn of Idaho. Rich men with interests in the timber industry claim that they oppose forest reserves for the sake of poor settlers needing land, but the forest reserves do not negatively impact settlers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-06
President Roosevelt believes the country should not put a premium on the destruction of forests and instead aim to conserve them. Wood pulp, in particular, should be imported as its manufacture is ruinous. Roosevelt believes the amount of timber is so shrunk that the removal of import duties poses no threat to existing interests.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-15
President Roosevelt provides John Barber White with additional instructions outlining what he should investigate on the Minnesota National Forest Reserve. Eugene S. Bruce of the Forest Service will assist White.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-07
Gifford Pinchot reports that the Post Falls Lumber Company cut timber from government land and was instructed to pay $1000 for its release. He provides a list of men who should be interviewed on the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-1909
Gifford Pinchot reports to the Camp Fire Club of America about forest conservation in Adirondack Park. He believes the forests are one of New York’s greatest possessions, supplying resources, commerce and recreation. More should be done to protect the forests from misuse and fire. Good laws and properly trained, well-paid firefighters and forest rangers will help the efforts, as well as replanting programs. Pinchot recommends new laws for logging companies, discusses issues with Section 7 of Article 7 of the Constitution, and recommends changes to that article.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-02
Clark L. Poole tells Theodore Roosevelt of the changing circumstances of the lumber industry, which has recently become one of the largest landholders in the United States. Because of this, the industry has become a great borrower, and is a good investment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-28
Several years of statements by the American Newspaper Publishers’ Association regarding the newspaper industry, including comments on tariffs, competition with Canada, preservation of forests, paper prices, trusts, and labor issues.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11
Chief of the United States Forest Service Gifford Pinchot has considered the matter of President Roosevelt sending a personal representative to Minnesota. Pinchot believes it would be wiser to send someone with a knowledge of timber matters, especially lumber. Pinchot has J. B. White of Kansas City in mind. White is one of the greatest lumbermen in the country and has a wide practical knowledge of lumber.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-21
Gifford Pinchot writes Theodore Roosevelt discussing the creation of forest reserves in northern Idaho. He finds that the miners and the lumber industry offer no opposition to it. He also states that he finds widespread support in Idaho for the Republican party.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-30
This postcard shows the densely wooded Mount Warrenheip near Ballarat in South Australia. In front of the mountain drives a steam-powered wagon hauling several carts full of lumber. Charles C. Myers shares that there are many lumber mills in this area.
In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “Another scene in the mountainous and wood land of South Australia.”
The Spirit of the Forest talks to Uncle Sam, pointing to denuded hillsides as a result of the tariffs on the import of lumber and wood pulp. Caption: The Spirit of the Forest.–Will you wait until then to admit lumber free?
To twenty-first century eyes, this drawing by Udo J. Keppler presents a magnificent vista; Keppler, an outdoorsman and eventually man of the West and honorary member of Indian tribes, likely regretted a landscape bereft of trees and vegetation. Under the misty foreground cloud he pictured lumber trucks with logs.
Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, fights alone against a raging forest fire which is billowing finger-shaped clouds labeled “Timber Grab,” “Land Graft,” and “Greed.” Caption: The Chief Forester and the consuming element.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-09-15
President Cleveland stands next to a large “Reform Buzz-Saw” labeled “Pat. 1884 by G. Cleveland” at a sawmill, where three members of his cabinet “Manning, Whitney, [and] Bayard” are milling lumber labeled “For the Improvement of the Custom House” and “Props for the Navy.” A carpenter’s square labeled “Honesty” rests against some boards at Cleveland’s feet. A group of newspaper editors, congressmen, and a dog labeled “Blaine’s Pup” have entered on the left. Among them are “Dana, McLean, Vance, Eustis, Reid, Beck, Evarts, Sherman, Medill, [and] Edmunds.” They are standing just outside the “Secretarys Office” where Daniel S. Lamont is sitting. Through the open door is visible a wagon loaded with large logs labeled “Mormon Question, Silver Question, Tariff Ques, [and] Coast Defences.” Caption: Foreman Cleveland (kindly but firmly) “Boys, don’t monkey with the buzz-saw!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1886-02-03
A man labeled “Land Grafter” chops down a tree in a forest where other trees have been cut down. Scattered on the ground are doll-like figures labeled “Dummy Homesteader.”
One of the side-effects of the Roosevelt Administration’s reforms and the package of progressive legislation passed in 1906 was a rapid, and rapacious, interest in Western lands by railroads and “associated” industries and powers.
Governor of the Philippines Taft defends Frank S. Bourns and his business, the Philippine Lumber and Development Company. Bourns has had close relations with the Philippine Commission and played an important role in the Filipino Federal Party. Taft denies Bourns received preferential treatment from the government and considers his ability to diminish distrust and suspicion among Filipinos to be very valuable.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-09-11