Proclamation 489—Establishment of the Little Belt Forest Reserve

Whereas, it is provided by section twenty-four of the Act of Congress, approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled, "An act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes", "That the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or Territory having public land bearings forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations, and the President shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof";

And Whereas, the public lands in the State of Montana, within the limits hereinafter described, are in part covered with timber, and it appears that the public good would be promoted by setting apart and reserving said lands as a public reservation;

Now, Therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested by section twenty-four of the aforesaid Act of Congress, do hereby make known and proclaim that there is hereby reserved from entry or settlement and set apart as a Public Reservation all those certain tracts, pieces or parcels of land lying and being situate in the State of Montana, and within the boundaries particularly described as follows, to wit:

Beginning at the south-east corner of Township sixteen (16) North, Range ten (10) East, Principal Meridian, Montana; thence southerly to the point for the north-west corner of Township fourteen (14) North, Range eleven (11) East; thence easterly to the point for the north-east corner of Section four (4), said township; thence southerly along the surveyed and unsurveyed section lines to the point for the south-east corner of Section thirty-three (33), said township; thence easterly to the north-east corner of Township thirteen (13) North, Range eleven (11) East; thence southerly along the surveyed and unsurveyed range line, allowing for the proper offset on the Third (3rd) Standard Parallel North, to the point for the south-east corner of Township twelve (12) North, Range eleven (11) East; thence easterly along the unsurveyed township line to the point for the north-east corner of Township eleven (11) North, Range thirteen (13) East; thence southerly along the range line to the south-west corner of Township ten (10) North, Range fourteen (14) East; thence westerly along the township line to the point for the south-west corner of Township ten (10) North, Range ten (10) East; thence northerly to the north-west corner of said township; thence westerly to the point for the south-west corner of Section thirty-four (34), Township eleven (11) North, Range nine (9) East; thence northerly along the unsurveyed section lines to the point for the north-west corner of Section three (3), said township; thence westerly to the point for the north-west corner of said township; thence northerly along the unsurveyed range line to the point for its intersection with the Third (3rd) Standard Parallel North; thence westerly along said unsurveyed parallel to the point for the south-west corner of Section thirty-four (34), Township thirteen (13) North, Range eight (8) East; thence northerly along the unsurveyed section lines to the point for the north-west corner of Section twenty-two (22), said township; thence westerly along the unsurveyed section lines to the point for the south-west corner of Section eighteen (18), said township; thence northerly along the surveyed and unsurveyed range line to the south-east corner of Township sixteen (16) North, Range seven (7) East; thence easterly along the surveyed and unsurveyed township line to the south-east corner of Township sixteen (16) North, Range ten (10) East, the place of beginning.

Excepting from the force and effect of this proclamation all lands which may have been, prior to the date hereof, embraced in any legal entry or covered by any lawful filing duly of record in the proper United States Land Office, or upon which any valid settlement has been made pursuant to law, and the statutory period within which to make entry or filing of record has not expired: Provided , that this exception shall not continue to apply to any particular tract of land unless the entryman, settler or claimant continues to comply with the law under which the entry, filing or settlement was made.

Warning is hereby expressly given to all persons not to make settlement upon the lands reserved by this proclamation.

The reservation hereby established shall be known as The Little Belt Mountains Forest Reserve.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this 16th day of August, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-seventh.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

By the President:

ALVEY A. ADEE,

Acting Secretary of State.