Proclamation 493—Establishment of the Absaroka 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 bearing 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 point where the range line between Ranges twenty (20) and twenty-one (21) East, Principal Meridian, Montana, intersects the boundary line between the States of Montana and Wyoming; thence westerly along said state boundary line to the point of intersection with the eastern boundary of the Yellowstone National Park; thence northerly along the said boundary to the north-east corner of the said national park; thence westerly along the northern boundary of the said national park to the point for its intersection with the range line between Ranges nine (9) and ten (10) East; thence northerly along said surveyed and unsurveyed range line, allowing for the proper offset on the First (1st) Standard Parallel South, to the south-west corner of Section eighteen (18), Township four (4) South, Range ten (10) East; thence easterly to the south-east corner of said section; thence northerly along the section lines to the north-east corner of Section six (6), said township; thence easterly to the south-east corner of Section thirty-two (32), township three (3) South, Range ten (10) East; thence northerly along the section lines to the north-east corner of Section five (5), said township; thence easterly along the township line to the north-east corner of Township three (3) South, Range eleven (11) East; thence southerly to the south-east corner of said township; thence easterly along the surveyed and unsurveyed township line to the point for its intersection with the range line between Ranges thirteen (13) and fourteen (14) East; thence northerly along said surveyed and unsurveyed range line to the north-west corner of Township two (2) South, Range fourteen (14) East; thence easterly to the north-east corner of said township; thence southerly to the point for the south-east corner of said township; thence easterly to the point for the north-east corner of Township three (3) South, Range fifteen (15) East; thence southerly to the point for the south-east corner of said township; thence easterly along the surveyed and unsurveyed township line to the north-west corner of Township four (4) South, Range eighteen (18) East; thence southerly along the range line to its intersection with the First (1st) Standard Parallel South; thence easterly along said parallel to its intersection with the range line between Ranges eighteen (18) and nineteen (19) East; thence southerly along said surveyed and unsurveyed range line to the south-west corner of Township seven (7) South, Range nineteen (19) East; thence easterly to the north-west corner of Township eight (8) South, Range twenty (20) East; thence southerly to the south-west corner of said township; thence easterly to the south-east corner of said township; thence southerly along the range line to its intersection with the boundary line between the States of Montana and Wyoming, 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 Absaroka 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 4th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and two, 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.