become inoperative as to any tract selected by the company under its grant, upon the presentation in due form of a proper list by the company embracing any of the lands covered by the permit. Approved:

JOHN J. HALL,

Assistant Attorney-General.

FOREST FIRES.

CIRCULAR.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE,

Washington, D. C., March 13, 1897.

For the information of all concerned, attention is called to the following act of Congress, approved February 24, 1897, entitled "An act to prevent forest fires on the public domain."

Registers and receivers, United States land offices, and special agents, General Land Office, should promptly report to the proper United States attorney all information they may receive relative to the violation of the provisions of this law.

Approved:

E. F. BEST, Acting Commissioner.

[Act of February 24, 1897; 29 Stat., 594.]

C. N. BLISS,
Secretary.

AN ACT to prevent forest fires on the public domain.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall wilfully or maliciously set on fire, or cause to be set on fire, any timber, underbrush, or grass upon the public domain, or shall carelessly or negligently leave or suffer fire to burn unattended near any timber or other inflammable material, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the same, shall be fined in a sum not more than five thousand dollars or be imprisoned for a term of not more than two years, or both.

SEC. 2. That any person who shall build a camp fire, or other fire, in or near any forest, timber, or other inflammable material upon the public domain, shall, before breaking camp or leaving said fire, totally extinguish the same. Any person failing to do so shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the same, shall be fined in a sum not more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for a term of not more than one year, or both.

SEC. 3. That in all cases arising under this act the fines collected shall be paid into the public-school fund of the county in which the lands where the offense was committed are situate,

CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS.

In addition to the penalties prescribed in the above act, section 4 of the act of June 3, 1878 (20 Stat., 89), provides that "it shall be unlawful to" * * * "wantonly destroy any timber growing on any lands of the United States" in "the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada and in Washington Territory"; and "any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be fined for every such offense a sum not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars." (See act cited in full on page 67.) This act is made applicable to all the public-land States by the act of August 4, 1892 (27 Stat., 348; see page 70).

CIVIL REMEDIES.

In addition to the wanton destruction of public timber by fire, or otherwise, being a criminal offense, the United States have all the common-law civil remedies, whether for the prevention or redress of injuries, which individuals possess. (See 3 Wheaton, 181, and 11 Howard, 229, under "Civil Liability," page 15.)

The following notice was prepared for posting generally throughout the forests on the public lands:

NOTICE.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., May 12, 1894.

The attention of the public is called to the fact that immense areas of the public forests are annually destroyed by fire, originating in many instances through the carelessness of prospectors, campers, hunters, sheep herders, and others, while in some cases the fires are started with malicious intent.

Warning is hereby given that the origin of all forest fires will be closely investigated, and where the fire is ascertained to have originated through carelessness or design the persons implicated will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The public generally is requested to aid the officers of the Government in its efforts to check the evil referred to and in the punishment of all offenders.

EDW. A. BOWERS,

Acting Commissioner.

Approved:

See, also, Forest reservation notice, on page 133.

11023-10

HOKE SMITH,

Secretary.