1903 survey of the Cascade Range Forest Reserve of Oregon.

[Peabody]

On September 28, 1893 President Grover Cleveland created the Cascade Range Forest Reserve of Oregon by presidential proclamation. A township by township survey was undertaken and the report was submitted to the United States Geological Survey on June 17th, 1902.............I was born exactly sixty years later.

I found the descriptions, Photographs and viewpoints described in the report very interesting. The report can be found on Google books. Link

Grover Cleveland's presidential proclamation creating the Cascade Forest Reserve can be found by searching this site. Link It describes the boundaries of the reserve in detail. I've never found a modern GIS outline of the original reserve and I plan on mapping it....some day. The proclamation creating Bull Run can also be found here and well as changes to the reserve boundary's.

To determine the township designation (PLSS) use this online map. Link Example: Lost Lake is township 1S 8E

Excerpts

Bull Run

It was the original intention in assigning to Mr. Langille so small an area that he
examine also the area of the Bull Run Reserve, which is the source of water supply
of the city of Portland and which adjoins the north end of the Cascade Range Reserve
on the west; but this course was objected to so strenuously by the water board of
the city of Portland, who saw in the publication of the results of this examination a
possible source of danger to their water supply, that the examination of the Bull
Run Reserve was not undertaken

.

I had chalked this up to good ole fashion government rivalry until I read old growth forest described as "overripe and defective". This endeavor was all about surveying the area for future logging. The Portland water board knew who these guys were and acted accordingly.

Lost Lake

All of the timber is easy of access, and the topography of the township presents
favorable opportunities for transportation. The West Fork and Lake Branch could
be logged by means of splash dams. Lost Lake is a natural reservoir, in which an
immense volume of water could be retained and flooded down the Lake Branch, or
carried through the low pass southward to the West Fork.

Successful logging operations in these mountainous regions require that transportation
lines be built, or the rough boulder-strewn stream beds be cleared to
prevent "jamming" and, in most instances, splash dams must be constructed to
facilitate driving.

Herman Creek

Along the East Fork of Hermann Creek, however, there is a body of excellent
red fir of large size. A large part of this canyon has been burned over. On the
divide between Hermann and Green Paint creeks there is an old burn now partly
restocked and overgrown with huckleberry bushes. Formerly this was a favorite
haunt of the Indians, but the white man's fires have blocked their trails, and their
visits have been discontinued. At the extreme headwaters of Green Paint Point (sic) Creek,
under the divide, there is a heavy stand of valuable timber.

[Chase]

Wow, that's a find. Already wasted a bit of time reading it when I should be getting ready for work. By 1903 they sure knew how to survey the land for resources they could suck from the land.