ITEMS OF INTEREST October 13, 1906 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

By presidential proclamation the Kootenai Forest Reserve has been created in the extreme northwestern corner of Montana. The reserve, which contains about 887,360 acres, is a natural forest region. Ninety-nine and one-half per cent of the area is either covered with forest, or, having been denuded, is capable of reforestation. The region is in every way more suited to forestry than to any other purpose. It is an important factor in maintaining the flow of streams draining through this region directly into the Kootenai, one of the most important tributaries of the Columbia River. The protection of the forest growth over this drainage area is, therefore, a matter of importance to a wide stretch of country.

The Goose Lake Forest Reserve has also been created in Oregon recently by presidential proclamation. This reserve is situated near Goose Lake, which extends into Oregon from the northern border of California. The country which it embraces is very rough, except along the wat r-courses, being mainly of volcanic character with a surface of broken lava rocks or solid basaltic escarpments or "rim rock." Climate, physical structure, and soil conditions effectually preclude development as an agricultural area. The principal industry of the region is cattle and sheep grazing.

To solve New York's rapid transit problems, which include the traffic into and out of the city, the municipality and certain public corporations are spending or planning to spend $650,000,000. This enormous sum is about $250,000,000 more than the present funded debt of the city. It represents about three times the cost of the Spanish-American war. It exceeds the $555,000,000 expended on the present subway and its equipment and the $23,000,000 for the two big suspension bridges over the East River. Nineteen proposed routes for subways in Manhattan and Brooklyn will cost $320,000,000 and the necessary equipment will foot up $100,000,000 more. In addition, four rapid transit tunnels will be built under the East River, to cost $20,000,000. Fight new giant bridge structures to span the East River and weld Brooklyn to Manhattan, will consume $85,000,000 of the city's money. The Pennsylvania Railroad tunnel, now nearing completion, will cost $50,000,000, and other tunnels and bridges will make up the total. These plans indicate that New York is entering upon a period of constructive engineering work such as the world has hitherto never seen or dreamed of.

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