Proclamation 517—Establishing the Cave Hills 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 South Dakota, 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 are 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 South Dakota and particularly described as follows, to wit:

In Township twenty (20) North, Range four (4) East, the north-east quarter of the north-east quarter of Section one (1); in Township twenty-one (21) North, Range four (4) East, Section thirteen (13), the south half of the north-east quarter, the south-east quarter of the north-west quarter, the east half of the south-west quarter, and the south-east quarter of Section twenty-three (23), Sections twenty-four (24) and twenty-five (25), the east half of the north-west quarter, the east half of the south-west quarter, and the east half of Section twenty-six (26), the east half of the north-east quarter, and the north-east quarter of the south-east quarter of Section thirty-five (35), and the south-east quarter of the south-east quarter, the north half of the south-east quarter, the north half of the south-west quarter, and the north half of Section thirty-six (36); in Township twenty (20) North, Range five (5) East, Sections four (4) and five (5), the north half-of the south-west quarter, the south-east quarter, and the north half of Section six (6), the north half of the north-east quarter of Section seven (7), the north half of the north-east quarter, and the north half of the north-west quarter of Section eight (8), and the north half of the south-east quarter, the north half of the south-west quarter, and the north half of Section nine (9); in Township twenty-one (21) North, Range five (5) East, the west half of Section eighteen (18), the south half of the south-east quarter, and the west half of Section nineteen (19), the south-west quarter of Section twenty-eight (28), the south half of Section twenty-nine (29), Sections thirty (30), thirty-one (31) and thirty-two (32), and the north half and south-west quarter of the north-west quarter, and the south half and the north-west quarter of the south-west quarter of Section thirty-three (33);

Also; in Township twenty-one (21) North, Range five (5) East, the west half, the west half of the north-east quarter and the west half of the south-east quarter of Section one (1), Section two (2), the east half of the north-west quarter, and the north-east quarter of Section three (3), Sections eleven (11) and twelve (12), and the north half of the north-east quarter and the north half of the north-west quarter of Sections thirteen (13) and fourteen (14); in Township twenty-two (22) North, Range five (5) East, the north-west quarter and the north half and south-west quarter of the south-west quarter of Section two (2), the east half and the south-west quarter of Section three (3), the east half of Section nine (9), Section ten (10), the west half of the north-west quarter and the west half of the south-west quarter of Sections eleven (11) and fourteen (14), Sections fifteen (15) and sixteen (16), the north half of the south-east quarter, and the north-east quarter of Section nineteen (19), the south-east quarter of the south-west quarter, the north half of the south-west quarter, the south-east quarter, and the north ball of Section twenty (20), Sections twenty-one (21) and twenty-two (22), the west half of the north-west quarter and the west half of the south-west quarter of Section twenty-three (23), the south half of the south-east quarter and the south half of the south-west quarter of Section twenty-five (25), the south half of the south-east quarter, the south half of the south-west quarter, the north-west quarter of the south-west quarter, and the west half of the north-west quarter of Section twenty-six (26), Sections twenty-seven (27) and twenty-eight (28), the east half of the north-west quarter, the east half of the south-west quarter, and the east half of Section twenty-nine (29), the north-east quarter of the north-west quarter and the north half of the north-east quarter of Section thirty-two (32), the north half of the north-west quarter, and the east half of Section thirty-three (33), and Sections thirty-four (34), thirty-five (35) and thirty-six (36); in Township twenty-three (23) North, Range five (5) East, the south-east quarter of Section thirty-four (34), and the south-west quarter of Section thirty-five (35); in Township twenty-one (21) North, Range six (6) East, the north-west quarter of Section seven (7); in Township twenty-two (22) North, Range six (6) East, the west half of Section thirty-one (31); all of Black Hills Meridian, South Dakota.

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 Cave Hills 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 5th day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and four, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-eighth.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

By the President:

JOHN HAY,

Secretary of State.