Whereas The Medicine Bow Forest Reserve, in the State of Wyoming, was
established by proclamation dated May 22, 1902, under and by virtue
of section twenty-four of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891,
entitled "An act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes,"
which provides "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 it is further provided by the act of Congress approved
June 4, 1897, entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil
expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898,
and for other purposes," that "The President is hereby authorized at
any time to modify any executive order that has been or may hereafter
be made establishing any forest reserve, and by such modification may
reduce the area or change the boundary lines of such reserve, or may
vacate altogether any order creating such reserve;"
And whereas the public lands in the State of Wyoming, 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 vested in me by the aforesaid act of Congress
approved June 4, 1897, do hereby make known and proclaim that the
boundary lines of the aforesaid Medicine Bow Forest Reserve are hereby
changed so as to read as follows:
Beginning at the northwest corner of township seventeen (17) north,
range eighty-one (81) west, sixth (6th) Principal Meridian, Wyoming;
thence easterly to the northeast corner of said township; thence
southerly to the northwest corner of section thirty (30), township
seventeen (17) north, range eighty (80) west; thence easterly along the
section lines to the northeast corner of section twenty-five (25), said
township; thence northerly to the northwest corner of township seventeen
(17) north, range seventy-nine (79) west; thence easterly along the
township line to the northeast corner of section five (5), township
seventeen (17) north, range seventy-eight (78) west; thence southerly
along the section lines, allowing for the proper offset on the fourth
(4th) Standard Parallel north, to the southeast corner of section
thirty-two (32), township fourteen (14) north, range seventy-eight (78)
west; thence easterly along the township line to the northeast corner of
section four (4), township thirteen (13) north, range seventy-seven (77)
west; thence southerly along the section lines, allowing for the proper
offset on the third (3d) Standard Parallel north, to the point of
intersection with the boundary line between the States of Wyoming and
Colorado; thence westerly along said state boundary line to the point
of intersection with the range line between ranges eighty (80) and
eighty-one (81) west; thence northerly along said range line, allowing
for the proper offset on the third (3d) Standard Parallel north, to the
southeast corner of township fourteen (14) north, range eighty-one (81)
west; thence westerly to the southwest corner of said township; thence
northerly along the range line, allowing for the proper offset on
the fourth (4th) Standard Parallel north, to the northwest corner of
township seventeen (17) north, range eighty-one (81) west, 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 lands hereby excluded from the said reserve and restored to the
public domain shall be open to settlement from date hereof, but shall
not be subject to entry, filing, or selection until after ninety days'
notice by such publication as the Secretary of the Interior may
prescribe.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this sixteenth day of July, A.D. 1902,
and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and
twenty-seventh.