History
The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through parts of what are now forest lands in 1805. After the discovery of gold in Idaho and then Montana in the 1860s, numerous mining towns were built, some of which today are ghost towns. The Nez Perce National Historic Trail passes through a portion of the forest, following the route of the retreating Nez Perce on their historic path that led from Idaho to north central Montana in 1877. Heavy logging and other resource depletion beginning in the 1880s led conservationists to push for the preservation the forest.
The Bitter Root Forest Reserve was established by the General Land Office on March 1, 1898 with 4,147,200 acres (16,783 km2). It was transferred to the U.S. Forest Service in 1906. On July 1, 1908 the name was changed to Bitterroot National Forest, with lands added from Big Hole National Forest and Hell Gate National Forest. Other lands were transferred from Biterroot to Beaverhead, Clearwater, Nez Perce and Salmon National Forests. On October 29, 1934 part of Selway National Forest was added.
Read more about this topic: Bitterroot National Forest
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Anything in history or nature that can be described as changing steadily can be seen as heading toward catastrophe.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“For a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)