ablishment of a division of Forestry in the
Department of Agriculture. Gifford Pinchot, as chief of the division,
called attention of the people to the interdependence of the forests and
the waterways.

[Illustration: Large tree, several hundred feet tall and about twenty
feet in diameter.]
Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove, California, with a squad of cavalry at
its base.

[Illustration: Large tree, with a one lane road cut through the center.]
Big tree "Wanona," showing the relative size of other conifers compared
with big trees. Mariposa Grove.

In 1906, after long effort, the famous Mariposa Grove of large trees in
California was made a national reservation. During the same year a bill
was passed by Congress providing for the preservation of Niagara Falls.
Public opinion had been aroused by the campaign of the American Civic
Association. Power companies had multiplied so rapidly that it seemed
the whole volume of water was about to be used for commercial purposes
and that the most famous object of natural scenery in the United States
would be destroyed.

In response to appeals from the people of the interior, President
Roosevelt, March 14, 1907, appointed the Inland Waterways Commission. In
his letter which created the commission he said: "The time has come for
merging local projects and uses of the inland waters in a comprehensive
plan designed for the benefit of the entire country. . . . I ask that
the Inland Waterways Commission shall consider the relations of the
streams to the use of all the great permanent natural resources and
their conservation for the making and maintenance of prosperous homes."

This commission while carrying on its investigations discussed the
general policy of conservation and suggested to the President the
calling of a convention for the purpose of discussing the conservation
of the nation's resources. Thus originated the celebrated White House
conference of May 13-15, 1908. The opening session presented an
impressive scene, for there were assembled in the east room of the White
House, upon the invitation of the President, the Vice-President, seven
members of the cabinet, all of the justices of the Supreme Court, most
of the representatives and senators, thirty-four governors of States
together with their advisers, and representatives of the governors of
the remaining States, governors of the Territories, representatives of
sixty-eight national societies, and numerous special gu