The collection contains Minutes and Orders of Business relative to the meetings of the State Forestry Reservation Commission and the State Forest Commission. Convened in Harrisburg on December 14, 1899 under the terms of an act to secure state forestry reservations passed on May 28, 1899, the Commission was chaired by Forestry Commissioner Joseph T. Rothrock of West Chester, and also consisted of Deputy Secretary of Internal Affairs Isaac Brown of Corry, President of the State Board of Health John Fulton of Johnstown, as well as A. C. Hopkins of Lock Haven and Albert Lewis of Bear Creek in Luzerne County who were appointed by the governor. Renamed the State Forest Commission in September 1919, the format of the minutes remaining unchanged. The Orders of Business duplicate the minutes, seeming to serve as a rough draft for their finished versions. Included are the names and salaries of numerous Department employees, camp site receipts for all State Forests, general receipts, operation receipts, correspondence, land issues, applications to the bureaus relative to various issues, lease proposals, etc. Examples of specific types of data present include: salaries incurred for forest officers, scientific and other necessary employees; a listing for a camp site receipt of $8.00 charged to W.L. Fox at Delaware State Forest; a listing for a camp site lease to W.T. Morrow of Altoona for site #50154, Jackson Township, Huntingdon County ($7.00); and an application by R.G. Bonnell of Waterville, Pennsylvania, for a lease to remove flagstone from a quarry near Waterville on the south side of Buttermilk Run.
Disclaimer: Not all records in this collection are digitized. Please visit the PA State Archives to see the rest of the collection.
