Transcription:
illegible October 6, 1897 Mr. N. Gilmore, Gilmore Springs, Tallac, Cal. Dear Sir:- Mr. B. F. Allen, special agent
of the Land Department, will be at your place in a few days for the purpose of making a special investigation as to the propriety
of setting apart the public lands in your neighborhood as a forest reservation. I hope he will be able to get there before
you shut up for the winter, because I shall direct him to go immediately to your place. You can furnish him horses and give
him information in regard to the country. He goes upon orders from the Land Department. He is now in Los Angeles and writes
me that he will come here just as soon as he can on his way to Lake Tahoe, so I look for him within a few days. The reservation
ought to extend so as to include all of the lands not already taken up from the edge of the valley back of the Tallac House
on the east to the western slopes of Pyramid Peak on the west; on the north it should extend as far as possible without encountering
a large body of land in private ownership; on the south it should extend to the Virginia and Placerville road. As to whether
or not it should extend beyond that road should depend upon whether or not there are large quantities of land that have already
passed to private ownership. Please give him all the information in your power. I shall write to Mr. John Muir to-day about
this matter. He 06192