382 REPORT UF THE COMMISSIOXERS OF 



(a.) The distance that lumbering has extended up the river : 



HON. MELVILLE W. VAN AMBER, a lumberman who has operated the river for twenty years 

 at least, testified : Q. How far up the river, with reference to this dam, have lumbering operations 

 been conducted ? A. Four miles. 



SAMUEL O. BOULLIVANT, who has charge of lumbering operations for the Beaver River 

 Lumber Company, on the Beaver River, testified that last spring logs were put in the Beaver 

 River as far up as within three or four miles of the State dam. 



MADORE LA MORE, who has charge of the log-driving for the Beaver River Lumber 

 Company, testified that last year logs were put in the Beaver River, and floated out from within 

 three or four miles of the dam. 



(h.) Condition of the river not yet driven : 



GEORGE T. CRAWFORD, who resides at Boston, and is employed by several paper companies, 

 of which William H. Russell is at the head, in buying timber land, improving rivers, cutting logs and 

 pulp wood, preparing rivers for driving, building dams and examining timber lands, and who has been 

 engaged in this work forty years, testifies that in 1889 he made an examination of the Beaver River, 

 with especial reference to determining whether it was a stream drivable for logs ; that he examined 

 it to see whether it was drivable for logs six feet in diameter and from twelve to sixteen feet in length ; 

 that in making his examination of the river he commenced four miles below Beaver Lake, at a point 

 where logs had been rolled in and driven the spring before (1888) ; and that the whole of the river 

 from below the dam at Stillwater to Beaver Lake was drivable for logs of the average size. Mr. 

 Crawford testified, also, that he made observation of the river from the point where the water in the 

 river (first reservoir) set back up to Smith Lake; and that it was drivable for logs of the ordinary 

 size above Little Rapids. 



HON. MELVILLE W. VAN AMBER, present Member of Assembly from Lewis County, who is 

 engaged in the manufacture of lumber and who has been twenty-nine years in the lumbering business, 

 testifies that he has a mill at Castorland, where he manufactures about three million feet of lumber a 

 year; that Mr. Basselin has a mill at Castorland and manufactures ten or twelve million feet a year; 

 that when he (Van Amber) first commenced his lumbering operations at Castorland, he had to clear 

 away the timber to build his mill, and that each year since then he has been working back farther up 

 the river, and has gone up about thirty miles; that High Falls, on the Beaver River, were improved 

 for driving logs two or three years ago, and since then logs have been driven down the river from 

 above the fails ; that he made a thorough examination of the Beaver River below the State dam as 

 far down as where logs are now being floated ; that during the time he conducted his business at 

 Castorland he has familiarized himself with driving logs and has made a study of it, and has large 

 personal experience ; that the stream below the dam to where Mr. Basselin is driving is a feasible 

 stream for driving logs ; and that the river below the dam is a better stream to drive than the 

 portions below that are actually driven; that in the fall of 1894 he made an examination of the 

 Beaver River from the State dam up to its source ; the water was then drawn down so that the stream 

 was within its original banks and the gates in the dam were open, and that the river was in its natural 

 condition, and he found that portion of the river feasible for driving logs; that the river between the 

 dam and Little Rapids in its original condition was a nice piece of river to drive ; no rapids for logs 

 to lodge upon ; nice current to carry them along ; and that from Stillwater dam to Little Rapids the 

 river was always navigable with boats. 



JOHN McFARLAND, who has been engaged in the lumber business for thirty-one years, driving 

 logs, improving streams preparatory to driving them, building lumber dams, etc., testified that in 1885 

 he first became acquainted with the Beaver River, and that he went there for the purpose of inspect- 

 ing the river to determine whether it was a feasible stream to drive ; that he commenced at No. 4 

 and followed the river up to about Stillwater, spending two or three weeks in the examination ; and 

 that in June, 1894, witness again examined the river from Little Rapids down to No. 4 (Mr. Fenton's, 

 below High Falls), and also investigated the river when the water was out of the dam in August and 

 September, 1894; that the river in its natural condition from Lake Lila down to \o. 4 is a feasible 



