FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 385 



less than sixteen feet in width ; that there was room enough and water enough, in ordinary condition of 

 water, so that a sixteen-foot log would turn anywhere, and that the bends of the river would not make 

 any difference in driving; that logs would go around bends just as easy as the water; that they follow 

 the current; and that as to the river from Little Rapids up to Lake Lila there are a few flood jams 

 that will have to be cleared out. The expense of removing them will be trifling, a couple of hundred 

 dollars at the outside; and by an expenditure of a couple of hundred dollars that portion of the stream 

 could be put in condition for floating logs ; that if the banks of the river were overflowed in high 

 water, where there were marshes or low places, logs could be driven by putting in a boom in such 

 places. 



JOHN McFARLAND testified, on cross-examination, that floating of logs would not be interfered 

 with by the crookedness of the river, for the reason that the river is too wide and has too much of 

 a current ; at some portions they might gulch and need a man to start them out again. With the 

 river in its natural condition it was not necessary to tow any of the logs, for $50 would cut out 

 all the alders that hung from the banks into the river, preparatory to log driving. Witness 

 has known of streams more crooked than the Beaver River, notably the Kunjermuck, that are 

 actually driven. 



HON. WESLEY BARNES testified that Little Rapids, on the Beaver River, is drivable ; but 

 to make it perfect there should be a little blasting done. 



JAMES COSGROVE testified that to make all the improvements necessary from Lake Lila to 

 Little Rapids in the way of removing flood jams, building dams, blasting out rocks, etc., would cost 

 $2,200; that there are rivers which we know of as being driven which resemble that portion of the 

 Beaver River between the State Dam and Little Rapids, notably the Kunjermuck. Mr. Cosgrove 

 suggested the cutting off of some bends between Little Rapids and Stillwater, to lessen the time of 

 driving. He testified that $600 would make all the necessary improvements between Stillwater and 

 Little Rapids, such as cutting off alders, clearing the shores and cutting off bends in the river ; that 

 it is perfectly feasible, however, to float logs without cutting off the bends; and that cutting off the 

 bends would merely cheapen the drive. 



WlLLl.AM McECHRON, upon cross-examination, testified that the crookedness of the river 

 would not prevent successful driving; and that he is the owner of the Kunjermuck, a stream that 

 winds and turns twenty miles in going a distance of five, which is being successfully driven. 



From this evidence there can be no doubt that the Beaver River in its natural condition is a stream 

 having size and capacity sufficient for transporting logs from Lake Lila through. In some places 

 improvements would be desirable in the way of blasting or cutting off alder bushes along the shores 

 between the State dam and Little Rapids. Some lumbermen (like Mr. Cosgrove) would recommend 

 that one of the bends be cut off at an expense of four or five hundred dollars, and some would desire 

 to have a little blasting done below the dam for the purpose of lessening the expense of driving. 

 Improvements are necessary and usual upon all streams in the Adirondacks in their original condition, 

 such as the removal of flood jams, blasting of boulders, and trimming the banks of alders, etc. No 

 streams are driven without preparatory work upon them, such as blasting of rocks, cutting out flood 

 jams, etc. 



It is to be noticed that none of these improvements would be expensive; that $50 would do all the 

 cutting of alders between the State dam and Little Rapids. A few hundred dollars would cut out and 

 remov'e flood jams up to Lake Lila. An expenditure of a few hundred dollars, which is not necessary, 

 would cheapen the drive below the dam, and $50 would make a half-mile of boom. 



Such was the condition of the country originally ; nature provided a highway through the center 

 of claimant's tract of sufficient size and capacity for floating off the product of the forest. True, this 

 highway, like any other highway, by the action of the elements, by trees falling into its channel, etc., 

 would require from time to time expenditures of small sums of money in removing these natural 

 obstructions, which, under the law above cited, the claimant had the right to do throughout the whole 

 length. 



Not only has nature provided a natural means and outlet in the Beaver River for taking the 

 product of the forest to market, but has also provided in the tributaries of the river upon claimant's 



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