FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 395 



the gates cf the dam were raised, and remained up until the 22d of September, when they were shut 

 down and remained shut until the 30th of September, when the gates were again opened and shut 

 down in the middle of December, and continued shut until earlv in January, 1895, when they were 

 opened. 



It is to be noticed that the water is drawn from the reservoir in the winter time. 



(17.) Impossible for the land owner to use the resen.ioir in the winter time for the purpose of 

 crossing or re-crossing on the ice with teams, loath of lumber or supplies. 



Because of the drawing down of the water of the reservoir in the winter time the ice is thin shell 

 ice, frequently incapable of bearing even the weight of a man. By reason of the varying levels of the 

 water in the reservoir no stable ice is formed. When freezing temperature is reached a coating of ice 

 is formed upon the water at a given level, after which, when the water is drawn down with a resulting 

 air chamber left between the ice and water, freering is stopped and a thin shell of ice is left, which is 

 held up by the trees to which it is frozen. The ice is so thin that it breaks under the weight of an 

 ordinary man. 



DAVID C. WOOD testines that in making his survey in 1893 it was sometimes necessary for him 

 to be on the ice in order to get about, and that the ice was so thin it broke through with him ; and 

 that the ice on the reservoir was thin shell or rotten ice, and was not suitable for lumbering operations. 



HON. M. W. VAN AMBER testified that in the winter time, in January, he went upon the reser- 

 voir for the purpose of considering the feasibility of getting some cedar timber on Mrs. Fisher's tract; 

 and that he examined the ice on the reservoir for the purpose of determining whether lumbering 

 operations could be carried over it ; that he found thin, shallow ice which was not feasible for 

 lumbering operations, and that he did not get the cedar posts which he went after ; that there was 

 no sound ice underneath the crust. The water had settled away from the ice and remained up, and 

 consequently couldn't freeze any more. 



C. E. PHELPS testified that in making his survey for the State he made it in the winter time, 

 and he observed the water levels in the reservoir and the ice ; and that the water level was constantly 

 varying, up and down, all winter. Soft, slushy ice resulted, and some of his party used to get in 

 the water every day, and as regards the balsam trees, twigs, etc., in the reservoir, the water would 

 not freeze over them. 



JULIUS BRECKWALDT, who made his examination in January, 1895, found a coating of slush 

 on the ice, a thin coating of ice barely sufficient to hold them up with snow-shoes, and that a team 

 or load would break. It was risky for a person to cross. He and his party crossed the reservoir three 

 times and noticed it in every place each time, and that it was not in a fit condition for teaming across 

 it; it was so thin that deer had broken through the crust. 



HON. WESLEY BARNES testified that if the level of the water changed in the winter that 

 the ice would not be feasible to lumber upon. 



The common experience of every one is to the effect that where the water level is constantly 

 changing in the winter time the resulting ice is unstable. 



{18.) Amount and kind of timber in the flo7i' ground. 



As was stated at the beginning of this abstract the magnitude of the claim was occasioned, not 

 because of the amount and kind of timber in the area of the reservoir which was destroyed, but because 

 the relation of the land appropriated to the balance of the tract was such that it was impossible to 

 use the balance of the tract, without using the lands and waters which the State has taken for reser- 

 voir purposes. 



In Township Five, 250 acres of timber lands are flooded, and in Township Forty-two 151 acres of 

 land are flooded, making in all a total of 401 acres of timber land flooded. Of the flooded timber, 

 pine and spruce are about equally divided. 



C. E. PHELPS, who surveyed the area of the reservoir for the State, testified upon cross- 

 examination that it was timbered with spruce, hemlock, cedar and some pine. 



This timber within the area of the reservoir and along the original banks of the river is more 

 valuable than a much larger quantity standing back, for the reason that there would be no long hauls 

 to take it to the river. 



