FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 399 



river has no branches or tributaries, and goes only through the centre of the tract, while the river, 

 with its tributaries, goes to all portions of the tract. The railroad is valuable to take in the supplies 

 with which to lumber ; the river to take out the logs. 



As was stated by the witness, Mr. Crawford, the river is the natural and only feasible way to 

 lumber the claimant's land. 



This means of access has been entirely cut off and destroyed. 



Four : Lumbering by Rail. 



There is no disguising the fact that the State dam and reservoir has closed up the Beaver River, 

 so that the product of the forest on claimant's lands cannot be taken to market by way of the river. 



This fact is so very apparent, that early in the case the learned Attorney-General began to look to 

 the railroad of the Mohawk and Malone Railroad Company across the claimant's tract of land as a 

 solution to the whole situation. It was urged with great earnestness that the product of the forest 

 could be taken to market by way of the Mohawk and Malone Railroad, just as well as by way 

 of the river. 



An analysis of the situation shows that this is not the case. Lumbering by rail is at least three 

 times as expensive as lumbering by water; and in addition to the extra expense of lumbering by rail, 

 there is also to be taken into account ;he fact that 20,000 acres of land and upwards are so cut oflf by 

 reason of the reservoir as to be wholly inaccessible for lumbering by rail ; and that before the dam was 

 raised these 20,000 acres were perfectly accessible for lumbering by rail ; it is also to be noticed that 

 in lumbering by rail it would be necessary to build an expensive mill, together with sidings 

 and side tracks. 



The subject of marketing the lumber upon this tract by rail seems to divide itself into the follow- 

 ing sub-divisions : 



(I.) Marketing by rail as compared with marketing by water. 



(2.) Marketing unmanufactured product by rail. 



(3.) Marketing manufactured product by rail. 



(4.) Marketing pulp wood by rail. 



I 5.) Difficulties in the way of lumbering by rail caused by the reservoir. 



(6.) Territory rendered inaccessible to lumber by rail by reason of reservoir. 



( I . ) Marketing by rail as compared wi/'i marketing by ■water. 



Nearly all mills are arranged so as to be supplied with logs by water, and only one case has been 

 found by claimant where the experiment has been tried of supplying a mill both by rail and 

 by water, viz.: 



AUGUSTUS KESSLER of Carthage, Jefferson County, has a mill at that place, which he sup- 

 plies with logs from Watson's East Triangle, in the town of Wilmurt, Herkimer County, adjoining 

 claimant's land. Mr. Kessler has had experience in lumbering, both by rail and by water. He is at 

 present conducting his lumbering operations by water, driving the logs down Fish and Alder Creeks 

 into the Beaver River. At one time he supplied his mill with logs over the Carthage and Adirondack 

 Railroad. The distance which his logs were hauled by rail was the same as the distance which they 

 are now floated by water, viz.: forty miles. 



As a result of Mr. Kessler's experience, driving on the Beaver River has cost him on the average 

 80 cents per thousand. Delivering by rail the same distance has cost him $2. 1 7 per thousand feet, so 

 that the bare expense of transportation by rail is nearly three times as e.xpensive as the transportation 

 by water. 



In addition to the $2.17 a thousand, bare cost of transportation, there was an additional expense 

 of loading the logs on the cars of forty cents a thousand which was not incurred in floating, so that 

 including the loading and unloading, transportation by rail is about three and one-half times as ex- 

 pensive as transportation by water. 



And besides this if the logs of the claimant could get to market in the natural way by means of 

 Beaver River, they could be marketed by water by way of the Black River and Erie Canals. The 



