400 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



majority of lumber markets are arranged with reference to water transportation, and by reason of such 

 arrangements it is for'y cents per thousand cheaper to ship by water than to ship by rail. 



It is to be noticed that the freight rate of $2. 17 a thousand for forty miles is a very liberal freight 

 rate, and especially liberal in view of the experience of the claimant in shipping logs by rail. 



WILLIAM McECHRON testified that the bare cost of loading logs on cars would be about fifty 

 cents a thousand, and assuming that there are 3,000 feet per acre, this alone would make a damage of 

 $1.50 per acre, or $98,754.00 for the whole 65.836 acres. 



(2.) Marketing unmanufactured product by rail. 



The experience of Mr. Kessler, above cited, was with taking logs to his mill by rail instead of by 

 water, which he found about three and a half times more expensive. 



The claimant has had actual experience with shipping logs to market by rail, and from his e,xperi- 

 ence found it so expensive that it had to be stopped. 



EDWARD M. BURNS, the claimant's general manager, testified that in the fall of 1892 and 1893, 

 the claimant began to ship logs from the land at Beaver River, on Township 42. That the 

 freight bills would make the lumber cost about $4 a thousand to take it out, which made it so expen- 

 sive they could not lumber with any profit. The State had at that time put in the dam and the logs 

 could not be floated out, and a contract was made with Mr. Ouderkirk, who put up a mill at Beaver 

 River station. 



[a.) Reasons for Jiigh freight rates on logs. 



H. D. CARTER, who is the Freight Agent of the Adirondack Division of the New York Central 

 and Hudson River Railroad Company, and of the Carthage and Adirondack Railroad Company, 

 testified that it was the policy of the Railroad Company and of railroads generally to charge such a 

 high freight rate on logs as would prevent the shipment of logs and encourage the shipment ofmanu- 

 factured lumber ; that by reason of the shipment of manufactured lumber that an ingoing as well as 

 an outgoing trade was established by the railroad, and the railroad could afford to carry the manu- 

 fuctured lumber cheaper than the unmanufactured logs ; that to manufacture lumber required a mill 

 and men, which called for an ingoing amount of business that did not exist when logs were solely 

 shipped. Mr. Carter also testified that the best obtainable rate on logs was $3 per thousand feet, 

 which the claimant Webb obtained. 



The State sought to establish that the claimant Webb would be the recipient of special rates at 

 the hands of the railroad company. The evidence shows the contrary. Webb is treated the same 

 as any other shipper. He is given no special rates. None could be obtainable by him. The freight 

 bills of claimant Webb are actually paid by him with no rebate. In 1892 and 1893, when Webb first 

 endeavored to ship logs, the rate actually charged him and paid by him was $4 a thousand. And be- 

 cause the rate was so high Webb had to give it up. 



It stands to reason that to ship logs by rail under the most favorable circumstances is much more 

 expensive than to float them by water. 



First: A railroad has to be built, whereas nature builds the waterway. Here this railroad cost 

 upwards of $8,000,000. The Beaver River cost nothing to make. A rate has to be be charged that 

 brings a return sufficient to pay operating expenses together with at least some kind of a return on 

 the investment. 



Second : Repairs. The ordinary repairs upon a railroad are greater than the ordinary repairs 

 upon a stream. At the very most $10,000 expended upon the river's tributaries would take off all 

 the lumber, whereas it would not begin to keep a railroad in repair, to say nothing of operating expenses. 



Third: The expense of operating a railroad with its expensive equipment is much greater than 

 operating a log drive. 



Fourth: The markets are arranged for delivery by water instead of delivery by rail. 



Fifth : To deliver logs by rail it is necessary to be at the expense of loading and unloading them 

 on the cars, which expense is not incurred in water delivery. 



Sixth : In the transportation of logs by rail, there is the cost of transportation of the slabs and 

 waste material. 



