410 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



PATRICK MOYNEHAN testified that he had made several sales of land recently for camp and 

 cottage purposes where the merchantable soft wood had been taken off and where the lakes had been 

 dammed up for a few weeks in the spring ; and that there was a market for such land. 



EDWARD M. BURNS, claimant's manager, in speaking of his experience with claimant's lands, 

 testified that in some cases lands from which the merchantable soft wood timber had been taken down 

 to ten or eleven inches is preferred both for health and sport. The large trees or decayed trees are 

 very apt to fall, and particularly about a body of water. People preferred to build their camps in 

 young growth ; and the deer feed and increase better if the timber has been cut out. It lets in more 

 light and causes the undergrowth to spring up on which the deer feed. 



(i.) Conditions that exist to give value to a tract of /and fo>- such purposes. 



EDWARD M. BURNS testified that many people buy purely with regard to the health of some 

 member of their family ; others buy simply to spend their vacations ; others, again, to hunt and fish. 

 Where they are buying for purely sporting purposes, a large tract of land is necessary to successfully 

 control conditions that will afford good sporting; where persons buy simply with reference to health 

 of one or more members of their family they buy simply a camp site, and they prefer to be located 

 where there is company and where they can get at physicians ; then there are others who prefer to 

 spend a long time in the woods and prefer to be isolated; some of them don't fish and don't hunt at 

 all ; they are satisfied with an isolated lake, a small body of water, and they want to be alone. We 

 have several applications for purchases just such as these I have mentioned. 



The claimant respectfully submits that this land in the vicinity of the Beaver River originally had 

 all these elements of value, as shown by the evidence, to which reference is hereafter made. 



{e.) Odors from t/ie reservoir. 



In the ordinary course of human experience, one would naturally expect that a large area of land 

 covered with flooded water, causing vegetation to decay, would emit disagreeable odors, especially in 

 the hot weather, when the water is drawn down. The evidence is : 



ANDREW J. MUNCEY testified that there was a strong smell coming from the reservoir before 

 it was enlarged ; that when the wind was in the west it was brought up to Little Rapids. 



HON. T. M. REED testified : O. As the water was going down was there any perceptible odor ? — 

 A. Yes, sir. 



O. To what extent ? — A. It was very readily perceived ; you could detect a strong odor. 



DR. J.AMES TAMBLIN testified : Q. Describe the condition in which it was left when the 

 water was drawn down? — A. The alders and bushes were left with the indications of decay, a green 

 scum, filth or slimy appearance of the part — 



Q. Stagnant pools that you saw ? — A. Yes, sir. 



O. To what extent ? — A. All around the edges, where the set-back left them in little pools and 

 pond holes. 



O. Produce any perceptible odor ? — A. Yes, sir ; very perceptible. The smell of the water was 

 disagreeable and repulsive. 



HON. WILLIAM P. GOODELL, one of the State Law Examiners, testified that the smell was 

 so bad that the trout caught were not fit to eat ; reservoir was covered with green scum. 



Even assuming that there is no deleterious effect upon health from this odor, it stands to reason 

 that no one would invest in a camp or cottage site on the shores of a reservoir producing disagreeable 

 and annoying odors. 



(rf. ) Big Burnt Lake. 



Big Burnt Lake is entirely submerged. Its area has been changed from loi acres to 138 acres, 

 and all the timber surrounding the edge destroyed. 



This lake, as the evidence shows, would be worth $15,000 in its original condition, and its value 

 has been entirely destroyed by the reservoir. 



(c. ) Former condition, use and availability for camps, cottages and sporting purposes. 

 The evidence is replete to the effect that the entire river on claimant's lands was used for such 

 purposes. 



