American Forestry 



VOL. XVIII 



SEPTEMBER, 1912 



No. 9 



FROM RED LAKE TO RAINY RIVER 



By William T. Cox, Minnesota State Forester 



A NUMBER of people have asked 

 me to write an account of a re- 

 cent snow-shoe trip across the Red 

 Lake country in Northwestern Minne- 

 sota. Most of these people expected to 

 elicit a tale of hardships and a descrip- 

 tion of worthless wild country. These 

 I cannot relate. The trip was an easy 

 one, if mushing on Indian snow-shoes 

 can be considered easy at best ; and the 

 country traversed, far from being 

 worthless, contains great areas of as 

 rich land as can be found in the state. 

 It is with the hope of dispelling some 

 of the misconceptions regarding the 

 region in question that I have decided 

 to write this article. 



There is a popular notion that the 

 country for some distance east of Rer* 

 Lake is for the most part a sparsely 

 timbered swamp, and that the coun- 

 try north of the lake is one vast 

 muskeg too wet even for travel and 

 utterly unfit for habitation. These no- 

 tions are absolutely wrong. The object 

 of mv trip was to find out at first In ad 

 just what the forest is like and \,hat 

 the land is good for so that the State 

 Forest Service may pursue the proper 

 policy with reference to the whole re- 

 gion. 



Since there is a lack of roads and 

 trails through the territory covered, 

 we traveled on "webs." They were of 

 the Chippewa style and in size 14x48 

 inches. Ihey were made by Forest 

 Patrolman Albert Smith, who is an ex- 

 pert at making snow-shoes and who 

 knows the Red Lake and Ra])id River 

 countries better than any otlicr man. 

 Mr. Smith, his dog Togo and myself 

 constituted our party. 



Togo, a powerful and tireless dog, on 

 the order of a "husky," but larger. 



hauled a toboggan with all our pro- 

 visions, blankets, a tent and a little 

 stove. He followed along in the trail 

 made by our snow-shoes and would 

 eat nothing but rabbits. Rabbits were 

 everywhere plentiful and easy to shoot 

 with a pistol or snare at night on 

 their runways. 



From the Minnesota & International 

 Railway to Red Lake there is a rich dis- 

 trict, rather level but well drained and 

 in most places covered with a splendid 

 stand of hardwood, birch, elm, oak and 

 especially poplar, very tall and of ex- 

 cellent quality. This is one of the very 

 best hardwood districts of the state. 

 There is also a good deal of white pine, 

 cedar, tamarack and spruce. Much of 

 the land has been logged ofif and set- 

 tlers are rapidly clearing it up. 

 Wherever cultivated, the heavy soil 

 produces excellent crops and there are 

 good local markets in the nearby log- 

 ging camps and mill towns. The settle- 

 ments along near the southeast and 

 east shores of Red Lake show every in- 

 dication of being prosperous consider- 

 ing their recent establishment. 



On account of the great variety of 

 tree growth, there is upon nearlv cverv 

 claim some kind of timber that can 

 l)e marketed at a profit during the 

 winter. Poles, posts, ties, cordwood, 

 ]>ulpwood, stave bolts as well as logs 

 are cut bv the settlers and hauled out 

 to the railroad or the like, where there 

 is a ready market at prices which give 

 the settler some cajMtal for developing 

 his land, erecting buildings and pur- 

 chasing stock. 



Clearing, especially where the timber 

 consists of poplar, is not at all ex- 

 jjcnsive since grubbing is unnecessary. 

 The stumps of poplar rol in two or 



549 



