774 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the current makes the ascents most 

 toilsome. In running rapids much ex- 

 perience is necessary, and many lives 

 are lost each year in trying them. As 

 the old trappers die out, few men go 

 into the woods very much, and it is 

 almost impossible to get enough woods- 

 men to act as fire-guards and forest 

 rangers. The present generation of 

 natives are going to the towns and into 

 the factories, and the forest no longer 

 calls to them as to their forbears. So 

 the only hope of building up a corps of 

 men to care for the forest lies in estab- 

 lishing ranger schools for natives, which 

 will fit the men for their work, giving 

 them training in woodcraft and incul- 

 cating an esprit de corps, paying suffi- 

 cient wages to make the work attractive. 

 This will cost money, but the Govern- 

 ment can well afford it, and it has cer- 

 tainly been proved in every industry 

 that men who are satisfied with their 

 pay and well cared for will turn out 

 much more work than dissatisfied un- 

 der-paid hirelings whose only object in 

 life is to loaf on the job. 



All the problems mentioned above 

 which confront the Government must 

 also be solved by the licensees of timber 

 lands, and of these the only ones who 

 can possibly solve them satisfactorily 

 are the large companies who have suffi- 

 cient investment at stake in large plants 

 to make it worth their while. The 

 holder of a small territory who sells 

 his cut or who owns a small temporary 

 sawmill cannot afiford to do anything 

 but exploit his lands and get his return 

 from them as soon as possible. But 

 with the large companies, with millions 

 of dollars invested in plants which are 

 entirely dependent on their holdings for 

 their raw material, the situation is en- 

 tirely different. They must take care 

 for the future. Here in Canada, as 

 elsewhere on the American continent, 

 this is just beginning to be realized, and, 

 up to eight years ago, everyone acted as 

 if the supply of timber was inexhausti- 

 ble. You heard of the "inexhaustible 

 timber supply," "our rich resources" on 

 every hand. The most accessible timber 

 was cut, the waste was prodigal, and 

 fire was allowed to run unchecked. 

 "Why, we have always had fires." "We 

 can't afford to fill the woods with men." 



"We have timber enough to last for- 

 ever." All this in spite of the fact that 

 the country is dotted with the evidence 

 of past conflagrations. One fire about 

 thirty-five years ago completely de- 

 stroyed the timber on over three hun- 

 dred square miles in one section. The 

 situation was indeed a difficult one. 

 Owing to the vast areas and the diffi- 

 culty and expense of travel and the 

 rigors of the climate, no maps had been 

 made. The main rivers and large lakes 

 and some of the timber holdings had 

 been mapped, but only in the roughest 

 way, and no holders knew about their 

 lands. The only people who knew any- 

 thing were a few old foremen and 

 woods bosses who had traveled the 

 country and knew their way around 

 and had a vague idea about what par- 

 ticular sections would yield. 



About 1895 a small pulp company 

 was formed to operate a fine water 

 power on the St. Alaurice River called 

 the "Grand Mere." from the fact that 

 right in the middle of the fall there is 

 a rocky island which shows very dis- 

 tinctly the profile of an old woman. 

 There is an Indian tradition of a 

 maiden who waited for her lover until 

 she became old and grey and then was 

 turned into this rock. This company 

 built a small village in the forest and 

 commenced operations. The town was 

 a long way from civilization, commun- 

 ication with Montreal and Quebec, the 

 nearest cities, was difficult, as the rail- 

 roads were in shocking condition, and 

 in winter one never knew how long it 

 might take to cover the eight-six miles 

 to Montreal. It took three days once, 

 and it was always wise to take snow 

 shoes, so as to be able to get to the 

 nearest farm house for food. The em- 

 ployees of the company lived in little 

 frame shacks and had no conveniences 

 and mighty few comforts. Things also 

 went very badly financially, and about 

 1903 the company was reorganized. 

 The new manager realized that the first 

 necessity was the comfort and well- 

 being of the employees, and, as soon as 

 he had gotten the company a little on 

 its feet, began to build up a model vil- 

 lage. When one realizes how much in 

 advance of the time such an idea was 

 and what it meant to change over and 



