560 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



present times; it would require no 

 greater stretch of power to regulate the 

 cutting of timber where it would obvi- 

 ously entail a public calamity, or to 

 encourage its production where it is 

 so much needed for the public good. 



"One of the most serious evils this 

 State has to contend with is the purchase 

 of large tracts of land by persons who 

 reside in some other States, or who, if 

 residing here, still have no permanent 

 and living interest in the land. It is 

 purchased by such persons not for the 

 ordinary, legitimate and proper purpose 

 of converting it into a farm or home- 

 stead for himself and family, but solely 

 with a view of stripping it of its valuable 

 timber. Leaving the worthless trees 

 and bushes to encumber the gromid, 

 he sells it for what it is worth, and renews 

 his depredations upon other lands." 



In 1878 the legislature set aside the 

 State Lands in twenty-three townships 

 in Iron and Vilas counties, some 50,000 

 acres, as a State Park with an express 

 provision that no authority should be 

 given to anyone to cut down or destroy 

 any timber on such lands. Thus was 

 the first State Forest Reserve established. 



For 19 years the State Park lands 

 were held intact. But in 1897 the 

 lumbermen who were operating in that 

 part of the State were getting to the 

 end of the timber supply on their own 

 lands. They wanted more timber, and 

 how quickly, how easily and how cheaply 

 they got the "State Park" lands was 

 soon a matter of histor}^ 



The results of this sale give some 

 astounding figures, 31,988.30 acres were 

 sold at an average price of $8.14 per 

 acre. One man bought, in his own and 

 his company's name, 4,455.51 acres. 

 More than one-third of the entire 

 acreage sold went to four companies. 

 More than two-thirds went to only 

 eleven purchasers. 5,604.71 acres went 

 to ten other purchasers, which left only 

 4,641.01 acres for smaller purchasers. 

 Add to this the fact that the State has 

 since bought back 8,949.40 acres of 

 this very same land without the timber 

 at an average cost of $3.32 per acre, and 

 it is easy to see how much more quickly 

 legislatures respond to the demands of a 

 small body of private citizens than to 

 any pleas for public welfare. 



Man}' newspapers of the State vio- 

 lently opposed the sale of the State Park 

 lands. The Oshkosh Daily North- 

 western made a plea for the preservation 

 of the park on February 8, 1897. The 

 Ashland Press said, "Why does the 

 legislature wish to sell the timber on 

 the State Park lands ? Is there a crying 

 need of more money to spend?" Both 

 the Milwaukee Daily News and the 

 Superior Evening Telegram published 

 on February 4, 1897, vigorous warnings 

 against the bills. 



In spite of the warnings of the news- 

 papers in February, the bill for the sale 

 of the park lands passed. 



It had been the policy of the State to 

 give the widest opportunities to the 

 lumbering interests in the sale of 

 State Lands, as will presently be 

 instanced, and so the sale of the State 

 Park lands was no violation of the 

 prevailing policy except that the lands 

 had been set aside and dedicated to 

 use as a Forest Park, had been held for 

 19 years for that purpose, and were in a 

 region full of lakes and streams and 

 eminently suited to park or forest 

 reserve purposes. To those who would 

 say that 50,000 acres was too large a 

 tract to be retained by the State, we 

 would reply that 50,000 acres was not 

 too much to be retained for all the 

 people by a State that would sell 

 unlimited amounts to any one man and 

 that did sell in little more than a single 

 year 16,390.46 acres to one man, George 

 Baldwin of Appleton, from January 6, 

 1882, to January 13, 1883, and also sold 

 to his firm, Feind & Baldwin, 8,397.90 

 acres within practically the same period, 

 April 5, 1882, to January 23, 1883. 

 In fact, between January 1, 1882, and 

 February 1, 1883, a period of only 1 

 year and 1 month, the State of Wiscon- 

 sin sold 258,820.65 acres of land. 



An analysis of the sales of that period 

 gives some startling results: Five pur- 

 chasers bought 48,030.46 acres, the 

 lowest single purchase being 5,760 acres; 

 three others acquired 10,211.27 acres; 

 eleven others acquired 27,129.69 acres; 

 twenty-seven others acquired 36,005.63. 

 Thus forty-six purchasers acquired a 

 total of 121,377.05 acres or an average 

 of 2,638.63 acres apiece. Fifty-two 

 others took amounts ranging between 



