10 FOREST COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. 



there is not a single township in the State that has not been 

 cut over either as a whole or in part. What other possible 

 reasons can be given then, than that operators go to these far 

 off townships, and pay the same stumpage that they recently 

 paid on townships nuich nearer market, simply because they 

 find plenty of lumber there, l)ut could not find it nearer 

 home. Again, our wild land owners insist that their more 

 accessible land is being over valued and over taxed by the 

 State authorities, and I have no doubt that in many instances 

 this is true. They state that upon these townships once stood 

 large crops of lumber but that having taken the crop off, the 

 township compares with milk after skimming, of some value 

 but the cream is gone. J\Iany entertain the idea that even 

 after removing all the heavy crop of valuable timber, it is 

 only a very few 3^ears before another will grow, and thus the 

 supply never be exhausted at our present rate of cutting, and 

 although I at first entertained the same views, it has largely 

 been with reference to either proving or disproving this work, 

 that work has been done in this department during the last 

 two seasons. 



From the last State Assessor's Report I learn that the total 

 acreage of wild lands of the State is 9,666,727 acres. 



From this, for the sake of rough calculation, I deduct for 

 the average of lakes, cleared lands, bogs, burned and waste 

 lands enouoh to "ive the actual lumber producino- acreage, 

 of the wild land region which Ave call 9,000,000 acres, to 

 which the State assessors have given a value of $18,210,894 

 or about two dollars per acre, which we will assume is about 

 correct. 



For a number of years past it is conceded that the total 

 cut of the State from these wild lands has equaled at least 

 500,000,000 feet, upon which, the average stumpage has been 

 about $2.50 per thousand, making the yearly income from 

 stumpage about $1,250,000 or approximately 7 per cent of 

 the total value of the wild lands each year. 



If, then, there was no annual growth the total value of 

 the wild lands would be exhausted in about fourteen years, 



