FOKEST commissioner's REPORT. 107 



EXPLORATION ON THE MAGALLOWAY. 



On Friday the eleventh day of October, at Cambridge, 

 N. H., I met b}'^ appointment Mr. John C. West of Berlin, a 

 trusted explorer for the Berlin Mills Company and others, 

 whose local knowledge and experience in estimating I was 

 anxious to profit by. Procuring a leaky sail boat at Cam- 

 bridge, we made the most of a stiff breeze up Umbagog lake, 

 and tramped through the woods from the head of the lake to 

 the Brown farm on the Magalloway river. Next day, hiring 

 a canoe at Aziscohos, we paddled twelve miles up 11^^ ,, 



'- '^ Magallo- 



the river and in mid-afternoon in a cold drizzle 7J]X:J^'}^^^' 

 reached the Parmacheenec Club's "Camp in the ^i'"'^*^'- 

 Meadows." Here we were in the middle of "Parkertown," 

 or V Range III, and engaging board for a few days we made 

 the camp our base for a partial exploration of the township. 

 This township was selected for exploration, not only because 

 its owners are among the largest owners and operators of 

 timberland in the region, but because the woods superin- 

 tendent of the company, a close student of woods and mill 

 economy, had recently inaugurated some improvements in 

 cutting, and I was desirous, by looking the laud over and 

 talking Avith the operators and men, to see how the changes 

 worked. 



The Magalloway country has been and still is a great 

 spruce preserve. Above Aziscohos falls its course is nearly 

 parallel with the State line and from two to three miles dis- 

 tant. Five townships in the northwest corner of the State 

 thus have the Magalloway flowing down their middle, an ar- 

 rangement which, except in the most northerly of the five, 

 avails to make their timber completely and readily accessible. 

 This basin is bounded on the east by a high, rough ridge, 

 broken with one or two mountain peaks, which follows very 

 nearly the east line of the towns. On the west, similar land 

 separates it from the Diamond and the Connecticut. An area of 

 about two hundred square miles is thus enclosed, exclusive ol 



