FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 33 



best of water." I didn't try to convince Uncle Billy that he 

 was lit all wrong. I recognized the fact that it was all a 

 matter of individnal liking, but I did feel that if Uncle Billy 

 had been pressed with it, he would have had to admit that 

 his was an acquired taste. 



Finding at Spencer pond that I had unknowingly got over 

 nearer Moose River settlements than I was to Flagstaff, my 

 Dead Kiver guide, who however had for some days been off 

 his l)earings, was discharged, and T started out alone, carry- 

 ing pack and calipers, over the buckboard road that runs 

 from here to Parlin Pond. Keeping note roughly of direc- 

 tion and distance, constant observation, aided l)y an oc- 

 casional side trip either to some high point or up a tree, 

 afforded a pretty good idea of the lay of the land and the ex- 

 tent of the burns. A big area of rou<2:h and elevated Lmd 

 lay to the south, while northward the land la}^ comparatively 

 flat, most of it tributary to the Moose river. The difference 

 in topography was a clue to its timber condition. Town- 

 ships IV and V have been mostly cut off for the Gardiner 

 mills, while III, rough with mountains and protected by the 

 difficulty of the Enchanted stream which drains it, is, much 

 of it, in its ])rimitive condition. Comino: from ,.. . 

 Hobbstown the contrast was a marked one. ^■'"'J^'*"- 

 IMountain sides covered not with little hard wood sprouts, 

 but dark with spruce tops through which was sprinkled lib- 

 erally the lighter color of pine, the contrast was most pleasant 

 and relievinof. Lookino; over such land as that one can read- 

 ily understand how the early explorers could never imagine 

 such a thing as a scarcity of timljer. 



In this locality there seemed to be a good opportunity for 

 two or three days close study. Here was a considerable l)ody 

 of virgin timber likely soon to l)e brought into the market 

 through engineering skill, while alongside of it, on land of the 

 same general nature, were cuttings of various kind and age. 

 By study of the two in comparison, it was likely that something 

 was to l)e learned of value for the future. 

 3 



