STANDING TIMBER INSURANCE 

 By W. R. Brown 



The idea of insurance on standing timber grew out of observations 

 and records obtained after six years of fire protection in the United 

 States. In the years before adequate fire protection to timberlands by 

 Federal, State and private associations was afforded, there had been a 

 disinclination to consider standing timber an insurable, due to the lack 

 of means for apprehending and extinguishing incipient fires or com- 

 batting larger ones. After six years of fire protection carried on by 

 over thirty private associations, fifteen State departments and the 

 Forest Service of the Federal Government, with the co-operative as- 

 sistance of towns, railroads and other agencies, data was collected and 

 combined to show the character of stands burned over, the extent and 

 frequency of fire occurrence, situations most exposed, and total values 

 destroyed in relation to the total value of all timber in the region. 

 These data showed the average yearly loss in value over widely sepa- 

 rated areas, as the Pacific Northwest, Quebec forest region, New Eng- 

 land States, and^ the Michigan-Wisconsin region, to be below one-half 

 of one per cent annually, which compared favorably with the loss by 

 fire in all other forms of property. 



Presuming that the cost of management would also not much exceed 

 one-half of 1 per cent yearly — the usual average cost of doing business 

 in insurance companies — the possibility of giving protection to their 

 woodlands was seriously considered in the winter of 1917 by a group 

 of New Hampshire timberland owners. The various forms of com- 

 mercial, mutual, and interinsurance organizations were studied, and it 

 was decided that the mutual form was the most desirable to meet the 

 State laws of New Hampshire and give the greatest latitude for organi- 

 zation. A bill was introduced and passed by the New Hampshire 

 Legislature of 1917 to authorize the incorporation of the Timber Lands 

 Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Concord, the first company of its 

 kind organized in the United States, for the purpose of effecting in- 

 surance of standing timber against loss and damage by fire, lightning 

 or other destructive elements or causes. The interest and goodwill of 

 the insurance commissioner was secured and his requirement of $50,- 



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