MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



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 SUITE 1*06 MAJESTIC BUILDING DLT ROIT. MICHIGAN 



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I think it would be very desirable to get to- 

 gether on some safe and sane proposition of 

 legislation for these states whose interests are 

 practically identical. (Applause.) 



FORESTRY A MONEY-MAKER. 



Prof. Fernow: In response to my brother 

 Green, who charged me with not being definite, 

 ii wasn't my intention to be definite. I came 

 here with the intention, and I did restrain my- 

 self as far as I could, from expressing an 

 opinion. I did furnish to you my idea as to 

 the method of assessment. I pointed out the 

 idea that you pay your tax upon the income 

 basis. There is only one objection against 

 that assessment in such a business as the lum- 

 ber business. There must be something more 

 definite, more regular. I had a very definite 

 idea as to how to raise the tax. I tried to find 

 out the different points that the assessor looks 

 at. Forestry is very profitable. When you 

 cite here the German forests, you must con- 

 sider that there was another story 100 years 

 ago. They had cut-over lands, large areas, 

 and very few areas left for use. It is only the 

 faith in the future that led them to put their 

 numcy up. And therefore, you see, although 

 they simply got 5 or 10 cents an acre taxes, 

 they have now got up to five or six dollars an 

 acre. You will see thatthose forests will be 

 much more profitable than they appear now. 



Dr. Fernow's brief remarks closed the dis- 

 cussion and adjournment \vas taken. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Fire Protection and Our Forests, the Subject 

 Under Discussion. 



At the opening of the afternoon session on 

 Tuesday President Bissell announced the 

 members of the committee appointed to audit 

 the books of the secretary and treasurer. 



The first subject on the program for discus- 

 sion was "Fire Protection and Our Forests," 

 which was opened by T. B. Wyman, forester 

 of the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co. 



Mr. Wyman said: When I was asked by our 

 secretary. Mr. Stevens, to talk about the 

 enormous loss by fire, I almost refused. The 

 subject calls for statistics to back up the facts. 

 In Michigan, so far a> I know, there has been 

 no definite record of the facts. We have never 

 made a system of reports in the matter of fires 

 and- had them tabulated. If there are any such 

 records which will properly show this I am not 

 aware of them. I don't think the existing 

 records would ill any measure cover the sub- 

 ject. Fvcn if we had a record of all the little 

 I don't think that would be of any par- 

 ticular interest. Nothing exists so far as I 

 know that would tell whether we had a brush 

 fire in Ont<inagon county or a fire in School- 

 craft county among the jack pines. The loss 

 would not be computed. As a better illustra- 

 tion, a little tire occurred in Alger county this 

 last summer, that run for a matter of two or 

 three weeks, undermining spruce, cedar and 

 balsam. When I reported it to the owner he 

 said if I would hire a man to go on the ground 



and put it out he would pay for it. The land 

 lay where the public had to pass, and where 

 the trees had turned yellow the sight was any- 

 thing but attractive. When the owner of prop- 

 erty doesn't take any more interest than this 

 man did in his forest lands it is almost im- 

 possible to have a layman interested. 



Map Tells the Tale. 



I have taken one of the fires with which I 

 am familiar in that territory and traced it on 

 this map (exhibiting map) with the idea of 

 showing you what can result from consecutive 

 burning. When I drew this a friend said to 

 me, "Just hang that on the wall and tell them 

 that is your speech. You don't need to say 

 anything." It emphasizes a great deal more 

 clearly than I can when you know that every- 

 thing in it is devastated. You have to con- 

 sider that each one of these squares is UK) 

 acres, and this tract runs up into 77,000 acres. 

 All of this in here was burned area. What the 

 cause of that fire was is speculative. It was 

 probably because of windfall and lightning. 

 When the tops are all interwoven, and particu- 

 larly after a year or two of dry weather, when 

 everything is dry, fire started by lightning 

 would create just such a burn as is depicted 

 upon the original plats of the survey. While 

 possibly there are other reasons for the fire, 

 this is the most plausible one I can think of. 

 The fire must have occurred between 1841 and 

 1851. That is the only record of a fire existing 

 in that territory. 



When Alger & Smith started in in 1883-84 to 

 lumber this area here (pointing to map) they 

 took out only the best of the pine. They didn't 

 have to take anything that would not make 

 saw timber. They cut over a large acreage. 

 and then burned it. As they worked to the 

 far north smaller jobbers came in and took 

 the pine on the edge of the Alger & Smith 

 holdings. Their personal holdings were very 

 small, and it made no difference to them 

 whether fire ran over there or not. And this 

 kept up the burning with absolutely no pro- 

 tection. 



One interesting thing in reference to this 

 burning, it is very irregular in outline. Hard,- 

 wood borders practically the whole thing; it 

 doesn't extend into the hardwood unless \ery 

 recent burnings. 



After we get down in this territory here 

 (pointing again) we strike a swamp line, and 

 there fires ran around that swamp line and 

 broke away from the stream, and then struck 

 the stream again and followed down to this 

 point, and then followed the swamp line clear 

 over to here; then we strike the stream again 

 back to this point. This area here is hardwood. 

 Where the ridge sloped from the hardwood to 

 the swamp there was a little pine taken here. 

 In that whole area there is nothing of value; 

 it has been run over time and time again. 



Fine Stand of New Pine. 



In the upper end of the region stands some 

 of the finest regeneration white pine; it stands 

 from 250 to 300 rree'S to the acr;\ and about G 

 to 8 inches in diameter. That land <_ould liar;! 

 ly be purchased today, while the balance of it 

 couldn't be given away. Yet we are paying 

 taxes on that barren land in the hopes that 

 probably we can reforest it. We can't do it 

 now because fire protection hasn't been car- 

 ried on to such an extent that it is safe. This 

 little tract is probably the most interesting 

 part of the whole thing. Tlwre are about 5,000 

 acres on it, and all but about five forties be- 

 long to our company. 



There is an unbroken tract below, easily 

 protected, streams running through it, abso- 

 lutely barren, and affording the best oppor- 

 tunity on the whole burn to replant. When 

 operations do start on this section we will un- 

 doubtedly start right there, and we hope to 

 take that up. If this part in here had not been 

 repeatedly run over by the fires we would 

 have had one of the best regenerated pieces 

 anywhere from one to twenty years old, 

 worth a half a million dollars at least, prob- 



ably more. Our company owns one-half of it, 

 and we are going to hold it, for we have faith 

 in the fact that in time we can replant it and 

 produce a forest. It goes to show what the 

 result is when absolutely no protection is 

 given after lumbering is carried on, to have the 

 results attained in some places. 



MINNESOTA'S SYSTEM. 



Gen. C. C. Andrews, Forester of That State, 

 Explains It. 



Gen. C. C. Andrews, state forester of Minne- 

 sota, who was next introduced, said: I trust 

 that the delegates at this convention can unite 

 upon one or two propositions to lay before the 

 country on this forestry question. When we 

 speak of these four states we have mentioned 

 the great pine producing part of the north- 

 west, and if this conference will unite upon 

 one. two or three propositions to lay before 

 the country, and especially before our respect- 

 ive states, I think it ought to make an import- 

 ant impression. That is the reason that I 

 have come this distance to attend this confer- 

 ence. 



We have been discussing forestry for a great 

 many years. My friend Dr. Fernow and I 

 were colleagues in a convention 35 years ago. 

 There is a strong public sentiment in the coun- 

 try in favor of it, and we must agree upon 

 some proposition that the legislature will 

 adopt or the constitutional convention will 

 adopt. If we can unite on two or three propo- 

 sitions we have accomplished a great deal. 



Now, regarding the fire warden system in 

 Minnesota for the prevention of fires, of course 

 it is a great thing in forestry to prevent fires. 

 If you have fires you can't have forests. The 

 damage in Prussia I don't suppose amounts to 

 more than $20,000 a year. The people of that 

 country have had it impressed upon them from 

 infancy that they must not set a fire in the 

 woods. I don't know as we ever would have 

 had laws in Minnesota against forest fires if it 

 hadn't been for the great calamity of the fire 

 in September. 1894. On the first of Septem- 

 ber, 1894. it having been dry for several weeks, 

 a gale of wind having arisen, a fire occurred 60 

 or 70 miles north of the city of St. Paul, and 

 in that fire 418 people perished. Much damage 

 was done to the timber. It was traced up and 

 found that the fire had been caused by some 

 railroad section men. On account of forestry 

 laws having been passed as a consequence, 

 those lives were not sacrificed in vain. The 

 forestry system will be a greater monument 

 to those people than the best monument built 

 of marble or bronze. 



State Pays the Warden. 



In 1895 we had a convention at St. Paul to 

 take up the discussion. My friend Green sat 

 in front of me. It was a very intelligent meet- 

 ing, and it was the sentiment that the legisla- 

 ture should pass an act to prevent forest fires. 

 We were in ignorance as to what kind of a bill 

 to pass. We found that the state of New York 

 had passed a law making the town supervisor 

 fire warden, and that the count}' should pay 

 him; that the supervisor should be paid $2 for 

 not to exceed ten days a year, and the persons 

 who were called to help put out the fire were 

 paid $1.50 a day for not to exceed five days in 

 the year. We found two or three counties 

 wouldn't pay. So we finally had the law 

 amended, and provided that the state should 

 pay one-third and the county should pay two- 

 thirds; and afterward amended the law so that 

 it provided that the state should pay two- 

 thirds and the county one-third. We thought 

 that would help, but it didn't very much. Then 

 we changed it so that the state should pay 

 those wardens and the men who helped fight 

 ever services they render, without limit. 



I can say that with our twelve years' experi- 

 ence, and we have had some dry seasons, the 

 average damage by forest fires in the state of 

 Minnesota, according to reports of the warden, 

 has amounted to no more than $52,000 annu- 

 the fire should be paid by the county in which 



