MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



11 



to the circumstances of such sales. Of these 

 men and their methods the report says: 



"Concerning our qualifications, we wish to 

 state the following: I, O. Perry Burgess, 333 

 West Eleventh street, Traverse City, Mich., 

 am 43 years of age, born in Mecosta county, 

 Mich., and at present a practical timber cruiser 

 and have been a resident of the state all my 

 life. From my fifteenth year I have been 

 variously employed as sealer and estimator 

 and in other capacities connected with the 

 manufacture of timber up to the present day, 

 except for a single interruption of eight years, 

 when I was engaged in railroading. During 

 the last seven years I have been continuously 

 engaged in cruising and land looking, and 

 to some extent in the buying and selling of 

 lands and timber. 



"I, George Wilson, address Cheboygan, 

 Mich., 60 years of age, have been a resident 

 of Michigan continuously since 1861. I was 

 engaged as land cruiser from 1867 on. The 

 greater part of this time I have been engaged 

 in the survey of lands, estimating or cruising 

 of timber, which has been my occupation ex- 

 clusively for the past fifteen years. 



"On October 1 we received the following 

 instructions, which have formed the basis of 

 our operations throughout: 



" 'You are hereby instructed to examine 

 such bodies of land as will be listed to you 

 from time to time in the following manner: 



"'1. The estimating is to be done in a 

 thorough manner by going through each 40 

 at least along two lines, noticing the standing 

 timber in the usual manner. 



" '2. Be perfectly sure of your lines and 

 do not take any hearsay for facts. 



" '3. Determine by careful inquiry the prices 

 of material (a) on the stump, (b) at stream 

 or railway, and thus ascertain as carefully 

 as possible the real stumpage value of the 

 timber. 



" '4. Ascertain the character of the land 

 and note the same, together with is real value, 

 independent of the timber, in accordance with 

 the blank form of report with which you are 

 supplied.' 



Followed the Records. 



"On receiving from you the lists which were 

 furnished by the state land office, showing 

 the sales of tax homestead lands and home- 

 stead entries, we went to the county court 

 house of the particular county and verified, 

 first the transfer from the state. We then 

 followed the records of the several transac- 

 tions for any particular piece of land from 

 the date of transfer by the state to the time 

 of our investigation. After the examination 

 of these records, and gathering other perti- 

 nent information concerning such tracts, we 

 proceeded to make an investigation on the 

 ground. In every case reported herewith 

 where such information is given, such an in- 

 vestigation of the land was made in faithful 

 agreement with your instructions. In those 

 cases where the timber was still standing, the 

 work for any given description consisted of 

 an estimate of the timber and such examination 

 of the soil as was feasible under the circum- 

 stances. Where the timber had been removed, 

 the examination consisted of a careful count 

 of the stumps, noting their kinds and sizes 

 and judging therefrom the amount of timber 

 removed, according to the methods usually 

 pursued in such cases. After finishing the 

 examination on the ground in the manner 

 above outlined, inquiry was made until the 

 facts concerning the time of removal and the 

 name of the person. who cut the timber were 

 ascertained. In every ca?e the value of the 

 timber on the stump and in various conditions 

 of manufacture was ascertained. In a num- 

 ber of cases reported herewith, the lumber- 

 ing of the timber was still under way, so that 

 we had an opportunity actually to scale and 

 count all or portions of the materials re- 

 moved. 



"In all cases where further transfers of land 

 or timber occurred an attempt was made to 



ascertain the prices actually paid the several 

 purchasers. In the cases where the value of 

 the land without timber was given in the re- 

 port, such land values are based on the re- 

 ports of numerous transactions or the ordi- 

 nary sale value of the land in the district. 



"We wish further to state that the forest 

 growth as estimated shows only the merchant- 

 able timber, and in no case have we taken 

 into consideration any timber not having a 

 commercial value at the time our estimate was 

 made. 



"In all cases the estimates are conservative." 



With these facts in mind, the findings of 

 the investigators are of particular significance. 



In relation to the "ridiculous" appraisals, 

 the report charges that only a small portion 

 of the land so valued by the state's appraisers 

 is ever personally investigated by the apprais- 

 ers, who are said to base their estimates on 

 the supervisors' assessment rolls. Lower fig- 

 ures even than the supervisors are often said 

 to be set down as the basic value of lands 

 to be sold. 



Figures Tell the Tale. 



The following table shows a portion of the 

 losses which the state is said to have suffered 

 at the hands of the land office: 



H 

 o 



_ 



-. = -". 

 n o . = : 



3 



o 2 < 



r > 



rt 



P 



a> ta 



h-> _CO _W _tO *. O. j 3 



" ~ "ci "o ~o "*-. ~ao zr 



c* n 



-; 



- ,_] 



co -a ot *. H- t 3 



i ~ -. u- . ;: ; 



~ 



-69 t" 1 

 . u (A o 



OOO " 



V - M 

 -a - 



*!- 1 * O 



Furthermore, the investigators report, in 

 connection with the work of the state's ap- 

 praisers, that: "The northeast fractional quar- 

 ter of section 1, town 3S-3w, Cheboygan 

 county, was owned by Merrit Chandler, dele- 

 q^te to the constitutional convention from 

 Onaway. Presque Isle county. He did nol 

 pay his taxes for fifteen or sixteen years, and 

 when the state land office appraised this de- 

 scription our examiner was informed, Mr. 

 Chandler was with him (the appraiser), and 

 drove him around through that part of the 



:ountry where his lands were situated and 

 jat (Chandler) purchased the descriptions he 

 desired when these lands were offered for 

 ale. 



"We find that these lands were valued by 

 the appraiser at $1.35 per acre, and the state 

 land office reports that they were sold to him 

 at private sale at this figure. There is stand- 

 ing on this quarter section 500,000 feet of 

 poplar, tamarack and white birch, together 

 with 1,000 cords of four-foot wood, having a 

 total value of $2,300, and the land is worth 

 $6 per acre independent of the timber, making 

 a total value of $3,260, which the state ap- 

 praiser has called worth $200." 



More Queer Deals. 



The report continues: "Mr. Chandler also 

 bought of the state 62.55 acres in 39-3w for 

 $121.95. This fraction was also originally 

 iwned by Mr. Chandler. Mr. James Fitzgerald' 

 who joins this fraction on the south, states 

 that he made application for its purchase at 

 the proper time, but was told that it had 

 been sold. 



"In connection with the sales in Cheboygan 

 county, a peculiar condition presents itself. In- 

 quiry in Cheboygan county first brought out 

 the information that the first public sale was 

 advertised for September 29, 1904. Repeated 

 inquiries seemed to confirm this, until the 

 state land office was asked to fix the date on 

 which the first public land sale took place. We 

 were then informed that the first public sale 

 of tax lands in Cheboygan county had taken 

 place September 8, 1904. The Cheboygan Trib- 

 une, whose manager furnished Mr. Burgess 

 with a copy of what he then said was the 

 first public sale advertised, stated to them 

 (Burgess and Wilson) that no lands had been 

 advertised for sale on September 8, 1904, and 

 showed them their books of entry to confirm 

 this. 



"From the lists furnished by the land office 

 it was ascertained that the private land sales 

 outnumbered the public sales as 4.2 to 1. This 

 is easily explained if the procedure at the sale 

 of June 25, 1908, when the lands in Charle- 

 voix county, sold at public auction at Lansing, 

 may be taken as an example of the methods 

 usually followed. When the sale opened, Mr. 

 Havens, chief clerk under Mr. Rose, stated 

 that the lands were to be sold at public auc- 

 tion, that the state's appraised valuation would 

 not be given, and that only such land as where 

 the bid equaled or exceeded this appraisal 

 would be sold. He added that on the mor- 

 row such lands as were not disposed of at 

 the public sale could be purchased at private 

 sale, and that the state's appraisal of them 

 would then be known, and that the lands 

 would be disposed of at this figure to such 

 as desired them. 



"It naturally follows that only such lands 

 as were bid for by others would be taken 

 up at the public sale, because the same lands 

 could probably be bought cheaper the follow- 

 ing day, whereas at the public auction the 

 price would have been at least equal to the 

 appraised value, and an offer might be made 

 which was above this and which would then 

 of course be accepted." 



Activity of State Officials. 



Of the activity of state and county officials 

 as agents for purchasers of state lands, the 

 investigators report: "Further, we found the 

 state and county officials acting as agents for 

 lumber dep'ers. and such a case is set forth 

 in the fo'low'n^ agreement, made between 

 William F. Johnson, the probate judge of Ros- 

 common and Rsmus Hanson, of Grayling: 



"MnTh 7. 100S. For a valuable considera- 



tinn '^' $4in, to rn<> in hsnd paid by Rasmus 



Hin 3ii of r.rgy 1 --" Mich., the receipt of 



which is herebv mrf^ ced and acknowledged, 



T he">Jv Trr' f>^rn- ? ; tl an d sell in and to 



.the Irr '- * : n-**ct- Ascribed under certain 



I Vi-"-fra : n ^torpH : r.r> Sy myself and Rasmus 



| Hansci" under purchase from the state of 



M : <:r-.- o wit: X X X X. Signed, William 



