MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



HUGE GROVE OF 



GIANT TREES FOUND. 



Some lumbermen, searching for new timber 

 worlds to conquer and to decimate, have fallen 

 upon a discovery which will kindle the soul 

 of every one who loves nature in its sublime 

 manifestations. To the thousand and one won- 

 ders of the state of California has been added 

 a new grove of giant trees, numbering at least 

 15,000. 



News of this wonderful new forest of Se- 

 quoia Gigantea recently came to officials of 

 the Southern Pacific road, who immediately 

 sent men into the Redwood canyon of Tulare 

 county to ascertain the facts. They have re- 

 turned with the information that the great 

 forest of Redwood mountain, 6,000 feet high, 

 exceeds in area all other forests of big trees; 

 that its trees rival in size, height and beauty 

 even the famous Mariposa grove, and th:.t its 

 wonders are infinite and awe inspir 



Before the news of this discovery was made 

 public the officials of the Southern Pacific 

 road took immediate steps to try to have the 

 grove set apart as a national park. The facts, 

 so far as known, have already been placed 

 before the president of the United States, who 

 is said to be in hearty sympathy with the 

 effort which is being made to preserve the 

 mammoth trees of California from the ax of 

 the woodman. It seems almost incredible that 

 such a forest of trees, averaging almo- 

 feet in height, with thousands of trees more 

 than 300 feet in height, and varying from 100 

 or more feet to 20 or 30 feet in diameter at 

 the base, could have remained all these years 

 hidden and undiscovered in a civilized state, 

 but it must be remembered that California 

 has a single county that of Frenso which is 

 so great that it has never been thoroughly 

 explored. 



So recent is the discovery of the new grove, 

 which has at least five times the number of 

 giant trees possessed by the next largest 

 known grove, that very few accurate meas- 

 urements or comparisons have been made. 

 The Mariposa grove, so-called because it is 

 situated in Mariposa county, and which is the 

 most famous of all the groves, contains what 

 are termed the upper and lower groves. In 

 one there are 360 giant trees and in the other 

 there are 259. Each grove is an imposing and 

 stupendous spectacle. In the new grove there 

 are estimated to be at least 15,000 trees which 

 are of sufficient size to be termed giant trees. 



The trees of the new grove, according to 

 the description furnished by R. H. Gallagher, 

 one of the men whom the Southern Pacific 

 sent to make investigations, lack the project- 

 ing roots of the trees in the Mariposa and 

 other groves, and are more symmetrical, more 

 perfect in form and are scarcely touched by 

 forest fires, which have so scarred the other 

 groves. The men who were sent out to make 

 an investigation returned with some old lum- 

 bermen who were found in the wo~*ds with 

 J. Mann, who was born and raised in the 

 Calaveras grove. They were almost speech- 

 less with admiration. The intoxication and 

 spell which the majesty, grandeur and beauty 

 of the great trees had cast upon them was 

 still potent. 



They insisted that the wreath of antiquity 

 had been torn from the "grizzly giant" of the 

 Mariposa forest, that the prestige of the 

 '"fallen monarch" of the same grove had van- 

 ished when they looked upon the new "Her- 

 cules" of the new grove. The ''grizzly giant." 

 the oldest living thing in the world, which 

 had lived and battled with the elements and 

 fought death for nearly 6.000 years before 

 Cheops and his army of 100,000 began 

 thirty years' task of building the great pyra- 

 mid, the "grizzly giant." with its base girth of 

 104 feet, with its remaining height of 224 feet, 

 with its giant limb 100 feet from the earth 

 and nearly 21 feet in circumference, the grizzly 

 giant, with its 100,000 feet of lumber, will 

 have to take a back seat if the report of the 



men be true. In the new forest there is a 

 single" tree, which, exclusive of its limbs, de- 

 clare the expi iins nearly 100,000 feet 

 of lumber, whose girth rivals the giant's and 

 whose height towers above the giant more 

 than 100 : 



The "Fallen Monarch" of the Mariposa 

 grove, which rests by the roadside, refused 

 to decay through the thousands of years since 

 th"e mountain blasts and the weight of the 

 mountain snows conquered it, must also bow, 

 it is claimed, to the hugeness of another fallen 

 monarch. The latter has been named "Her- 

 cules." And yet the "Fallen Monarch" 

 stretches 300 feet by the roadway, is 26 feet 

 in diameter, and upon its prostrate body an 

 entire troup of United States cavalry was pho- 

 tographed, and over its entire length a six- 

 horst stagecoach loaded with people was 

 driven to the very roots. 



Unlike the trees in the other big tree groves, 

 those of the new grove stand closely together, 

 none having ever been cut. That such a for- 

 est should ever be despoiled is a thought al- 

 most unendurable to those who have had the 

 good fortune to visit one of the big tree groves 

 of this state. These great sentinels of the 

 mountains have been standing, some of them, 

 probably 8,000 or 9,000 years, defying time 

 itself, practically indestructible, many of them 

 fighting a grim battle with death and with 

 fire for centuries, but refusing to bow their 

 majestic heads in defeat. 



TIMBER PRESERVATION. 



Hon. YVm. B. Mershon, of Saginaw, treas- 

 urer of the Michigan Forestry Asociation, in a 

 brief talk on 'the growing interest in the for- 

 e-try question, said: "Lumbermen seem to be 

 waking up in all parts of the country to the 

 necessity for the passage of laws that are very 

 rigid and drastic for the prevention of forest 

 fires and the protection of forest property. At 

 Albany. N. Y., recently was held a conference 

 of forty representatives of big lumber com- 

 panies, private camp owners, and the state for- 

 est, fish and game commissioner, and they de- 

 termined to ask the legislature to pass laws 

 empowering the governor to suspend the hunt- 

 ing and fishing season in case of emergency, 

 to prevent the careless starting of forest fires 

 in a dry season, licensing of guides, register- 

 ing of tourists and the making of such records 

 ns will aid in determining the cause of forest 

 fires rnd the punishment of their authors. 



"Timber owners and lumbermen of Michi- 

 gan, it seems to me, should get together, and 

 have an understanding as to how far we can 

 and will go in our demands for better protec- 

 tion of forest property. The sportsmen also 

 ought to get together. If the public domain 

 commission is established in accordance with 

 the bill recommended by the special commis- 

 sion of inquiry, then the game warden depart- 

 ment surely will be out of politics and handled 

 by this committee consisting of five non-parti- 

 san ard unsalaried men. A gun license should 

 bring in a revenue to the state of over $100,000 

 annually. Supplementing this with a non-resi- 

 dent l-'cense. and a good fund would be estab- 

 lished whereby something could be done to 

 prevent the extermination of the wild fowl and 

 forest life." 



Association lost only 45,000 feet of timber by 

 fire during the year. 



The Potlatch Timber Association contains 

 > acres of timbered lands. Total cost 

 of patrolling, $9,738.36; cost per acre, .0309 

 cents. The total loss in this district is repre- 

 sented by 60,000 feet. 



The Pend Oreille Timber Protective Asso- 

 ciation contains 303,173 acres of timbered 

 lands. Total cost of patrolling, $8,741.01; cost 

 per acre, .02882 cents. The loss in the dis- 

 trict is given at 10,000 feet. 



The average cost to the state and timber 

 holders, according to the land commissioner's 

 report, in the entire territory covered by all 

 three of these associations was 2 2-3 cents 

 per acre. 



OPERATING A MODEL CAMP. 



A mile and a half north of Quick is being con- 

 structed one of the largest camps east of Gay- 

 lord. In fact a regular village is being made 

 put of the forests. The conditions are such that 

 it will require a long time to get the timber 

 out, but there is a large amount of timber which 

 is to be taken out of this section. 



Derk Scheuer, who is one of the best known 

 of the timber jobbers in the northern part of the 

 state, has taken a contract from the Batchelor 

 Lumber Company to get out this timber for them. 

 In the territory is a tract of seven thousand acres 

 which is owned by this company and it will take 

 Contractor Scheuer some time to complete the 

 task. That is why the work is being so system- 

 atically and carefully begun. 



The work of constructing the large camp was 

 begun some weeks ago and is now near comple- 

 tion. Large buildings have been constructed to 

 accommodate the camp workers a store building 

 has been erected and a number of dwellings have 

 been put up to take care of the camp men who 

 have families. Aside from these there have been 

 numerous other buildings erected for the care of 

 horses and the other camp equipment 



The new camp is a model in every respect. 

 About the new camp is a scene of the greatest 

 activity. It is different from the old woodsman's 

 view of things for progress has entered largely 

 into the construction of the new camps. In place 

 of drawing water by wagon load or pumping it 

 by hand, a gasoline engine has been installed 

 and everything has been do_ne possible to make 

 the camp as sanitary as possible. 



For the present about seventv-five men will 

 be employed at the camp, but this force will be 

 largely increased as soon as the demand makes 

 it a necessity. It is expected that the very best 

 class of woodsmen will avail themselves of the 

 opportunity to gain employment in these camps 

 as they are new and the work there is said to be 

 of the most desirable sort. 



FORESTRY NOTES. 



An old landmark walnut tree upon the A. M. 

 Brown place, which was recently cut down, 

 was converted into lumber at the Strew saw 

 mill. In sawing one of the logs. 30 feet from 

 the butt, nails were struck. The nails which 

 were of the old hand-made variety were im- 

 bedded in the tree six or eight inches from the 

 surface, and had been driven into the tree 

 probably half a century ago. Schoolcraft Ex- 

 press. 



FIRE PATROL COSTS LITTLE. 

 The Timber Fire Protective Associations of 

 northern Idaho are doing a splendid work 

 at a very small cost. 



Under provisions of the laws of Idaho the 

 timber companies, individuals and the state, 

 jointly, through the several associations into 

 ion is divided, maintain organi- 

 ns. hire' men, build trails, establish and 

 provi- -ons and cabins to keep up pa- 



a;uard against fires, each contribut- 

 ing to the expenses in proportion to the num- 

 ber of acres each has in the district. 



The Clearwater Fire Protective Associa- 



rict contained last year 288.796 acres 



of timber lands. The total cost of patrolling 



was $7,127.69, or .0249 cents per acre. The 



J. H. Prout, of Howard City, is a tree lover. 

 He has a fine lot of maple trees in front of 

 his residence. They shaded the house too 

 much, but Mr. Prouf would not destroy them. 

 Instead he enlisted the services of William A. 

 Brown, who moved the entire number of trees 

 and re-plated them further away from the 

 house. It cost Mr. Prout a pretty penny to 

 move the trees, but it was worth it. 



The new band saw mill built by R. Han- 

 son & Sons, at Tower, about three-quarters 

 of a mile out of Grayling, has begun sawing 

 lumber. Frank Buell, who has had some ex- 

 perience in lumbering, says it is one of the 

 most complete and up-to-date mills in the 

 business. It was designed to manufacture 

 lumber at the lowest possible cost. It has a 

 capacity of about 40,000 feet daily. 



