MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



AUXILIARY WORK 



IN FORESTRY COURSE 



A plan for auxiliary work in connection with 

 the forestry course at the Michigan Agricultu- 

 ral College, which has recently been evolved 

 by Prcf. J. Fred Baker, will enable the students 

 in that department to secure a more thorough 

 and practical knowledge of the subject than 

 ever before. The plan is to require the stu- 

 dents to take the summer school work in for- 

 and surveying at the end of the sopho- 

 more year, and during the next summer have 

 them work on the forest reserves of the west. 

 The original plan was to require the students 

 to take two courses in summer school, but it is 

 considered that three months of practical work 

 in the big woods of the west will be worth 

 more to the young foresters than the four 

 weeks of summer school. 



The past summer four forestry students 

 went to Montana and worked on one of the 

 large reserves located in that state. They are 

 J. Conley DeCamp of Lansing, Chester S. 

 Wagner of Port Huron, Roy S. Wheeler of 

 Athens, and Irving Gilson of Deerfield. These 

 young men are paid $75 a month and their 

 work consists of patrolling the forest on the 

 lookout for fires and other various duties such 

 ill give them an insight into the life of 

 the forester. These summer positions are se- 

 cured through the efforts of the forestry de- 

 partment at the Michigan Agricultural College. 

 A large number are planning to go west next 

 summer than went this year and it is likely 

 that this work will become a feature of the 

 forestry course at the college. The advan- 

 tages are that the student becomes familiar 

 with the forest service work and can soon de- 

 cide whether he will like the forester's work 

 and he will also become acquainted with some 

 of the big men of the United States forest 

 service, whose recommendations are valuable 

 in securing positions. The four young men 

 who were in the west are now back in college. 



The summer school, the first term of which 

 was given this summer, was a grand success 

 and its permanent '.red. Twenty stu- 



dents attended the course this summer and it 

 was entirely at their own option. Hereafter. 

 planned to make the summer school com- 

 pulsory. If possible, it will be held on some 

 of the "lumber lands of the northern part of the 

 state. 



The high standing that the forestry course 

 at the college has all over the country was 

 made apparent this week, when Robert E. 

 Dickson. of East Lansing, received word from 

 Dr. Henry Solon Graves, head of the forestry 

 department at Yale and one of the foremost 

 men in forestry in America, that he might en- 

 ter the post graduate work in forestry at Yale 

 and receive the master of science degree after 

 one year's work. Heretofore, the Yale 

 authorities have required that the graduates of 

 other schools put in two years' work in order 

 to get the higher degree, and Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College is the first institution to be 

 given this honorary privilege. Mr. Dickson 

 did good work in his course at the college and 

 should have little trouble in obtaining his de- 

 gree from Yale next spring. He is the first 

 forestry student since the department has been 

 organized as a separate department to seek a 

 higher degree in an eastern institution. 



Edward P. Bushnell, of Bronson, a senior in 

 the forestry department, has been working in 

 Utah this summer, getting considerable expe- 

 rience in forestry work. He will go into for- 

 estry real estate when he graduates at Michi- 

 gan Agricultural College. 



Brockway Hill, Grand Traverse County. 



Courtesy of Grand Rapids Daily Eagle. 



DAY OF BIG LUMBER 



CAMP IS PASSING 



"The day of the big lumber camp, such as 

 we used to have in this region from fifteen to 

 twenty-five years ago, is rapidly passing," 

 says a prominent upper peninsula lumberman. 

 "Groups of the big camps, in each of which 

 are housed from 75 to 100 men, are now few 

 and far between in the upper peninsula- I 

 remember the time when such camps were nu- 

 merous not far from principal cities, but of 

 late years there are not many people who 

 have a correct idea of how the 'lumberjacks' 

 live and how they conduct their operations. 



"The methods of removing the timber from 

 the forests have been simplified in recent years 

 by the introduction of larger and more modern 

 sawing equipment than was available a few 

 years ago, also by the introduction of motor 

 power sledges. The sprinklers used in mak- 

 ing ice roads have also aided in reducing the 

 if getting out the timber. Some 20 or 

 30 years ago the lumbermen could not con- 

 duct their operations to the best advantage 

 unless there was from one to three feet of 

 snow on the ground, but now the less snow 

 there is the better they like it. 



"I do not believe the present generation will 

 see the time when there will be no more tim- 

 ber left in the upper peninsula, as there is still 

 a great quantity standing, but most of it is 

 distant from the railroads and streams. As 

 the years pass, the number of men employed 

 in the lumber camps is gradually decreasing, 

 but I believe there will be work for as many 

 men as are now employed for some years to 

 come. Few of the larger cities of the upper 

 peninsula where the lumberjacks formerly 

 made their headquarters will in future years 

 receive any material benefit from the timber 

 operations, as the work is being conducted at 

 too great a distance from them. 



"About the best camps I know of at this 

 time are those owned by the I. Stephenson 

 Company south of Marquette, between Wells 

 and Channing. The company has been work- 

 ing between 100 and 200 men all summer and 

 its present force is probably over 200. Camp 

 Xo. 10, erected some 14 years ago, is a model, 

 and the company has kept it in fine condi- 

 tion. The spur of the company's railroad, 

 which extends between Wells and Channing, 

 was recently extended to section 8, town 45, 

 range 20. near these camps, so that the haul to 

 the loading station is considerably reduced. 



The company has some fine timber there and 

 it is at present cutting principally pine. Log- 

 ging operations are now in full swing and the 

 company will get cut many million feet of 

 timber between now and spring." 



FORTUNE IN TIMBER EVERY YEAR 



T. R. Easterday, of Sault Ste. Marie, county 

 commissioner of schools of Chippewa county: 

 "The people of Chippewa county, as a rule, 

 do not fully appreciate the amount of lumber- 

 ing that is still going on in the country tribu- 

 tary to the Soo. For instance, during a visit 

 to Emerson I found the big mill of Ches- 

 brough Bros, had so far this season shipped 

 out 16,000,000 feet of lumber. The gang saw 

 has been shut down for the season, but the 

 two band says will be kept in operation for 

 six weeks yet, giving employment to about 

 fifty men. There is timber enough left tribu- 

 tary to Emerson to keep the mill in operation 

 for the next ten years. The Chesbroughs 

 bought the timber lands at a time when the 

 prices were cheap and as a consequence are 

 cleaning up a fortune every year. I predict 

 that when the lands will have been lumbered 

 they will still be forth for agricultural pur- 

 poses as much as their original cost and can 

 be easily disposed of. The Chesbroughs have 

 made a practical demonstration of the worth 

 of these lands by clearing a fine farm, of which 

 there is no better in the county. I saw grow- 

 ing there as fine vegetables, corn, etc., as I 

 have seen anywhere, and I have traveled over 

 the county from one end to the other." 



NEW LUMBER CONCERN. 

 Articles of association of the South Side 

 Company have been filed at Traverse City. The 

 purpose of the corporation is the manufacture 

 and sale at wholesale and retail of lumber, lath, 

 shingles, etc., the operating of saw mills and 

 planing mills, the manufacture of the sill, sash, 

 doors and blinds, etc., the owning, purchase 

 and sale of other timber lands, etc., as far as 

 needed in its business. The principal place at 

 which operations are to be conducted is Trav- 

 erse City. The capital stock is $50,000. The 

 amount of capital stock subscribed and actually' 

 paid in is $50,000. Term of existence is 30 

 years. The incorporators are Will E. Parr, 

 Margaret G. Vivian, Robert Duncan, Walter X. 

 Kelly and George E. Nichols. 



