MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



11 



improvements made during the present gen- 

 eration or until a crop of trees could be 

 grown. 



As an example of the practical workings of 

 the present method, he cited Clare county, 

 where $20,000 had been returned to the county 

 and the state had received $7.000. Hundreds 

 of small owners had also been brought into 

 the county. 



Mr. Powers said that he was not opposed to 

 forestry, as he believed it an excellent thing, 

 but he believed that general reforestation 

 would result in injury. In Roscommon coun- 

 ty, when an attempt was made to turn the 

 *tate lands into forests, the residents almost 

 mobbed the surveyors. 



K. L. Sprague said that he agreed with Mr. 

 Powers, but thought that a price for all the 

 lands that could be used should be fixed. Ik 

 believed that the railroads should reforest all 

 their lands and thought that locusts should be 

 planted as in sixteen years the trees had ma- 

 tured enough for railroad ties. 



Thomas T. Bates said he was heartily in 

 favor of the sale of state lands and he didnH 

 believe there was an acre of land that couldn't 

 be made productive, water being all that was 

 needed. At any rate, said Mr. Bates, at least 

 one-quarter of the so-called waste land could be 

 profitably farmed. The constantly increasing 

 foreign elements could work these lands as a 

 Yankee would not. Mr. Bates would have the 

 value placed not so low that the lands would 

 be bought for speculation. 



TAMARACK'S TIMBER DEAL. 



Explaining the action of the Tamarack direc- 

 tors in authorizing the sale of 5,906 acres of tim- 

 ber land to D. J. Norton of Ontonagon, Presi- 

 dent Bigelow says : 



"Owing to the exhaustion of the pine timbei 

 of the upper peninsula, all of the mining com- 

 panies have had to come to the use very largely 

 of hemlock as a substitute. At the. present time 

 there are very large areas of" hemlock timber 

 which can be obtained at a reasonable price. The 

 company purchased in 1903 a tract of such land 

 consisting of 5.006 acres, containing hemlock and 

 hardwood timber, such as maple, birch, etc., lo- 

 cated near the village of Ontonagon. The com- 

 pany purchased it for the hemlock timber on it, 

 expecting to sell the hardwood timber to the 

 various- mills as it was cut. One of the lumber 

 companies which is operating in the vicinity of 

 this tract of land found that it could use the par- 

 ticular kinds of hardwood upon it to very great 

 advantage, owing to its proximity to its present 

 operations, and it offered us. therefore, a price 

 for the whole tract very much in excess of the 

 price we paid. The land has cost us to date 

 with interest, etc., about $85,000, and we are sell- 

 ing it for about $120,000. It is the intention to 

 invest the proceeds of this sale in other lands 

 containing hemlock timber. It is not the inten- 

 tion of this company to sell any of its present 

 timber lands containing pine, as these lands can 

 probably not be replaced." 



The final details have been perfected and 

 the Tamarack tract of 5,960 acres of timber 

 land has passed into the hands of the Ontona- 

 gon Lumber & Cedar Company. It lies be- 

 tween the Greenland road and Flintsteel river 

 and is in close proximity to the village of On- 

 tonagon. The timber will be handled by rail 

 and logging operations are to be started the 

 coming season. 



The closing of this deal mans a great deal 

 for Ontonagon. In addition to furnishing em- 

 ployment for 150 or 200 men in doing the log- 

 ging for several years it will enable the com- 

 pany to operate its mill considerably longer 

 each season on account of its being a -railroad 

 proposition. 



The tapping of that locality with a railroad 

 will make Ontonagon the outlet for not only 

 this tract but others in that region. It is prob- 

 able that arrangements will be made with the 

 St. .Paul for making the necessary extension 

 of its. tracks. 



A Pine Tree Nursery. 



Forestry Legislation. 



The Michigan Forestry Association is urging 

 the adoption of five bills which have been in- 

 troduced into the legislature. They are: 



1. The Forest Fire and Game Warden Bill. 

 This bill extends the duties o'f the present 

 game warden to the protection of the remain- 

 ing forests and the cut-over and waste lands 

 by extinguishing and preventing forest and 

 prairie fires. It increases his deputies to 

 twenty, authorizes the appointment of local 

 deputies, and, in case of emergency, to the 

 employment of rangers. It proposes the or- 

 ganization of a compltee machine to guard 

 against fires, not only for the preservation of 

 forests, village and farm property, but also all 

 growing timber and seedlings. And, also, to 

 protect growing timber from trespass. It sub- 

 stitutes the employes of the. forest fire and 

 game warden for all other state trespass 

 agents. 



2. The State Tax Land Bill, which proposes 

 to stop the wanton waste of money in the re- 

 peated sales of lands delinquent for taxes; 

 providing for one sale; then holding the land 

 live years for redemption; after that the aban- 

 doned lands are to be conveyed to and held 

 by the state. It permits sales of state tax 

 lands upon application, but at public sale, 

 after examination, at a minimum to be fixed 

 by commissioner of land office, but never at 

 less than live dollars per acre, for bare land. 

 It will allow the sale of good land, if there is 

 any fit for agriculture, at a fair price; and 

 prevent the sale of land, not fit for such, at a 

 price below its value for forest purposes. 



3. The Forestry Inquiry Commission. This 

 provides for the appointment by the governor 

 of a commission of, say, nine citizens, to make 

 a thorough investigation of the state land 

 problem, the taxation of forest land, and farm 

 woodlots, the action of other states in treat- 

 in the same matter, what the European coun- 

 tries are doing with the waste and cut-over 

 lands; if mistakes or abuses are found, what 

 remedies can be applied, tinder our conditions 

 in Michigan; to report to the next legislature, 

 with recommendations in all these matters, as 

 to what the state can and ought to do for the 

 best interests of all our citizens now and for 

 the future. 



(The house of representatives of the Michi- 

 gan legislature has passed the Watt bill, or- 

 ganizing a commission of nine members, to 

 work with the forestry commission on the 



waste lands question, to report refprestration 

 and redemption plans to the legislature of 

 1909.) 



4. The Agricultural College Forest Reserve. 

 To have the Agricultural College lands in 

 losco and Alcona counties withdrawn from 

 sale and made into a permanent forest reserve 

 for the use and benefit of the Agricultural 

 College. It would comprise about 40,000 acres 

 of land, more or les, only fit for forest, and in 

 a comparatively short time can be made to 

 yield an income for the college, whicTi will 

 grow each year, besides furnishing a splendid 

 school for training professional foresters. This 

 bill has passed both houses. 



5. A bill to provide for a state farm forester, 

 whose duties shall be to assist farmers and 

 others in the better care of their woodlots, 

 and to lecture to schools, farmers' clubs, 

 farmers' institutes, grange meetings, etc., and 

 to waken an interest in the farm woodlot in 

 all parts of the state. This measure has the 

 sanction of the master of the grange, Mr. Hor- 

 ton, and numerous prominent farmers in the 

 state. 



CONVEYS TIMBER LANDS. 



A deed bearing the signature of President 

 Arthur T. Hadley, of Yale university, convey- 

 ing lands from that institution to J. M. Long- 

 year, of Marquette, is making the rounds of 

 the offices of various registers of deeds in Up- 

 per Michigan for the purpose of being in- 

 scribed in the record. The document conveys 

 title to several thousand acres located in Del- 

 ta, Chippewa, Alger, Marquette, Keweenaw, 

 I'.araga, Iron, Houghton, Ontonagon and Go- 

 gebic counties. The lands were deeded to Yale 

 by the late William Lampson, of LeRoy, N. 

 Y., who in his will provided that all his prop- 

 erty set aside from a few personal bequests 

 should be given to his alma mater and dis- 

 posed of as seen fit by that institution. The 

 will provided that $150,000 of the estate should 

 be used in constructing a building to be known 

 as "Lampson Lyceum," and that the money 

 derived from the sale of lands owned by him 

 in Upper Michigan and elsewhere should con- 

 stitute the "Lampson fund" for the endow- 

 ment of professorships in Latin, Greek and 

 English, each chair to be endowed with an an- 

 nual income of $4,000. The deed covers nearly 

 fifty typewritten pages. 



