MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



11 



NEW ERA IN MICHIGAN. 



but the owners of such property have agreed 

 to co-operate with the state in the work. H. 

 Clay Pierce, the St. Louis magnate, owns 

 ] 1,000 acres near the headwaters, and he has 

 there one of the finest game preserves in the 

 entire country. While he will not turn this 

 land over to the state it will be in effect a 

 part of the great park. 



.Much of the land is being transferred to the 

 state free of charge with the condition that 

 if it is used for any other than park purposes 

 it shall revert to the owner. In some cases 

 the state is buying outright and will have such 

 ciintrol in all cases as long as it is used for 

 a forest reserve and park only. 



State Forester Griffith intends to have the 

 woods underbrushed and fixed so that there 

 will be no danger of fire. The state commis- 

 sion will allow people, upon payment of a 

 nominal rent for the land, to build cottages 

 along the stream under certain conditions. 



The stream has been famous for years. 

 G rover Cleveland and Gen. Bragg fished it 

 together and helped to add to its fame. People 

 from Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and St. 

 Louis have clubhouses there now to say noth- 

 ing of the numerous cottages and resorts of 

 head of the lakes people. The river contains 

 untold water power in the rapids and falls, 

 but the state legislature has prohibited for- 

 ever the building of any dams there. 



"The Commission of Inquiry on Forestry 

 created by the last legislature of Michigan is 

 the most important step yet taken by Michi- 

 gan in the direction of making a provision for 

 future timber supplies," says Prof. Filibert 

 Roth. "For years the controversy has been 

 going on, and the only answer made to the 

 clamor for forestry was: 'Well, our lands 

 are all farm lands, they will be settled and 

 this matter will then adjust itself,' or, 'There 

 is no use of any policy and of any modifica- 

 tion of laws; this is merely the cry of a few 

 forestry cranks.' In this way every legislator 

 heard two sides and in every case mere asser- 

 tion. It is the duty of this new commission to 

 act as court, hear all sides, hear the evidence, 

 weigh it, report it and name the remedy. In 

 other words it is to decide: 



"Do we need forestry in our state? 



"Have we the lands and the conditions? 



"Is there any obstacle to forestry now? 



"How can we get forestry? 



"Should it be left to private effort, or 



"Should the state go ahead in the good ex- 

 ample? 



"It is to be expected that the commission 

 will make a very thorough study of the en- 

 tire situation, and also that it will not mince 

 matters when it comes to report. Let it be 

 a statement of the Rooseveltian type, clear 

 and strong so that our people may know what 

 there is to the question, and let the recom- 

 mendations be well based, but sufficiently 

 broad to lead to a remedy in keeping with 

 the trouble. And t''en, it is to be hoped that 

 the people will rise to the occasion and 

 evince their interest and assert their rights 

 in the property of the state and the lands 

 which need public attention. 



"The creation of this commission means a 

 new era in the history of Michigan. It means 

 a departure from our former methods and a 

 consideration of a policy concerning lands and 

 forests, which policy will affect the economic 

 development and the welfare of our state for 

 centuries to come." 



AS OTHERS SEE US. 



In 1905 Dr. Jentsch, one of the great for- 

 esters and authorities on forestry matters of 

 Europe, made an extended visit to the United 

 States. In writing of his trip he gives praise 

 to the skill and ingenuity of the American 

 woodworker; describes very intelligently our 

 present forest conditions; points out clearly 

 how utterly deficient are all our present ef- 

 forts to forestall a general timber and' wood 

 famine, the first pangs of which are felt to- 



Virgin Spruce with Dense Balsam Reproduction on Mount 



Jackson, New Hampshire (courtesy Forestry and 



Irrigation). 



day when we pay $15 and more per 1,000 

 feet for lumber that was practically cull a 

 few years ago. 



In summing up the situation he emphasizes 

 the fact and seems astonished that our states 

 should prefer to raise their income from 

 simple taxation when right in the matter of for- 

 estry there is such a fine chance for many 

 states to make a large part of their income 

 by an intelligent use of what is today prac- 

 tically waste land. 



In discussing the fact that there is today 

 practically nothing done by state, county or 

 town, to work for a sustained home-supply 

 of timber, he tries to give some reason for 

 this apparent anomaly, where an immensely 

 practical people utterly forget to make pro- 

 vision for a healthy and properly balanced 

 development, by ignoring one of the most 

 important resources. In doing so he cites the 

 poverty of state, county and town, as one of 

 the reasons. Then he states that he fears 

 that much of this error is due to the lack 

 of a real home feeling, lack of settled condi- 

 tions, lack of a state patriotism. That since 

 the American rarely dies where he is reared, 

 he lacks a real love for the locality in which 

 he lives, and is not willing to build up where 

 he may remain only for a few years. 



That he is mistaken, that the American in 

 Michigan has a very strong state patriotism 

 and even county patriotism is beyond question, 

 and is easily proven by the fact that our 

 citizens will endure tax rates that are truly 

 enormous, and still are ever ready to stand 

 for home rule in a county where all govern- 

 ment is really home rule. But it is interesting, 

 nevertheless, to note how a truly broad- 

 gauged man and a man of great experience, is 

 affected and impressed by our present in- 

 difference in the matter of caring for our 

 woods and utilizing our forest and waste 

 lands; and also, how clearly the timber famine 

 nrospcct looms up before a man of impartial 

 nidgment and of clear insight into the timber 

 business even on a very limited survey of our 

 situation. 



FILIBERT ROTH. 



2,000,000 FOR TIMBER LANDS. 



A Grand Rapids real estate dealer says: "I 

 believe that there has been at least $2,000,000 

 sent out of Grand Rapids within the past few 

 weeks by local financiers to invest in timber 

 lands in the south and west. A great deal of 

 money is now going out of this city to Wash- 

 ington and Oregon. Timber is king. The re- 

 mainder of the wealth to be made from tim- 

 ber is with us daily and the present generation 

 is going far from home to follow in the foot- 

 steps of their predecessors in the matter of 

 investment. 



"I could name a dozen of the big men of 

 the town who are incorporators of timber 

 companies organized to do business in the 

 southern and western states. And that is not 

 all. Not only have these men put up their 

 own big wads on timber, but they have organ- 

 ized companies to get in the small investors, 

 the men with from $1,000 to $5,000 to put up. 

 They promise big returns, and it is safe that 

 the investors will get them, but it takes a long 

 time to get returns from timber. A decade 

 means very little in a timber investment." 



BIG LUMBER COMPANY. 



The Yellow Fir Lumber Company has been 

 organized at Grand Rapids with a capital of 

 $1,600,000. The corporation is one of the 

 largest of its kind ever organized under the 

 laws of this state. At the election of officers 

 the following were chosen directors: W. H. 

 White, James A. White and Thomas White, 

 of Boyne City; Amos Musselman, Grand Rap- 

 ids; J. T. Wylie, Saginaw, and Salmer Curtis, 

 Petoskey. 



The stockholders are W. H. White, J. A. 

 White, Thomas White, Boyne City; G. M. 

 Burr, Manistee; E. G. Rust, of Elk Rapids; 

 Salmer Curtis, Petoskey; Amos Musselman, 

 J. T. Wylie, C. J. T. Voight, Grand Rapids; 

 W. D. Young, Bay City; W. O. King, of Chi- 

 cago, and F. S. Knowles, of Boyne City. 



The company has acquired title to a large 

 tract of yellow fir in Oregon and expects to 

 purchase more land soon. No operating plans 

 have yet been formed. 



