MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



Portland, Ore., with conspiracy to defraud 

 the government of part of the public domain. 

 Francis J. Heney made the opening address. 

 The famous prosecutor hewed close to the line 

 throughout his brief statement of the govern- 

 ment's case. He spoke calmly, only now ami 

 then waxing eloquent cr indulging in his 

 famed invective. 



"Gentlemen of the jury,' said he, "we expect 

 to prove that in 1901 it was known in Oregon 

 that timber speculators were taking advantage 

 of the creation of forest reserves by securing 

 advance information as to what land would be 

 included in the reserves, and by thereupon 

 procuring a large number of persons to make 

 applications for the school lands lying within 

 the reserve and convey the aforesaid school 

 lands to the speculators for small sums. 



"As early as July, 1901, the time at which 

 Binger Hermann became commissioner of the 

 General Land Office at Washington, Oregon 

 newspapers published sensational articles ex- 

 plaining these frauds. In September, 1901, the 

 commissioner of the General Land Office 

 called attention to these frauds in his report 

 nil the General Land Office. 



"In September, 1901, Binger Hermann was 

 in Portland, Ore., and there entered into a 

 conspiracy with Franklin Mays, W. N. Jone=. 

 and others to assist them in the creation of a 

 forest reserve in southeastern Oregon. May* 

 and Hermann met in the office of Henry Mel- 

 drum, United States surveyor general, and dis- 

 cussed the proposition in the presence of Mel- 

 drum. 



"Thereafter Hermann returned to Washing- 

 ton, and Mays and Jones, in accordance with 

 the suggestions made by Hermann, procured 

 petitions for the creation of the reserve." 



Mays and Jones have already been convict- 

 ed. Hermann would have been tried at the 

 same time with Mays and Jones but for the 

 fact that he 'had previously exacted a promise 

 from Mr. Heney that he would not be tried 

 in Oregon until he was first tried in Washing- 

 ton, under another indictment, in April, 1906, 

 when the San Francisco earthquake called Mr.- 

 Heney home. 



The above item is of especial interest at this 

 time. Binger Hermann, as will lie remem- 

 bered, was Ballinger's predecessor in the land 

 office under Secretary Hitchcock. And it was 

 during his regime that the rotteness of the 

 land office was first beginning to attract the 

 attention of the president and the people. 



LUMBER THIEVES IN KENT. 



Lumber thieves, working with a boldness sel- 

 dom equaled in Kent county, have been depleting 

 a woods owned by George Ludington, about five 

 miles from Grand Rapids. The operations of the 

 marauders always took place at night and a por- 

 table sawmill must have been used, as trees 10 

 and 20 inches in circumference were cut down 

 and removed. The thefts were discovered several 

 days ago and the owner of the lumber endeav- 

 ored to find the guilty parties, but without suc- 

 cess. The woods are located a short distance 

 back of the Ludington farmhouse alid the thieves 

 must have marked the trees during the day, as 

 only the best lumber in the forest was cut down. 

 How the heavy trees could be carted away in 

 such a brief space of time is a mystery. There 

 were no tracks leading from the woods and it is 

 presumed that a wagon was in waiting and the 

 lumber taken to a secure hiding place in the 

 vicinity. It is expected that arrests may follow 

 the investigation of the authorities. 



ACQUIRE MORE TIMBER HOLDINGS. 



The holdings on Vancouver Island and the 

 mainland of J. A. Sayward & Co., of Victoria, 

 have been bought by E. B. Cadwell & Company, 

 of Detroit, Mich., representing American capi- 

 talists. The property consists of 22,000 acres ot 

 selected timber, all on navigable water, together 

 with the Sayward mill in Victoria. The Say- 

 ward mill has only recently been entirely rebuilt 

 and is one of the best equipped and located for 

 its size in the province of British Columbia. The 

 site of the mill is located on the harbor close to 

 the center of the town, and the seven and one- 

 half acres which it occupies is considered a val- 

 uable piece of real estate aside from its advan- 

 tage as a mill site. 



Last year Mr. Cadwell purchased the Jordan 

 River Limits, transferring them to the Michigan- 

 Pacific Lumber Company, which was organized 

 at Grand Rapids, Mich., with $1,500,000 capital. 



CHIPPEWA'S ROAD WORK. 



The Chippewa county road work for the 

 season has been wound up by County Road 

 Commissioner William Godfrey, and the rec- 

 ord made by him during the first year of his 

 administration has been satisfactory from 

 every viewpoint. Mr. Godfrey did not have 

 as much money to spend on th6 roads as 

 some of his predecessors in office had, as the 

 bridge fund of $25,000, raised by, the sale of 

 bonds, had been exhausted before he assumed 

 office, and the general fund, which was for- 

 merly $24,800, was this year cut to $23,080, 

 which was the sum appropriated for the con- 

 struction of new bridges and roads, repairs 

 and other incidentals necessary with the sys- 

 tem. 



Nothwithstanding the cut, he succeeded in 

 making a large number of permanent and sub- 

 stantial improvements. He made three new 

 roads, adopted by the board of supervisors as 

 part of the county road system shortly before 

 he assumed office, as follows: The Soo Line 

 road, the Meridian and Barbeau road and the 

 Ridge road. He also widened and rebuilt four 

 miles of the road between Stirlingville and 

 Rudyard and has the abutments completed for 

 a new 'bridge which will cross the Munoskong 

 river near Stirlingville. This bridge has a 

 span of 75 feet with 32-foot approaches. A 

 new stone crusher has been purchased during 

 the year on which $496 has been paid. In 

 smoothing and leveling the roads during the 

 summer, Mr. Godfrey dispensed with the road 

 grader and used the King drag instead, which 

 is claimed to be a great improvement over the 

 old method. 



Mr. Godfrey is a firm believer in having the 

 roads properly drained, as it is otherwise im- 

 possible to keep them in good condition, and 

 he is paying particular attention to this part 

 of the system. He has thus far proved him- 

 self a hard and efficient officer and the many 

 words of commendation which has reached 

 this office is proof that the taxpayers as a 

 rule are satisfied. 



A Glimpse of the Past. 



ADVOCATES WORKING CONVICTS ON 

 ROADS. 



"Im going to make a fight for good roads 

 in Muskegon county," declared J. S. Walker, 

 of Muskegon township, master of Muskegon 

 County Pomona Grange. "I think the na- 

 tional government ought to aid in road build- 

 ing and I'm going to arouse sentiment for 

 such an action. I think roads in the state 

 ought to be built by convicts in state prisons, 

 the same as is done in the state of Wash- 

 ington." 



With such conclusions Mr. Walker returned 

 from a national grange meeting held at -Des 

 Moines, la., at which prominent grange lead- 

 ers from all over the country were present. 

 "While I was in Des Moines," said Mr. 

 Walker, "I heard a speaker from the state of 

 Washington describe the method they have in 

 that state of having the convicts build roads. 

 The state has a stone crushing plant worth 

 $150,000, and finds that it can build roads 

 much more economically this way than in 

 any other known manner. It also does away 

 with convicts interfering with legitimate busi- 

 ness and trades. 



"I think the same thing ought to be done 

 in Michigan, and I intend to endorse the can- 

 didate for governor that comes out in favor 

 of the convict road building system. I'm go- 

 ing to agitate this about the county and tell 

 the people about it. 



"I have been told it is unconstitutional for 

 the federal government to build roads, but 

 any one who will take the trou'ble to look up 

 the constitution will find in the eighth article 

 a provision authorizing the government to 

 aid in building postal roads. Nothing has ever 

 been dene in this direction to my knowledge. 

 "I have also been told that the government 

 has no money for road building but it seems 

 to have enough for costly waterway projects, 

 and I think that it can find some for roads 

 also." 



