fcEDWOOD LUMBERING. 2 5 



etor; but Is met with a cold reception upon making known 

 his business. He hears there is no good outlook to the 

 lumber market; that the mill is about to shut down ; that 

 wages have been reduced for some time : and the picture is 

 generally so black that he even offers to sell below his last 

 estimate of value. In the event the lumberman has had an 

 eye to his especial case, the nervous character is relieved of 

 his holding at a price quite satisfactory to the purchaser. 

 With this character to deal with, the process of consolidating 

 "claims" is not tedious. This class of "claim" owners 

 whose opinions are as vacillating as the whims of a child, 

 and whose spirits are elevated or depressed as the demand 

 for timber increases or diminishes has seldom been known 

 to reap any great benefits arising from the ownership of tim- 

 ber lands. Now take the contrary disposition one of a 

 phlegmatic temperament, one who buys his "claim " to stay 

 with it for a term of years, or until the encroachments of the 

 logger in his direction place an actual stumpage value upon 

 it and he invariably realizes a snug sum of money. Many 

 cases might be referred to where this class of owners have 

 realized small fortunes, ranging from twenty to fifty thousand 

 dollars, by patiently biding their time, and taking advantage 

 of opportunities. Where one of this character that is a suc- 

 cess is found,- however, twenty of the first description will be 

 met with. Many instances might also be referred to where 

 even the phlegmatic, obstinate, patient holder and owner of 

 a single ' claim " fails to reap a harvest. These have been 

 known to refuse prices for stumpage which were reasonable 

 until the millman removes his mill, perhaps, or logging rail- 



