1926 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS U 



Timber Sales 



Exclusive of the areas in the Nipigon region and Kapuskasing watershed, 

 where certain quantities of pulpwood were offered for sale for pulp and paper 

 manufacturing, approximately sixty sales were consummated, the smallest area 

 being one-quarter square miles and the largest 216 square miles, the latter 

 being an area overrun by fire a previous season. Fair prices were received for 

 the timber under a competitive basis, the upset price principle adopted by the 

 Government proving efficacious from a revenue-producing point of view. 



Care was exercised in the offering of timber and special consideration given 

 to the desire to provide, as was pointed out in last year's report, opportunities 

 to going concerns of bidding on allotments for the continuance of their industries 

 and maintaining populous centres, the existence of which depend so much Upon 

 the logging and lumbering business. In certain localities, where the timber was 

 found mature and deteriorating, it was placed on the market and sold, the areas 

 being required to be properly cleaned and all debris regularly removed. 



The functioning of the Inspector of Operations, an experienced bushman, 

 has materially aided in bringing about a much more effective co-operation 

 between the timber licensees and the Departmental officials. The practical and 

 theoretical is being combined with good results that merit the prediction of a 

 successful natural reforestation of the cutover areas provided fire can be 

 restrained. 



A complete list of the timber transactions may be observed in Appendix 

 No. 29. 



Pulp and Paper Industry 



While no new mills were erected during the year except a small unit of 

 about eight to ten tons a day on Manitoulin Island by a company who are 

 securing their supply from settlers, considerable activity was shown by the 

 existing plants, all of which operated up to their former capacity. Certain 

 established concerns, like the Fort William Paper Company at Fort William, 

 the Thunder Bay Company at Port Arthur, and Nipigon Corporation, Limited, 

 at Nipigon, were all practically directly dependent upon the wood secured from 

 settlers and private owners of timber lands, no Provincial Crown areas having 

 been acquired by them. 



Following a careful cruise and estimate of the entire Nipigon region con- 

 tiguous to these and the other established plants such as the Provincial Paper 

 mills, whose concession was limited as to cordage, the Government called for 

 tenders, the sale closing September 10th, 1925. Areas also in the Ground Hog 

 and Kapuskasing watersheds in Cochrane district were included in the adver- 

 tisement. A wide departure in the method of sale was made. Heretofore areas 

 were specifically delimited and, without particular regard to the cordage involved 

 or the lifetime of the industry, certain building expenditures were called for. 

 The new conditions invited all interested parties to definitely state their places 

 of building, extent of same, size of plant, cordage requirements, expenditure 

 involved and labour concerned, the Crown reserving to itself the right to define 

 the areas based upon the cordage requirements for a fixed period and to designate 

 each year the exact portion over which operations are to be conducted. 



Four tenders were accepted in the Nipigon region and one in the Cochrane 

 district, those in the former being Thunder Bay Company, Nipigon Corporation, 

 Limited, Provincial Paper Mills, Limited, and Fort William Paper Company, 

 and one in the latter, the Spruce Falls Company, at present with a plant at 

 Kapuskasing. 



