FORESTRY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. 13 



tion under public ownership blocked development. The usual course 

 of events then took place. The bulk of the land, which was for the 

 most part heavily timbered, was at once taken up under the different 

 land laws by "homesteaders," who immediately proceeded to dispose 

 of it to various timber companies. Considerable areas were cut over 

 by these companies, while other portions were held for speculation. 

 Most of the cut-over lands have passed into the hands of land com- 

 panies; a very small portion into the hands of bona fide settlers. 

 Forty dollars and over per acre is asked for tracts that will require 

 at least $150 more per acre to clear. Fifteen years after the elimina- 

 tion of the area from the National Forest only some 600 acres out of 

 the 700,000 had been put under cultivation. Timberland worth 

 $30,000,000 has passed from public to private ownership, and the 

 development of the bulk of the area that is fitted for agriculture has 

 been postponed indefinitely. 



It is estimated that on the west coast of Washington and Oregon 

 there are now some 4,000,000 acres of cut-over Douglas fir lands, and 

 that this area is being added to at the rate of about 150,000 acres a 

 year. Although a large part of this area consists of good agricultural 

 soil, only a comparatively small portion of it has been put under cul- 

 tivation, and the agricultural development of the region is proceed- 

 ing much more slowly than its resources warrant. This is due in 

 part to the high cost of clearing the land of stumps and logging 

 debris, to lack of transportation facilities, and to distance from mar- 

 ket. But all these difficulties are intensified by the speculative value 

 placed upon the land, which often adds just enough burden to make 

 its cultivation unprofitable and so to keep it out of use. 



Selling sand IJ<HT<'HS and swamps for farms. In the case of non- 

 agricultural cut-over lands there is little or no promise of a specula- 

 tive rise in value, and the speculator usually disposes of them as 

 rapidly as possible. Misrepresentation very often plays an impor- 

 tant part in this. Dreary, sterile sand barrens and water-soaked 

 swamps are pictured as fertile, wonderfully productive farm lands, 

 as extraordinarily fine grazing grounds, or as the most delightful 

 locations for summer resorts. Naturally, it is those who know least 

 about such things who are ensnared most easily. Clerks, stenog- 

 raphers, mill hands, day laborers, and others from the city, who would 

 have difficulty in making a living off the most fertile farm in the 

 country, not infrequently invest all they have in the hope of being 

 able to establish themselves independently on a piece of land of their 

 very own. In such cases it is only a few years before inevitable fail- 

 ure forces them to abandon the land and return to their tasks with 

 just a little less confidence in themselves, a little less hope for the 

 future, and a great deal less faith in the honesty of their fellow man. 



