1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



295 



in the State of Colorado and the Big 

 Horn and Medicine Bow reserves in 

 Wyoming. He will also assist the 

 U. S. Civil Service Commission in the 

 conduct of examinations for positions 

 of forest ranger at certain places in 

 Colorado. 



A. E. Cohoon has been assigned as 

 technical assistant to S. C. Bartrum, 

 Forest Supervisor for the southern di- 

 vision of the Cascade Range Forest 

 Reserve, Oregon. 



Ranger Lewis Newcomb, of the 

 San Bernardino Forest Reserve, Cali- 

 fornia, has resigned from the Service. 



Another chapter in the 

 Suit Against ,/ , 



* movement that brought 



about the establishment 

 and later the discontinuance of the 

 New York State College of Forestry 

 has been opened. 



Attorney General Mayer, of New 

 York, has decided to bring an action to 

 deprive Cornell University of 30,000 

 acres of timber land between Tupper 

 and Upper Saranac Lakes, in the Adi- 

 rondacks. Mr. Mayer will endeavor 

 also to break a contract whereby Cor- 

 nell has permitted the Brooklyn Coop- 

 erage Company to cut timber on the 

 tract. 



This tract was purchased by Cor- 

 nell with $165,000 out of an appro- 

 priation of $500,000 made by the leg- 

 islature of 1898 for a forestry experi- 

 ment, to last thirty years. The Brook- 

 lyn company began cutting timber on 

 the tract in 1900, and as a result peo- 

 ple who lived in the vicinity protested 

 vigorously. Inquiries were made into 

 the forestry experiment, which was be- 

 ing carried on under the direction of 

 Dr. B. E. Fernow, head of the New 

 York State College of Forestry. 



Governor Odell in 1903 declined to 

 permit any more money to go out for 

 the experiment, and that came to an 

 end. The Brooklyn company, how- 

 ever, still continued to cut timber, 

 and the Association of Rresidents of 

 Upper Saranac Lake, who had fought 

 the Cornell idea from the first, asked 

 Mr. Mayer to bring an action that 

 would terminate the contract. Thev 



declared that the purpose of the stat- 

 ute was being defeated, as the enter- 

 prise was not a forestry experiment. 



In his opinion handed down to-day 

 Mr. Mayer says : 



"There is no suggestion that the au- 

 thorities of Cornell University entered 

 into this contract through other than 

 good motives. It seems that they had 

 been advised by the forestry expert 

 in their employ that the best method 

 of experiment was to denude the tract, 

 in order that the result of reforesta- 

 tion could be ascertained within the 

 life of men then living. 



"So far as the testimony and argu- 

 ments before me disclosed, no official 

 of the State of New York was con- 

 sulted, directly or indirectly, in regard 

 to the agreement above referred to. It 

 cannot be said, therefore, that the 

 state was in any way responsible for 

 this contract, or that it acquiesced in 

 the terms thereof. 



"In my opinion, it was never con- 

 templated that under any circum- 

 stances Cornell was to be permitted to 

 make a contract for the stripping of 

 the forest within a possible fifteen 

 years on a tract of land which was 

 dedicated to an educational experi- 

 ment of thirty years." 



The Secretary of the In- 

 ge terior has awarded the 



contract for the con- 

 struction of a pile bridge across North 

 Platte River, about 25 miles south- 

 west of Casper, Wyoming, to James 

 F. Stanley, of Casper. 



This bridge is to be used in connec- 

 tion with the North Platte project. 

 Three bids were received, of which 

 Mr. Stanley's $3,384.70 was the 

 lowest. 



The Secretary of the In- 

 terior is advertising for 

 bids for the construction 

 of the Corbett diversion tunnel, Sho- 

 shone project, Wyoming. This tunnel 

 is to be approximately 17,000 feet long. 

 The auxiliary works will include the 

 excavation of about 28,000 cubic yards 

 of material in open cut. These works 

 are located about 10 miles east of 



Bids for 

 Tunnel 



