The Lumber Trade in New England. 115 



proceeded to buy up two old grants made under the govern- 

 ment of New England, in 1641 and 1671, but never taken up; 

 one grant contained 800 acres, the other 500, and Cooke laid 

 them out in Maine outside of the townships, in the very best 

 part of the timber land.^ The boldness of Cooke encouraged 

 the lumbermen, who cut wherever they liked, especially de- 

 stroying the young trees under 24 inches in diameter, pleading 

 the act of 171 1.- They were further encouraged in their evil 

 ways by the failure of the home government to confirm the 

 seizures which the surveyors had made, or to send them any 

 instructions as to the disposal of the prizes.-'' It will be remem- 

 bered that this was the period of the inter-regnum in the woods, 

 when Bridger had been displaced and the new surveyor had 

 failed to send any deputy — a state of affairs which seems to have 

 been regarded by the loggers as a special providence, of which 

 they were not slow to take advantage. Bridger wrote: "It 

 was easier for one man to preserve the woods five years ago, 

 than it would be for five men now." He reported that over 120 

 trees were cut without license, by Taylor's agent, during the 

 winter of 1720.* Taylor's contract called for two ship-loads 

 only, but the agent had agreed w^ith the lumbermen to cut 

 enough to load six ships, without giving the surveyor any 

 notice.' In the summer of that year, Bridger wrote to the Board 

 of Trade that he had lost several prosecutions, because it was 

 impossible to prove that the trees had been cut on unappropri- 

 ated lands. The onus probandi rested with the king, and all the 

 witnesses were against him and "never knew anything about 

 anything."® Governor Shute also complained to the Board of 

 Trade that the "main drift of the House" was to persuade the 

 people that the king had no right to the woods.' Armstrong, 



^Mr. Bridger to the Board of Trade, B. T. New Eng., X: 30. 

 2Mr. Bridger to Secretary Burchett, B. T. New Eng., V: 130. 

 'Mr. Armstrong to the Board of Trade, B. T. New Eng., W: 74. 

 4Mr. Bridger to the Board of Trade, B. T, New Eng., W: 104. 

 ^Mr. Bridger to the Board of Trade, B. T. New Eng., X: 79. 

 "Ibid. 



■Report from Gov. Shute to the Board of Trade, B. T. New Eng., 

 X:36. 



