238 



Q. Are you interested in any lands up there on the Moose river 

 chain, Fulton chain, with Mr. Garmon ? 



A. No, sir. 



Q. Was G-armon at one time interested in this tract of land? 



A. No, sir. 



Q. Were you ever interested with Garmon in lands up there ? 



A. No, sir. 



Q. The stumpage, to be a little more particular, is where you buy * 

 the trees on land with the right to cut and remove them within some 

 certain time. 



A. Yes, sir. 



Q. The standing, growing trees ? 



A. Yes. 



Q. I understood you to say that you and somebody else, as individ- 

 uals, had bought the stumpage up the Beaver river, just outside of 

 the blue lines, perhaps a little over, and ^ou, as individuals, had sold 

 to the Beaver River Lumber Company ? 



A. Yes, sir. 



Q. So that you make a profit on your sale of some sort ? 



A. No, sir. * 



Q. Do you sell to the Beaver River Lumber Company for just what 

 you buy, individually, without profit? 



A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Then you have a contract with the Beaver River Lumber Com- 

 pany to saw at your mill this timber, at the price you name ? 



A. Yes. 



Q. Running from ten to thirty millions a year ? 



A. Twenty-five millions. 



Q. So that while you don't own the soil you own all the value there 

 is there ? 



A. No. 



Q. What is the land worth after you get the trees Off? 



A. I would lite to pay a dollar and a dollar and a half for it, after 

 you get the trees off. 



Chairman Ryan. — Why is that land worth so much more after it 

 has been lumbered than the other land; I understood you to say that 

 land was practically useless except for the timber ? 



A. Yes, sir; let me explain; the merchantable timber on this land 

 is but a very small peroentage of thee timber on the land; I have been 

 buying lands ever since I was in the business of lumbering, and with 

 the exception of probably fifteen or twenty acres, haven't sold an 

 acre; I may be called a timber crank; I have faith in this land; I have 

 lumbered my land, as I consider, judiciously, and I believe to-day 



