72 THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY, 



try. By setting the fire in proper relation to the direction of the wind, 

 carefully watching the fires set, and tailing other simple precautions, 

 fire can be restricted within any desired area. The bona fide settler, 

 the man who is really mating a home for himself and his family and 

 who looks forward to spending a lifetime of growing prosperity in the 

 home he is creating, is ready to take these precautions, for they are all 

 in his own interest. But the so-called settler who has taken up a lit- 

 tle patch of land merely that he may rob the country of the timber 

 that stands upon it, is in a hurry to realize his gains, and expects to 

 abandon the place as soon as he has done so; consequently, he has no 

 more regard for the rights and interests of others than has any other 

 pirate. 



The so-called settler carries on his nefarious schemes. There is a 

 tendency also to systematize this form of robbery, certain parties keep- 

 ing as their employees or retainers a number of men who make a prac- 

 tice of securing timber lands by this illegitimate means of pretended 

 settlement. The more valuable the standing timber becomes, the greater 

 is the inducement to schemers of all kinds to find means of capturing 

 the timber on the public domain without rendering an equivalent to 

 the public either in money or in service. 



If fires are to be prevented, it is not enough to maintain a fire-rang- 

 ing system to put out fires — the man who most frequently starts the 

 fires, the pretended settler, must be eliminated. 



The problem of our forest wealth can be answered by keeping down 

 the ravages of fire; and the problem of keeping out, or putting down, 

 fire can be answered by our present methods together with the elimina- 

 tion of the timber pirate who operates in the disguise of a settler. 



Fremont E. Skeels, of Cadillac, appeared before the Commission at 

 its request and made the following statement: 



T am a land looker and timber estimator and have been such actively 

 for upwards of thirty years, and my experience during that time has 

 been chiefly in the State of Michigan, mostly in the Lower Peninsula. 

 I have worked some in the Upper Peninsula and some in Wisconsin 

 and Idaho. I have been employed by Murphy and Digging, of Cadil- 

 lac; Wolf Bros., of Grand Rapids; Cadillac Handle Company, Cobbs & 

 Mitchell, of Cadillac; and Dupont Powder Company of Wilmington, 

 N. J., and by other land and lumber concerns. I appraised the Agri- 

 cultural College lands for the State from 1892 to 1903. I am also at 

 present engaged in appraising large areas of land for corporations. In 

 the course of my work I have become familiar with a wide extent of 

 the cut-over lands of Michigan, chiefly in the counties of Cheboygan, 

 Presque Isle, Alpena, Montmorency, Crawford, Otsego, Antrim, Grand 

 Traverse, Emmet, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Kalkaska, Iosco, 

 Alcona, Oscoda, Lake, Manistee, Mason, Benzie, Leelanau and Charle- 

 voix. Some portions of a few of these counties my business did not. 

 bring me in contact with, but with such exceptions I became generally 

 familiar with all the counties named. 



In my judgment and according to my experience, not more than 10% 

 at the outside of the tax homestead land that is sold by the Land OfiSce 

 is sold to settlers, that is to purchasers who buy it for the purpose of 

 making homes and farms. I think at least 75% of all the sales are 



