88 THE COMMISSION UF INQUIRY, 



Detroit, Mich., April 6, 1908. 



Some of these lands were cleaned entirely of white pine a dozen years 

 or more ago, and as there was no pine forest on the lands and only a 

 few scattering trees within a mile or more, I thought there would be 

 no reseeding to white pine, and great was my astonishment when young 

 pines sprang up everywhere, and in many places very close together. 



They grew thriftily until they were some seven or eight years old, 

 when just as we were about to thin them out and prune, some trespasser 

 set a fire that swept heavily the whole tract, and in a few hours con- 

 verted it into a treeless waste, blotting out all visions of growing a 

 new forest, and leaving me satisfied that any efforts on my part, in that 

 direction, would be futile, at least so long as laws against setting fires 

 were not obeyed, and the over taxing of cut-over lands continues. 



Yours very truly, 



E. J. Crane. 



Foster City, Mich., Nov. 24, 1905. 



I have a fine pine plantation of natural growth. Thirteen years ago 

 the forest fires swept over this country and, seemingly, destroyed every 

 living tree. The next year at plowing time I saw a lot of little pine 

 trees started, so I thought I would experiment with it and let it grow. 

 The result of it is I have eighty acres with pine trees from ten to twelve 

 inches In diameter and from twenty-five to thirty feet high. There was 

 pine on this land before, but it was cut twenty-six years ago. 



Two years ago this past summer I cleaned up about nine acres, cut 

 the brush, piled and burned it. The young pine have started up quite 

 thick; I measured them several weeks ago and they range from eighteen 

 to thirty-six inches in height. 



Very truly yours, 



"^S' B. Bridges. 



Escanaba, Mich., Feb. 14, 1908. 



The State's Cruiser, Mr. Ford, of Marquette, came to my house to 

 stay for a few days, while looking over the State lands in my neigh- 

 borhood, and we went over a good deal of land and I was surprised to 

 find as much timber, for I had always counted it as company land. 

 Two-thirds of these lands would have made good farm lands for the 

 homesteader, with plenty of timber on them to induce people to home- 

 stead them, the rest I saw would have made forest reserve of growing 

 value that would in time dry out the more the surroundings were 

 cleaned ofif. 



All the land that I saw was sold in December, 1907, for less than 

 the value of the timber on them, and are already under process of 

 being stripped. Then, of course, they will lay there useless to the State 

 as before, for twenty-five years, until the brush grows heavy enough to 



