TAX LANDS AND FORESTRY. Ill 



formation is given, such an investigation of the land was made in faith- 

 ful agreement with your instruction. In those cases where the timber 

 was still standing, the work for any given description consisted of an 

 estimate of the timber and such examination of the soil as was feasible 

 under the circumstances. Where the timber had been removed the ex- 

 amination consisted of a careful count of the stumps, noting their kinds 

 and sizes and judging therefrom the amount of timber removed, accord- 

 ing to the methods usually pursued in such cases. After finishing the 

 examination on the ground in the manner above outlined, inquiry was 

 made until the facts concerning the time of removal and the name of 

 the person who cut the timber were ascertained. In every case the 

 value of the timber on the stump and in various conditions of manu- 

 facture was ascertained. In a number of cases reported herewith, the 

 lumbering of the timber was still under way, so that we had an oppor- 

 tunity actually to scale and count all or portions of the materials re- 

 moved. 



In all cases where further transfers of land or timber occurred an 

 attempt was made to ascertain the prices actually paid by the several 

 purchasers. In the cases where the value of the land without timber 

 was given in the report, such land values are based upon the reports 

 of numerous transactions, or the ordinary sale value of land in the 

 district. 



We wish further to state that the forest gjrowth as estimated, shows 

 only the merchantable timber and in no case have we taken into con- 

 sideration any timber not having a commercial value at the time our 

 estimate was made. 



In all cases the estimates are conservative. 



A detailed statement, giving the results of our investigations, is at-' 

 tached hereto. 



As to the method pursued by the State appraisers, we would say that 

 we were informed by the appraiser, Mr. Fred Conant, of Cadillac, that 

 his instructions were to take the supervisor's valuation as a basis for 

 his appraisals. That these instructions were apparently given to all 

 appraisers would, appear from the statements of William Vaughan, 

 supervisor of townships 18 and 19, 13-W, Lake county, and Benjamin 

 Barrett, of Baldwin, to the effect that a Mr. Brown, who was appraisei* 

 of tax homestead lands in Lake county, came to the supervisor and took 

 from his assessment roll the ap,praisals as he had them, only varying 

 from these figures in some few instances and then only to establish a 

 lower valuation. Copies of these sworn statements are attached to 

 this report. In this way the State lost large sums of money as appears 

 from the following general results: 



