438 report of the forest, fish and game commission. 



Effect of the Advised Improvements upon Stumpage Values. 



The prices which the purchasers can afford to pay for timber stumpage 

 depend upon existing conditions on the tract from which the timber is to be 

 removed. The topography of a tract, length of log haul, length and cost of log 

 drive, distance which the timber would have to be transported upon railroads, 

 market prices, cost of supplies, price of labor, and other points too numerous to 

 mention, all' have a direct bearing upon stumpage prices. Particular attention is 

 directed to these facts, as it is only for these reasons that the different improve- 

 ments on streams, the construction of dams, and the allowing of the erection of 

 a manufacturing plant at Sucker Brook Bay, and the construction of branch 

 railroad tracks for removing the timber cheaply, are advised. 



Every cent taken off the cost per standard of removing the timber from a tract 

 means that the purchaser can afford to pay an additional cent per standard for the 

 stumpage. This general rule applies in different degrees to all the compartments 

 in these townships, and in fact to any tract where the necessary improvements 

 for removing timber cheaply and economically have not already been made. 



If the purchasers of the timber stumpage on a compartment, a township, or 

 the whole tract, were guaranteed by the State the right to make such improve- 

 ments as are absolutely necessary in order to aid them in marketing the timber 

 in the cheapest and most economical manner, subject to certain reasonable regu- 

 lations, they would be justified in paying more for the timber stumpage on the 

 different tracts than they would be if they were compelled to haul with teams all 

 the distant timber on these tracts to some point where it could be landed upon 

 streams already improved for driving. As shown in the working plan for Town- 

 ship 40, there is no more room in the small bay at Durant than is absolutely 

 necessary for the maneuvering of steamboats in effecting landings and carefully 

 and safely handling freight and passengers. The manufacturing of logs into 

 lumber at this point, or loading timber on cars for transportation, would cause a 

 great deal of confusion and clashing of rival interests which it is entirely unnecessary 

 to have. Otter Bay could be utilized for the purpose of loading logs on cars, or 

 manufacture, and would furnish a considerable amount of storage for timber 

 or logs, but a branch railroad would also have to be constructed here, and it is not 

 as convenient or as desirable a location as Sucker Brook Bay (see lumbering map). 



The construction of the advised branch railroad from Brown's Tract Pond to 

 Sucker Brook Bay would do away with the clashing of rival interests and confu- 

 sion at Durant, and at the same time remove the direct appearance of lumbering 

 operations from the regular route of summer travel. All the timber tributary to 



