Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1888-09-15
uxvap. rruBEK a Ds.

Aeftng Secretary OF the h"sc
eommfssloner steeksiager Mis-
Ted by MisinformatiOn fnsum-
Client InauIry by the spectai
Agent Of the Department Inc
ActuaI Facts.
"The Acting Secretary OF the lnte-
rior ON sept. s sent TO Congress all the
papers-except such as should be
held for purposes OF justice called
for by the resolution OF Senator stew
art, asking upon what authority and
information the Commissioner OF the
General Land Office based his asser-
ton that the amendment introduced
by the Senator was in the interest oil
mining corporations and against the
interest OF the settler. In one ON
munication the Commissioner says no
suits have been recommended in Ne
vada except against the powerful and
wealthy corporations, and these nave
been based not upon iniormers' testl-
mony, but upon the reports Of special
agents OF the Department. lie char-
~acterizes as groundiess the complaint
that no special agents were in Ne
yada for several years until they were
SEN there to investigate the facts IN
cases Of offers OF compromise received
from mining companies for unlawful
cutting OF timber and Endorsed by
Senator Stewart. He reiterates his
statement that the proposed amend
ment would be unjust to the settler,
and quotes from the report made by
a special agent OF the Department to
show that it is by smelling works, and
men who burn charcoal for a living,
who are engaged in this wholesale
timber cutting. and that the miners,
proper, are bitterly opposed to it,
We know not where George d. Tenn
pie, the agent who was sent here by
the Commissioner Of the General
Land Office, last July, got the inior-
nation upon which We understand are
to be based the talked-of suits against
the Richmond Con. and Eureka Con.
Mining and Smelling Companies, but
had he taken occasion to make in
| quiries in a thorough manner, he
| could not have failed to have received
the information that would have put
Commissioner Stockslager right in the
matter OF the alleged unlawful cutting
of timber in these parts. There is
hardly a ten-year-old boy in this sec
| ton OF country that does not know
well that there is not now, nor never
was such a thing known, even to the
oldest inhabitant, as a tree grown high
enough TO cut up into lumber Of CON-
mercial value within a radius OF 40
miles, or a much greater distance
from Eureka. The trees in this Sec
ton, as is well known to everybody
hereabouts, are serubby mahogany,
pine and cedar, none OF which ever
exceeded 10 to 20 feet in height, but
all entirely unfit for anything else but
fuel and mining timbers, the latter be-
ing very scarce and difficult to pro-
cure at that. Had it not been for the
mines there would never have been a
| settler i'll the country, as there would
| not have been any one to buy produce OF
| anv kind for which the land ON a sin
| gle farm would have been worth cult
waiting. The mines OF Nevada have
| done more to build up cities in Cali
| fornia and to enrich the United States
| with her gold and silver product than
any individual industry known. Yet
| these mines could not have been
worked unless timbers had been used
for mining purposes, not necessary to
explain here, and the facilities for
smelling the ore after it las extracted
from the ground. The ore could not
have been smelted without the use Of
charcoal as fuel, and the trees that
have been used for that purpose could
have been used for nothing else
whatever, except for fuel to get up
| steam, or for the honest and hard
working miner TO cook his pork and
beans.
That large tracts OF land have been
denuded OF this scrubby timber We do
not deny, but in the telling and burn
ing OF it for charcoal a great number
of laborers have been employed, who
in turn have furnished employment to
teamsters, wagon makers, black
smiths, carpenters, and in fact thou
sands of mechanics and laborers who
in their turn have helped to enrich the
merchants OF this section and the job
bers and manufacturers Of the East,
to say nothing of hundreds OF farm
ers, cattle and stock r~aisers, who
would never have come to the country
had they not first been attracted by
the richness Of our mines.
That "the miners are bitterly OPP
| posed to this timber cutting" except
in isolated cases, where justice may
be had in II counts, is all buncombe
and without proper foundation. Not
only this, if the action contemplated
by the Department is carried out, the
| operations Of our smelters would
thereby be stopped, the mines al
closed down, u industries destroyed
and the settlers would soon leave theii
lands to the care Of the primitive in
habitants thereof, viz: Indians and
~chipmunks.
Death OF Fred wight.