The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1893-03-12

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Editor of Astorian:-A recent article
published in the Evening Telegram
and copied in your paper, as we'll as
in many other papers Of the county
giving. the average yield of lumber in
in Clatsop county at twenty thousand
feet per acre, is so manifestly erroneous;
that in justice to ourselves as well as
to the outside world, we feel compelled
to correct the error by submitting a
statement of facts that have been
gathered from the practical operations
| of the lumber business in Clatsop
county for the past twenty years. The
men, whose names are here appended,
as furnishing the evidence Of the lum-
Der yield of the timber lands Of Clat-
sop county, have been practical operat-
ors in the business from ten to twenty
years each, and can be consulted at
Astoria either by letter or in person.
d. G.. Ross has been engaged constant
ly for the past twenty years as a con-
tractor in cutting and furnishing logs
to the mills on the Columbia, river in
which he has cut the timber off from
several thousand acres. In one con-
tract alone near Knappa, he took off
forty million feet of lumber by actual
measurement from about eleven hun
dred acres. Other lands that he has
taken the timber from have yielded on
an average of forty thousand feet to
the acre.
D. r. Cole, a contractor of for eight
cen years, cut the timber from 100 acres
of land on the Columbia river about
six miles from Astoria, which gave
yield of twelve millions and two hun
dred thousand feet, the same was esti-
mated at about seven million before
cutting. Mr.. Cole has logged on the
Columbia, on the Lewis andClarke and
on Young's rivers, and cut off thou
sands of acres, and by reference to
his books he gives the average fully
forty thousand to the acre.
Tom Boyle, another log contractor of
about fifteen years in Clatsop county,
sums up his estimate of several hund-
red acres of land logged off by him,
giving as the result an aggregate of fully |
six millions to the quarter section.
G. H. Woods, also a logger of many
years in Clatsop county, has cleared
acres, gives his estimate of the aver
age yield of lumber at not less than
forty thousand to the acre. The above |
estimates do not take into account The |
Alaska spruce, known here as Oregon
hemlock, which will log fully twenty |
thousand to the acre. giving the aggre-
gate yield of more than nine millions
to the quarter section, Or sixty thou
sand to the acre.
We shall now introduce the evidence
of another class of estimators. A large
portion of the timber Of five town
ships in Clatsop county have been
bought up by lumber men and timber
syndicates who before buying have had
very close estimates made Of the TIM
ber by experienced and competent tim
Der men, who have had years of cx-
perience as estimators and thus ) ave
learned to approximate very Eearly to
the actual amount on a given tract Of
land. Among the estimators on this
line, prominent in Astoria we would
name James Finley, e. c. Lewis and
Max Young. Their estimates have
run from five to ten millions. As in
the logging estimates tie Alaska
spruce, known here as Oregon hemlock,
was not taken into the account.
We see from these estimates, termed
upon a basis of almost ab3o'ute oer-
tainty, that the average yield il about
nine millions to the quarter section.
Clatsop county has about twenty
townships that average about the same
amount of timber to the quarter Sec
ion.
OLIVER STEWART,
Astoria, March 10, 1898.