St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-15

rately on said section 81 In the month OF
April. 1891, in order to bid on the same
intelligently at the sale advertised TO
occur in Princeton in May. The timber
was first.class. large and thrifty, and
all white pine; was uninjured by fire,
and was large and longbodied, going
about five and half logs to the 1000.
He estimated the section to contain on
safe estimate 5,475,000 feet. TheeyI-
dence OF the witness was clear, cO,cise'
and to the point, and was In no degree
shaken by the rigid ross-examination
at the hands of the deputy state auditor.
He said he was ready tn bid 81 per LOCO,
and that he was still willing to give 81
for what remained uncut ut the present
date. He testified that the timber south
of the section, which had been referred
to by Mr.. Biermann as SubJecting the
timber to danger by fire, had been cut
twelve years ago, and that there was 10
danger of fire from that direction, or
from any other direction that ne could
see. 90.
II. NJ. Cowles. lumberman and pine
land owner and speculator, testified
that he had sold stumpage in section
"a 40 %, Immediately adjoining the sec
ton in question, for 81 per 1000, bank
scale and cut clean. F.r.
That this timber was hauled eight
miles into tributary of Snake river,
while that on section So was hauled less
than i've miles into Kun river. lie had
attended the December land sale in
1891, expecting that this section would
be sold, and was expecting to bid on 1t.
He intended to bid 81 per 1000 for It,.
On the opinion of his estimator he felt
that it was bargain at 81 per l,OOO.
/ n fnCf nd hnf hn
first cutting in that vicinity for the last
five years for less than 81 per 1000.
CrOss-Questioned he said: Il should
certainly have given as high as "a, and
might have gone a little higher" lie
also testified that the section he had
sold adjoining the one i'll question was
Not Nearly as Good Timber
as that on the latter, and that there was
no apparent or immediate danger of fire
TO it.
AT the request of the deputy auditor,
JameS Halleman, an emplOye of the
land department, was sworn. and teSti-
fed that he went OH section 36-42-26
in the latter part of January. 1898, and
made rough estimate of it; thought 1t
would cut 100000; thought the timber
was bnShy and not very good and dam
aged by fire. On cross examination he
admitted that he was only on the section
one day, and that the snow was two
feet deep on the ground. and that it was
a physical impossibility for him to have
made an accurate or reliable estimate
under the circumstances.
Judson NJ. Goss was recalled and
again testified that he and his assistant
had gone over each forty separately,
a 2 ,n 60 lNtn OIr
stances, when there was neither snow
to impede their progress, nor leaves to
obStruct their view. and gave detailed
estimate OF the amount on each forty.
He swore positively that there was no
material amount OF short or bushy tim
Der Oh the section, and his testimony
remained mistaken by the most rigid
cross examination.
Several affidavitS were submitted by
Auditor BIermann to the effect that the
pine on said section sc was of an inferior
quality, and not worth over So per
thousand, but the affidayitS were from
persons having business relations with
G. A. Smith 81 Co. Auditor Biermann
testified that he sold the pine on section
SO at private sale, for the reason that it
would be destroyed by fire. But it ap-
pears from the following letter that the
timber was sold as an accommodation to
G. A. Smith IL Co.: !
To Accommodate Lumbermen. +
MINNEAPOLIS, MIMI, Jan. %, 1872
Hon. A. Biermann, State Auditor, st.
Paul, Minn.-Dear Sir: We have a
camp, and are cutting some timber in
section %, town AZ, range 26, but find
that we have not sufficient timber for
NJ nto r1c xu1rl- ond wand lilo
much if we could get the timber on sec
ton SO, in order to give US the full win
ter's work. We believe it has been Gus
tomary in years past, in cases of this.
kind, for the state to accommodate the.
lumbernen in this way; and, inasmuch,
further, as this timber is on the Indian
reservation, thought possibly there
would not be much objection.
This section is located over four
miles in straight line from the river.
making very long haul, but thought,
under the circumstances, that we should
pay S1.75 per thousand feet for what
timber there might be in the section.
Kindly advise us at your earliest con-
venience, and ODlige yours truly,
&. A. SMITH & Co.
The facts are, not stick of the tim
Der in question was cut or hauled that
season, nor until year later, and from
{, 800, 900 to 5000, 900 feet of the timber is
still standing, so that the theory that
Smith & Co. purchased the timber on
section sc to piece out a winters work
falls to the ground.
Auditor Biermann claims to find his
for dispoSing of the timber in
question in section 2. chapter 269 of the
General Laws of 1885, which reads as
follows:
Section 2. He shall take such meas
ures as will protect the said timber from
damage or loss by fire, trespass or other
wise, and make UGH regulations for the
care, control. sale and disposition of the
timber lands of the state or the timber
tn ereon as will best protect the inter-
es IS of the state"
Findings.
Your committee is fully convinced,
and the evidence conclusively shows
that the pine timber on section sc, town
~, range 26 Qhe same being a school
sectiOn), was well worth 81 per thou
sand feet, and would easily have
brought that amount had it been offered
at public sale, as provided by law. John
Goss, responsible ADoka Iumberman,
swears that he would have bid 81. and is
still ready to pay 81 per thousand feet
for the lumber yet standing on said
section. Robert Burch swears posi-
lively that he would have bid 81 per
thousand feet, and is ready to take
what is left at that figure. E. S. Page.
of the firm of Page Bros, of Anoka,
and A. W. WOOdcock, of Princeton,
Old-time and responsible lumber
men, swear that the timber was
worth 81. r. M. Cowles, of Saltwater,
dealer i'll pine lands and owner of large
tracts of pine in Mile Laos county,
testified that he sold timber the present
year on an adjoining section for "a per
and the Cowles timber had to
be hauled distance of eight miles to a
driving stream. while the timber on
section SO, town AZ. range 49, had to be
hauled less than five miles to landing,
and the Cowles timber was not as good
as the timber ON the school section in
question. Besides, Mr.. Cowles testified
that he had attended the land sale held
at the state auditors Office in December,
1891, for the express purpose of bidding
On the timber on section So. town AZ,
range 26, and that he was prepared to
bid at least "a per thousand for said
timber. In his own language, he "woul
npoidarad If harnoip tbo6