The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1894-12-28
Northern Pacific Advances Stumpage.


Some of the ioggers of the Sound
country are complaining bitterly that
they are handicapped, not only by the
removal of the tariff on lumber, but
by an advance in the price of stum-
page on railroad lands, which has been
ordered by w. HI. Phipps, the new
general land commissioner of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, and do not
hesitate to charge Mr.. Phipps with
seeking to cripple the logging busi-
ness of Puget Sound in order to fos-
ter his own interests in the samo busi-
ness in British Columbia.
The Northern Pacific land grant in
cludes every alternate section within
practically the whole timber belt tri-
butary to the upper half of Puget
Sound, and the consequence is that
loggers cannot~do business there with
out buying Northern Pacific stump
age, for the cost of skipping 10 TIE in
terrer;1g sections would be psoi,ibi
tory. Before Mr. Phipps' appoint
ment the price charged by the North
ern Pacific for stumpage was SO to 60
cents per thousand feet, at time
when logs were selling from IS TO
$3.50. The price has now been raised
to ST. per thousand feet. while logs
have fallen to $3.50 and s..
Some loggers DO not stop at charg-
ing Mr.. Phipps' action in making this
advance to his misunderstanding of
the situation and being guided III the
price he places on stumpage on Puget
Sound by the conditions with which
he is familiar in Wisconsin,. but they
assert that he is largely interested in
an Eastern syndicate which owns over
100000 acres of the finest timber
land on Vancouver island, as we'll as
large sawmill. A considerable 3part
of this land is On the waters edge, so
that logging is simple and costless.
According to statements said to haye
been made by Mr.. Phipps, the cost of
this timber to his syndicate will not
exceed 10 cents per thousand feet,
while on Puget Sound, at Mr.. Phipps'
prices, timber, together with rail trans
portation to salt water, costs the log
ger from SITS to 1926. Thus the diff
ference in favor of the British Column
bia syndicate is the difference between
these figures, leaving the item of high
er priced labor out of the question.
The loggers OF the upper Sound are
particularly indignant that such an
advance should have been made at the
present tine, when they have just been
brought into direct competition with
Canadian lumber, by the free lumber.
section of the new tariff law, and when
the British Columbia millmen are in
vading the California market. They
claim that if the advance is insisted
upon, they will be compelled to close
their camps and throw several thousand
men of employment. just at time
when their business is beginning to
show signs OF revival. They condemn
the policNof the Northern Pacific as
suicidal, claiming that it will thottle
the freight traffic of the road, and by
shutting down the logging industry
eventually damage business generally.
They call attention to the fact that
while the price the Northern Pacific
is now asking for stumpage amounts
to from $50 to $50 an acre and the
bare land is worth fully 30 an acre,
Northern Pacific lands are assessed at
only about SIS an acre, aud some of
them talk of appealing to the legisla-
ure to have the assessment raised
P.I.