The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-13
SALE OF STATE PINE
1T is TO BE HAD AT THE CAP
ITOL OCT. Fl
NEXT.
THERE WILL BE 152 TRACTS,
RANGING FROM 40 TO $40 ACRES,
OFFERED FOR SALE AT
THAT TIME.
MILLIONS OF FEET OF TIMBER
To he Disposed of to- the Highest
Bidder-COmplaintM Made as to
Appraisals.
THERE WILL BE 152 TRACTS,
MILLIONS OF FEET OF TIMBER

"a misrepresentation seems to exist
in many quarters" said State Auditor
Dunn yesterday "as to the suits recent
ly tried in the federal courts in which
the Pine River Logging company, c.
A. Smith & Co., ]. B. Bassett and
others were the defendants. These were
not state cases, and had nothing to do
with the cutting of timber on state
lands, SO that the result of the suits
has nothing to do with the state Of
ficials, in spite of the assertions to that
effect made by some of the weekly
papers published in this vicinity.
"One of these papers has also dis
played its ignorance in anticipating the
coming sale of pine stumpage on state
lands, which is to be held here Oct. q.
The paper in question seems to think
that the tracts selected for sale are be-
ing selected with view to their isola-
ton, so that the purchasers may not
only cut what they buy, but also trim
off other state timber around them.
This is not the fact at all. AS a mat
ter of fact, the law permits the sale of
growing pine timber only where it is
deemed necessary to prevent waste.
There are 152 tracts offered at the COM
ing sale, ranging in area from 40 acres
to full section, and in estimate of
timber from 10000 feet to nearly S,000,-
600 feet. Of these tracts, however, sew
enty-SiX are estimated at less than $780,
900 feet by the state appraisers, and in
almost all these cases they are little
odds and ends which are near cities
or villages, and which should be sold
before they are devastated. Others are
so small that they would not pay for
cutting alone, and they must be dis
posed of when lumbermen are cutting
from private property in the immediate
possession. Cedar and tamarac stump
age is salable only when the product
is in demand as ties, and the prospect
of some railroad building next season
makes this an opportune time for the
disposal of this class of timber.
"Of the smaller tracts, 100, 600 feet OR
less in estimates, "a, or nearly one-half,
are in Itasca county, II are in Carlton,
all close to settlements, in st. Louis
county, in Crow Wing, in Pine, 1 in
Morrison, an old county with the
stumpage pretty we'll sold off it; 10 in
Aitkin, in Mile Laos, and in Cass."
''Lumbermen are complaining that
the appraisals on some of these tracts
L
state officials from disposing Of the
stumpage for less than the appraisal,
although they are not compelled TO
sell if the bids equal or exceed that
amount. Accordingly, if the state au-
thorities are not satisfied with the
prices bid, or if they suspect COM
hination of bidders, they may with
draw from sale ali tracts on which the
bids are not satisfactory"
The largest eStin a'e of timber in ore
tract is nearly 100000 feet of ties in
Carlton county near the Northern Pa
cific. The largest tract of pine timber
offered, according to estimate, is about
100000 feet in the outskirts of Hib-
bing, where serious waste is anticipat-
ed if the pine is not soon sold.
The timber offered for sale this time
is practically all in the st. Louis, St.
CroiX and Mississippi river systems,
although about 6,500,000 feet (estimat-
ed) is on four townships in what was
formerly the Red Lake reservation,
and has recently been thrown open for
settlement at a comparatively recent
date. This is around the headwaters
of the Clearwater river on which the
lUmbermen Of Red Lake Falls, Crooks
ton and st. Hilaire are conducting eX-
tensive logging operations, and is eX-
pected to sell for an especially good
price, as it contains some of the finest
timber in the state.