The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-01-15
being placed at date so late in the sea-
son that only those who MeraMtn the deal

being placed at date so late in the sea-
son that only those who werelin the deal
could afford to put in a camp and cut the
logs the same year. 8
called into market by a wealthy lumber
company which already had it's camps
built and was ready to cut the timber.
kick was made and the representative
Of the company made a trip to Madison.
Immediately upon his return he gave or
ders to have this pine cut at once with
out waiting for the day of sale. Another
wealthy lumber concern at once sent Its
crews into the woods at that point and
cut, skidded and marked all the logs7'it
could get The two concerns raced to see
which could get the most. All this was
done in spite of the protest of the set
tiers and repeated complaints to the land
department that the pine was thus being
cut. 1t was the last bunch of good pine
left in that part Of the county and was
needed by the settlers to prevent ship
ping in outside pine in years to come. All
this was made clear to the land depart
ment, but not finger was lifted to stop
the steal.
The publisher of the Grantsburg Jour-
nal made vigorous fight against what
was going on and at last sent an expert
cruiser and scaler up to the town and
had the lines run and the logs scaled,
cut and piled on the sideways three weeks
ahead Of the date OF sale.
A recent supreme court decision holds
that logs cut in this way are the personal
property Of the state, therefore these logs
will not be included in the sale which
is to be held Jan. "a. The advertised sale
does not include the land, and the man
who now goes to Madison to bid will buy
nothing but tree tops and stumps.
The representative of one Of the lumber
companies has said that he will go to
Madison before the sale and arrange with
the state for the purchase of these logs
by pleading guilty to "trespassing," and
will thus get them at a less price than
he would otherwise have to pay.
Another feature of the case is that the
land department in reply to letters said
that the appraised valuation of the pine
on these six sections was 1878, but when
pressed to know who did the appraising
the chief clerk admitted that the pine had
never been appraised but had been ,esti-
mated and that before the sale every tree
would be counted so that a right price
could be obtained. This estimate of $673
| is now known to be short about $4,000,
| and had there been no kick the pine would
| have sold for that price without further
| investigation. -....-. .,..--
| The point now is, will the land depart
! ment make an effort to get the full value
| CARELESS of the wishes of the lumberman
who put up the job, or will it surrender
| to the influence which has so often in the
Egpast caused the state to suffer financially
| that timber stealing might flourish.
The prevailing impression in Burnett
! county is that the man who engineered
| this deal made the commissioners believe
there was but very little pine in the town
| ship in question, and that he would be
the only bidder, therefore it would be a
great convenience if he was permitted to
cut the pine and skid it ahead Of the day
of the sale. If the representation had
been true and the amount of pine had
been $4,000 feet instead of 100000, the case
would not have been so serious. A lot
of explaining must be done and If this
explanation results in putting the state
! land back into market so it can be bought
and improved the present middle will not
| have been in vain.