The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-05
THE BLAZED TREE.
It's 1ndisputable Record as Boundary
 Mark in the Forests.


 Mark in the Forests
 1 No Maine woodsman, guide, forester, or camper-out needs to be told the meaning of "blaze''-he knows 1t as he knows the alphabet. And should we turn to the latest and best dictionary we should find it to mean: ITO indicate the bark of a number of trees in sue
 cession, as to blaze a path through forest" In the early days when Maine was nearly all wods, when clearings were being made and there were few or no roads, travel from place to place or from neighbor to neighbor was by means of the blazed paths through the
 forest. Hunters and woodsmen are in
 the habit of blazing their course through the deep woods in order that they may not become lost, but at any
 point can retrace their steps, and by
 means of the blazed trees return to
 their place of starting or of entering
 the woods.
 To blaze is to slip off from the trees
 by an axe or hatchet a portion of the
 bark of the trees, cutting sufficiently
 deep to take off a small portion of the
 wood beneath the bark. In blazing for
 ap ath very small trses are cut, while in
 blazing for the bounds of lot or q town
 or a farm line, larger trees are selected
 the blaze being usually made breast
 high When, however. as is often the
 case, lines are blazed upon deep snows
 in writer off snowshoes, the snow being
 some seasons four to six feet deep, the
 blaze is high up on the trees. After such blazes have grown over and his
 lines are hunted for in after years, it is often necessary to look high up upon
 the trees for them, which failing to do often gives surveyors much trouble in
 locating or following lines.
 In running a line or establishing bounds through forest the surveyor blazes in this manner. If the line goes
 to the left of tree designed to be blazed, the tree is blazed upon the right side if to the right the tree is blazed upon the left side; if the line strikes the tree plump it is blazed upon both tho front and rear sides. In running q boundary line as a corner where two lines come together either monument is erected--a stake and four powders being usually regarded as uch a monu- mentor a tree is blazed on all four sides or, as is sometimes the case, three or four trees are scared so as to indi- cate as nearly as possible the turning point in the line or in other words, it's corner around which they grow. In this state the surveyor registers the dis tanoe from one of these posts or monu- ments at every even mile, thereby es- tablishng his line with absolute cer- tainty at that point and giving sec- ondary basis for the written descrip- tion of the boundary required in title deeds and abstracts of claims.
 The permanency of the record made by blazing trees is quite remarkable, and it is a matter of fact that in many cases of disputed lines or boundaries of lots in forest land, the courts have held the record of the blazes where carefully drawn plans and formally attested title deeds have been set aside as con tainng possible errors. The wound of the blazed tree heals over but never so that the scar will not be readily recognized by the experienced Therefore so long as the blazed tree escapes the axe of the lum- berman so long such tree is an inef- faceable record to the truth of the lines The surveyors recorded figures may be in error and his written description may not coincide with the line he has tlaced on the tree trunks with his hatchet but blazes are unchanging, and in court of law they are undisputable evidence They cannot be made to lie, no cross-examination can confuse them, l no argument can confute them, they fix dates as accurately as they preserve The outer shell which has | grown over the scar is sawed awy and | the rings in the wood beneath the bark l testify to the date
 This whole subject is most interest," | Ing, Whether taken as an early land ! mark in the history of the state before | roads were common, as establishing | bounds of farms, or settling disputed | poit in town or great lot lines in l 2ases before courts, the blazed tree is a | factor of historic and legal importance /! that can hardly be overestimated.-I Bangor Com merCia1