The Minneapolis journal., 1903-12-07
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal.
Cass Lake, Mimi. Dec. Wv. A. Rich
ards, commissioner Of the general land
office at Washington, who has been in
CaSS Lake conducting the sale of pine
timber, left on Sunday for Washington.
That he was much pleased at the extraor-
dinarY success Of the sale he was not at
all backward in admitting.
\ noteworthy incident of the sale was
the number Of bids put in by persons,
who. it is said, represent the Weyerhaeu-
ser lumber syndicate. This great lumber
firm put in several bids covering every
section separately and one covering the
whole bunch Of timber to be disposed Of
The aggregate amount of this one bid
indicates what the facts are relative to the
requirements of the secretary of the In
terror as to the destroying of the tops
and debris left after logging. 1t was con-
tended first that this requirement would
result in the bidders not offering the min
imum price required under the Morris
Iaw--s4 thousand for Norway pine and
IS for white. The falsity of this state
ment Is herewith proven. The bid re-
ferred to above was for S1,375, 900, and
SIC a. thousand for Norway and s12
a thousand for white pine. This was
almost three times the minimum price re-
quired.
Best of All Sales.
G. I. Parker. chief Of the railway and
public lands department of the general
land office at Washington, who has been
in the service for years. and who was
here assisting at the sale. says:
This sale was by far the greatest sue
cess Of any ever held by the depart
ment. and the bids offered were for better
amounts than any ever given at a sale
conducted by the department or by the
state officials Of Minnesota. We are
greatly pleased with the results, and we
know that the attempted injunction of
some people will avail them nothing
while this sale has been productive of
much money for the Indian, the sale to
be held on the 2Sth will undoubtedly bring
more money, AS the timber then to be
sold is in a more compact body and is
easily accessible to railroads. and there
fore can be handled to advantage. We
shall consider the bids as rapidly as pos
sible and let the result be known at the
earliest possible date"
No "Straw Bids"
One Of the admirable features of the
Norris law was the requiring of a certi-
fed check for 20 per cent Of the full value
OF the bid offered as guarantee Of good
faith. These checks, in case g. bidder Is
successful in getting his timber and de-
cides to back out Of his agreement, are
forfeited to the government. This ar
rangement prevented the possibility of
straw bids. On the other hand, the un-
successful bidders are to have their checks
returned to them at once. This provision
was inserted in the Morris law at the per-
sonal request of Major Scott, acting In
dian agent.
Another good feature of the law Is that
1T provides for scalpers who can check or
those employed by the lumbermen, thus
assuring absolutely fair scaling.
The awarding Of the contracts under
the bids will probably not be done unit
Tuesday or Wednesday. Messrs. POLLOCK
and Parker. Of the general land office a.
Washington. will remain here until the
successful bidders determined.
Bids Offered.
The following Is a list Of the bidder
giving the highest and lowest bids the.
offered:
Mimi, 173 bids by sections; white pine, hghes
bid. white S.. Norway ST. Nineteen cen grow grou
bids by the same company; Highest bid, whit
pine. S9.1o: Norway. $3.50. Lowest, white
$5.32: Norway. 81. .O2.
Standard Lumber company. Dubuque, Iowa. 8
bids for sections. Highest bid white pine, so.
way. $40. Five group bids by same company
white. $40 to $3.50; Norway: $500 to s4io.
Northland Pine company. st. Paul. a5 grou
Norway. SO. Lowest bid. white, SIS; Norway
81. Fifty bids for sections, white pine, average
$5: Norway, average. 81.
a., a. Neils ,;t Lumber company' Gass Lake. ts1
white Sc; Norway, S5.25.
B. P. Munson. Grand Rapids. Mimi, IS bic
for sections: Highest for white pine. $7.1t
Norway. $713. Lowest, white, $6.6S; Norwa.
$685.
West g. Bunncss. Minneapolis two bids. Higl
est, white pine, $6.10: Norway. $6.10.