The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1903-07-23
state Lands.

sale of he Wisconsin state lands is
causing considerable interest among
prospective land buyers, more
especially among those who are plan
ming on securing only the amount
necessary to make for themselves
and families comfortable homes for
the future.
The placing of these lands on the
market is the result of the enactment
of the senate substitute for bill No. |
as follows "To establish system
of state forestry; promote improved
methods of forestry; making an APP
preparation therefor; providing for
the disposition of the public lands !;
and amendatory of chapter 10 and
73a of the statutes of 1898.
1t is evident that the spirit which
prompted the introduction and
passage of the bill was to get the
state lands in the hands of actual
settlers. Time has worked wonders
in the condition of affairs in the
northern tier of counties. There is
no longer a disposition on the part
of the lumberman TO play grab In
securing possession of large tracts
of these northern lands as was the
case in the years of the past, when
millionaires were made by the score
in stripping the pine and converting
the same into lumber.
The days of Wisconsin land grab
is thing of the past. The sound of
the woooman's axe and the hum of
the saw mill will be silenced entirely
in the course of few years. While
northern Wisconsin has vast indus
trial interests pine is no longer king.
The millionaire lumberman, once
looked up to as car, is fast being
regulated, to give place to men of
more permanence in the world of
Industrial activity. The iumberman
is migrating to the promised land
of the west to carve out fortunes
among the stately pines of the Paci-
fc slope.
The people of north Wisconsin are
not asleep to the necessity of SUD-
shutting for the saw mill and the
lumber jack industries of perran.
ence and laborers vino not give to a
city that uncertain floating popula-
ton as has been the case in the in
dustrial era about to close. For
several years. too, they have been
awake to the fact that there are
grand possibilities in the agricultur-
al development of that section of the
state. During the past decade there
has been a transformation scene that
would convert the skeptic possessed
of the mis- taken idea that the land
to the north is but wilderness, if
he could bnt see the land "before
and after taking"
The purpose of the law enacted at
the recent session was not 10 dole
the 340, 900 acres of these lands out
in large tracts. Neither was the
motive so philan thropic as to gratuit-
ously give the lands away to insure
actual settlement. Actual settlers,
however are the desired purchasers.
The law provides that no person can
buy more than 100 acres in one year.
The prices to be asked will be the
same as are asked bv private parties
in the same localities. AS near as
can be ascertained at the present
time the lands will be rom So per
acre upwards.
The lands to be sold are those that
are in fact swamp land, all suitable
for agricultural purposes. all isolat-
ed tracts of 80 acres or less, all wood
lands adjacent to cultivated farms
and the residue or sandy lands that
would constitute the state forestry.
The bill provides for the appoint
ment of fire wardens in twenty-nine
OF the northern counties as follows:
Ashland, Burnett, Bayfield, Clark,
Chippewa, Douglas. Dunn, Eau
Claire, Florence, Forest, Iron, Polk,
Jackson, Langlade, Lincoln, Price,
Marathon, Marinette, Oconto, Wood,
Oneida, Portage, Sawyer, Shawano,
Taylor, Villas, Waupaca, and Wash
ington.
The bill provides that the sale of
the state lands will begin between
October 18th and November 18th
next. The sales will take place at
the county seats where there are