Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-12-14


 est His equipment was sim
 pie in the extreme. Attached to a heavy leather belt of cartridges hung a two pound ax and sheath knife In his pocket reposed compass, an air tight tin of matches and a map drawn on oiled paper of district divided into sections. Some few of the sections were colored, which indicated that they Belonged to private parties. All the rest was state or government land. He carried in his hand a repeating rife. The pack, If opened, would have been found to contain Woolen and rubber blanket, fishing tackle, twenty pounds or So of flour, a package of tea, sugar, a slab of bacon carefully wrapped in oiled cloth, salt, suit of underwear and several extra pairs of thick stock ings. To the outside of the pack had been strapped frying pan, a tin pail and a cup.
 He had not met human being or seen any indications of man excepting always the old blaze of the govern ment survey. Many years before, off cials had run careless lines through the country along the section bound aries. These latter stated always the section, the township and the range east or west by number. All Thorpe had to do was to find the same figures on his map. He knew just where he was.
 The map he had procured at the United States land office in Detroit. He had set out for the purpose of Hooking a suitable bunch of pine in the northern peninsula, which at the time was practically untouched. Ac- cess to the interior could only be ob- tained on foot or by river. The South Shore railroad had as yet penetrated only as far as Seney. Marquette, Me nominee and a few smaller places along the coast were numbering near at home, but they shipped entirely by water.
 Thorpe. with the farsightedness of the pioneer, had perceived that the ex- ploitation of the upper country was an affair of few years only. The north would not prove as accessible as it now seemed, for the carrying trade would some day realize that the en- tire waterway of the great lakes of fered an unrivaled outlet. With that discovery would begin a rush to the new country. He resolved to antici- pate 1t and by acquiring his holdings before general attention should be turn ed that way to obtain the best
 He was without money and practi- eaIly without friends, while govern ment and state lands cost respectively $2.5O and $1.25 an acre, cash down. But he relied on the good sense of cap atalists to perceive from the statistics which his explorations would furnish the wonderful advantages of logging new country with the chain of great lakes as shipping outlet at it's very door. Tn return for his information he would expect half interest in the enterprise.
 Thorpe was by no means the first to see the money in northern pine. Out side the big mill districts already named cuttings of considerable size were .aGseady under way, the logs from which were usually sold to the mills of Marquette and Menominee.
 But work was on small scale and with an eye to the immediate. present only. It was accomplished by purchas- ing one forty and cutting a dozen Thorpe's map showed often near the forks of an important stream section whose coloring indicated private pos session. Legally the owners had the right only to the pine included in the marked sections, but if any one had taken the trouble to visit the district he would have found operations going on for miles up and down stream. The colored squares would prove to be noth- ing but so many excuses for being on the ground. The bulk of the pine was stolen from unbought state or govern ment land.
 This in the old days was a common enough trick.
 Thorpe was perfectly conversant with this state of affairs. He knew also that in all probability many of the col. ored districts on his map represented firms anuaucH s~ in gfeaIax0f qrnafsr or