The Minneapolis journal., 1904-12-31
CIRCLE
IN LOGGING WORK
PECULIAR STATE OF AFFAIRS AT
CASS LAKE.
Indian Agent s son-in-Law and the Lat
ter's Brother and Father Have the
Checking Up. Of All Weyerhaeuser
Work on Reservation In Their Hands.

Checking Up Of All Weyerhaeuser
Work on Reservation In Their Hands.
To the Editor of The Journal.
in connection with the Weyerhaeuser
logging operations in progress on the
Indian reservations in the vicinity of
Cass Lake, MINI. In brief, the condi-
tion is this: One family is sole arbiter
of the scaling OF timber and of any diff
ferences that may arise between the
government and the Weyerhaeusers.
Before going into the story, it may
be well to relate little history of the
reservation timber sales.
What is known as the Nelson law was
passed by congress on Jan. IA, 1889,
providing for the sale of all Norway
and white pine timber on the ceded
lands of the Pigeon River, Fond du
Lac, Bois Fort, Deer Creek and parts
Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth
reservations, the adult male Indians on
said reservations first giving their con-
sent. A small amount of timber was
offered. for sale in the, panic year of
1893, but as the lumbermen were gen
orally engaged at that time in protect
ing what they had, rather than in buy
IT.,
was bid and the sale was failure.
No further offerings of timber were
made until 1903.
Morris Bill Held Up.
In 1901 Congressman Morris of the
then sixth district Of Minnesota intro
duced a bill peremptorily ordering the
disposal of such timber as was desig
mated in the Nelson law, less per
Wh tn
forestry purposes; but thru the vigor-
Gus fight of the lumbermen, backed by
the forestry reserve interests, the bill
was held up and not passed until June
81 Of the following year. On that date,
however, the bill became law and the
first toee sale ~ under it was ma made on Dec.
same year, and the next and latest on
| Nov. Is and II, 1904.
| Weyerhaeusers High Bidders.
! At the time of the first sale, Dec. 5,
1903, the Weyerhaeuser interests outbid
all other lumbermen for the choicest
pieces of timber and, consequently, Sc
cured the lion s share. At the sale of
suit was attained by the Weyerhaeu-
! sers.
The competing lumbermen openly de-
clare that they could not afford to bid as
high for the reservation timber as did
the .Weyerhaeusers. Nevertheless, they
claim to, be able to do the logging just
as cheaply and sell to just as good ad,
vantage as the successful bidders.
NATURALLY nn,,;a the question arises: uHoW
more than anybody else?'' 49,
haeusers do their own logging. Many
Minneapolis loggers say that it is use
less to seek from the Weyerhaeusers
logging contracts on the reservations
for; no matter how attractive the
figures they will be unceremoniously
turned down. The Weyerhaeusers are
doing and will continue to do their OWL
logging on the reservations.
How the Marshall Family Figures.
i There are two sets of scalers for thi:
work. One set is known as the Indiar
|scalers, who look after the government, ,,
/ interests or rather the interests of thu
set of scalers is employed by Weyer
haeuser. Then there is crew employed
by the government bureau Of forestry
to see that the required per cent 0:
timber on the reservations is left un
touched for forestry purposes, as pro
vided in the law ordering the disposa
Of timber, and that the 5 per cent con
sists Of good timber and not of culls
The scales of both sides-those of tn
; government and those of the Weyer
haeuser interests-must be turned int
the office Of Major Scott, the India1
agent, whero they are compared ant
adjusted, and the Indebtedness of tn
Weyerhaeusers to the government com
puted. The two scalers represent dia
| metrically opposite interests and tn
: receipts Of the Indians depend entirel
on the result Of these scales.
The Marshall Fanily's Cinch.
Now comes the meat of the story: 7
: start with, Ed Marshall, who has Jus
: been given complete charge Of tn
3 bureau Of forestry work and has here
: tofore been first assistant and practica
:: Of Major Scott, the Indian agent, wh
has complete supervision of the Who'll
= work Of removing the timber from tn
reservation. =,
: Then Harry Marshall, brother of E
!. Marshall, is in Major Scott s office an
!. has direct charge Of the Indian scaler
n Then comes George Marshall, fathe
< Of Ed and Harry Marshall, Maje
: Scott s right-hand. man, who is
:. charge Of. the logging operations an
!. of the scalers for the Weyerhaeuser il
o terests. This Marshall combinatio
= may be mere coincidence. But in til
9 scaling of timber, it is highly improb'
2 BILE that the records of the Indian sea
= ers and of the Weyerhaeuser scalers wi
be identical. Both have to be turned
: to Harry Marshall, so that in cas-
q George Marshall, chief scaler for We,
q q erhaeuser, should scale short, thei
> might be the spectacle of Harry Ma
shall forced to call down his ow
father. It should be. added that tt
question of quality of timber cut is O.
tirely in their hands, also.
r Again. Ed Marshall, as expert for Il
to it that. in leaving 5 per cent of Il
timber for forestry purposes, Il
Weyerhauser loggers leave good timb
~ and not cnlls which would be wort