Mower County transcript., 1904-03-23


time was practfcaIfy untouched.
cess to the interior could only be ob-
tafned on foot or By river The South
Shore railroad had, as VET penetrated.
only as far as Seney Marquette
nominee and 81 Few rslnailer piaces,.
along the coast were numbering near at
home. but they shipped entirely BY
water. Il :5}.S#s.S s @
! Thorpe. with the farsightedness of
the pioneer. had perceived that the ex-
! ploitation of the upper country was an.
Lffair 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-
|stire waterway 81 the great lakes. Of
l.fered an unriyaled outlet With that
discovery would begin rush to the
new. country He resolved to antiei-
pate it and by acquiring, his holdings
before general attention should be turn
ed that way; to tobtaini the best. t.jSt5si 4
He was without money and practi-
cally without friends; while govern
ment and state lands cost respectively
$3.50 and ,$1.25 an acre, cash down.
But he relied on the good sense Of cap
italists to perceive from the statistics
which his explorations would furnish
the wonderful advantages Of logging
a new country with the chain Of great
lakes as shipping outlet at it's very
door. In 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 already under way, the logs from
which were usually sold to the mills of
Marquette and Menominee.
But work was on 4 small scale and
with an eye to the immediate present
only. It was accomplished by purchas
ing one forty and cutting 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 opera tons going
on for miles up and down stream. The
colored squares would prove to be moth
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 engaged in steals sof5greater or
less magnitude. He was further aware
that most of the concerns stole the tim
ber because it was cheaper to steal
than to buy, but that they would buy
q readily enough if forced to do so in or
der to prevent it's acquisition by anoth-
Ter. In his exploration, therefore. he de-
cided to employ the utmost circumspec-
ton. He would pose as hunter and
ii fisherman. 49,. i,
III For a week he journeyed through
Imagnificent timber, working, always
sEmore and more to the north. until final
lily he stood on the shores Of Superior.
He resolved to follow the shore west
4 to the mouth of fairly large river
called the Ossawinamakee It showed
in common with most streams of it's
size. land already taken. but Thorpe
hoped to find good timber near the
mouth. After several days hard walk
ing with this object in view he found
himself directly north of bend in the
river, SO he turned through the woods
due south, with the intention of strik-
ing in on the stream. This he succeed
ed in accomplishing some twenty miles
inland, where also he discovered well
defined and recently used trail leading
up the river. Thorpe camped one night
at the bend and then set out to follow
the TRAIL
1t led him for upward of ten miles
nearly due south. sometimes approach
ing, sometimes leaving, the river, but
keeping always in it's direction. The
country in general was rolling. Low
parallel ridges Of gentle declivity glid
ed constantly. across his way, theil
valleys sloping to the river. Thorpe
had never seen grander forest OF
pine than that which clothed them.
T. At the ten mile point he came upon
a dam. It was a crude dam, built OF
logs, whose face consisted of strong
) buttresses slanted up stream and whose
sheer was made of Embarked t1mbers
laid smoothly side by side at the re-
Quired angle. At present its gate was
, open.
The purpose of the dam in this new
country did not puzzle him in the
, least, but it's presence bewildered him
. Such constructions are often thrown
, across logging streams at proper in
tervals in order that the operator may