Courier Democrat., 1904-05-12


a heavy leather belt OF cartridges hung
q two pound ak and a sheath knife. In
his pocket reposed compass, an air
tight tin of matches and 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
carsied in his hand repeating rife.
The pack, il opened, would have been
found to contain woolen and rubber
blanket, fishing tackle, twenty pounds
or SO Of -four, package of tea, sugar,
q slab of bacon carefully wrapped in
oilel cloth, salt, a suit Of underwear
and several extra pairs Of thick stock
tngs. To the outside Of the pack had
been strapped frying pan. tin pail
and cup.
He had not met a 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
'looking" a suitable bunch of pine in
the northern peninsula. which at the
time was practically untouched. Ac-
cess to the interior could only be OBJ
tained on foot or by river. The South
Shore railroad had as yet penetrated
only as far as Seney. Marquette, Me:
nominee and few smaller places
along the coast were numbering near at
home, but they shipped entirely by
water.
Thorpe, with the farsightedness CT
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 rush to the
new country. He resolved to antici-
pate it and by acquiring his holdings
before general attention should be turn
ed that way to obtain the best.
He was without money and practi-
cally without friends, while govern
ment and state lands cost respectively
$3.50 and SIPS 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
. new country with the chain Of great
lakes as shipping outlet at its very
door. In return for his information
he would expect half interest in the
enterprise.
Thorpe was by no means the first to
zee the money in northern pine. Out
aide 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 a 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 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 common
enough trick.
Thorpe was perfectly conversant with
this state Of affairs. He knew also
that in Ill probability many Of the coll
eesd districts on his map HepressntedI