The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-03-03

uuO never Ueeu u BrunOer IOr08t Oh
pine than that which clothed them.
At the ten mile point he came upon
dam. II was a crude dam, built Of
logs, whose face consisted Of strong
buttresses slanted up stream and whose
sheer was made of Embarked timbers
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 Its presence bewildered him.
Such constructions are often thrown
across logging streams at proper in
tervals in order that the operator may
be Independent Of the spring freshets.
The device is common enough, but 1t
Is expensive. People do not build
dams except in the certainty OF some
years Of logging, and quite extensive
logging at that. II the stream happens
to be navigable the promoter must first
get an Improvement charter from a
board of control appointed by the
state. So Thorpe knew that he had
to deal not with hand to mouth lum-
Der thief, but with a great company
preparing to log the country on big
scale.
He continued his journey. At noon
he came to another and similar struc-
ture. Here he left his pack and pushed
ahead in light marching order. About
eight miles above the first dam and
eighteen from the bend of the river
he ran into "slashing" Of the year
before The decapitated stumps were
already beginning TO turn brown with
weather; the tangle Of tops and limbs
was partially concealed by poplar
growths and wild raspberry vines.
To Thorpe this particular clearing be-
came at once of the greatest interest.
He scrambled over and through the
ugly debris which for n year or two
after logging operations cumbers the
ground. BY rather prolonged search
he found what he sought-the section
corners" of the tract, on which the gov
ernment surveyor had long ago marked
the descriptions" A glance ut the
map confirmed his suspicious. The
slashing lay some two miles north Of
the sections designated as belonging TO
private parties. 1t was government
land.
Thorpe sat down. lit pipe and did
little thinking.
He had that very morning passed
through beautiful timber lying much
nearer the mouth Of the river than
either this or the sections farther south.
Why had these men deliberately ascend
ed the stream? Why had they stolen
timber eighteen miles from the bend
when they could equally we'll have stol-
rn just as good fourteen miles nearer
the terminus of their drive?
Thorpe suddenly remembered the
two dams and his idea that the men in
charge of the river must be wealthy
and must intend operating on large
scale. He thought he glimpsed 1t. Aft
er another pipe he felt sure.
The unknowns were indeed going in
on large scale. They intended even.
tually to log The whole Of the Ossa-
winnmakee basin. For this reason they
had made their first purchase, planted
their first fOOthold near the headwa-
ters. Some day they would buy all the
standing government pine in the basin,
but in the meantime they would steal
all they could at sufficient distance
from the lake to minimize the danger
Of discovery. Every stick cut meant
20 much less to purchase later on.
Thorpe knew that men occupied in
so precariOus business would be keen
ly OH the watch. At the first hint Of
rivalry they would buy In the timber
had set his fighting blood to racing.
They undoubtedly wanted the tract
down river. Well, 50 did he!
He purposed to look 1t over carefully,
to ascertain its exact boundaries and
what sections il would he necessary to
buy in order to include it, and perhaps
even to estimate it in rough way. In
the accomplishment of this he would
have to spend the summer and perhaps
part of the fall In that district He
could hardly expect to escape notice.
by the indications on the river he
judged that crew of men had shortly
before taken out drive. OF logs. After
the timber had been RATED and towed
to Marquette they would return. He
might be able to hide in the forest, but
sooner or later, he was sure. one of the
cOmpany's land lockers or hunters
would stumble on his camp. Then his
very concealment would tell them
what he was after The risk was too
great, for. above all things. Thorpe
needed time. He had, as has been said.
to ascertain what he could offer. Then
he had to offer 1t. He would be forced
to interest capital, and that is matter
Of persuasion and leisure.
Finally his shrewd, intuitive good
sense flashed the solution on him. He
returned rapidly to his pack, assumed
the straps and arrived ut the first dam
about dark of the long summer day.
There he looked carefully about him.
Some fifty feet from the waters edge
birch knoll supported, besides the
birches, single big hemlock. With
his belt ak Thorpe cleared away the
little white trees. He stuck the sharp
ened end of one of them In the bark of
the shaggy hemlock, fastened the other
end in crotch eight or ten feet dis
tant, slanted the rest Of the saplings
along one side OF this rldgepole and
turned In, after hasty supper, leaving
the completion Of his permanent camp
to the morrow.
In the morning he thatched smooth
the roof Of the shelter, using for the
purpose the thick branches Of heml0cks,