Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-06-10
Eueinu Times 3puhira, llarshatpu, anua rda a 1904

To Thorpe this particular clearing be
came at once of the greatest interest
He scrambled over and through the
ugly debris which for year or two
after logging operations cumbers the
ground. By rather prolonged search
he found what he sought-the "sectioL
corners" of the tract, on which the gov
! eminent surveyor had long ago marked
the descriptions" A glance at the
map confirmed his suspicious The
slashing lay some two miles north OF
! the sections designated as belonging tC
private parties. 1t was government,
land.
Thorpe sat down, lit pipe and did a
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 well have stol-
en- 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 it. Aft
err another pipe he felt sure.
The unknowns We're indeed going in
on large scale. They intended even
tually to log the whole of the Ossa-
winamakee basin. For this reason they
had made their first purchase. planted
their first foothold. near the headwa-
tiers 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
SO much less to purchase later on.
Thorpe knew that men occupied in
SO precarious business would be keen
ly on the watch. At the first hint Of
rivalry they would buy in the timber
they had selected. But the situa Aon
had set his hghting blood to racing
iQSy undOuDJeQiS wanted the tract
down river. Well, SO did he!
He purposed to look it over carefully
to ascertain its exact boundaries and
what sections it would be 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
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 it. 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 at the first dam
about dark of the long summer day.
! There he looked carefully about him.
Some fifty feet from the waters edge
a 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 matched smooth
the roof of the shelter, using for the
purpose the thick branches of hemlocks,
placing two green spruce logs side by
side as cooking range. slung his pot on
a rod across two forked sticks. cut
and split quantity Of wood, spread
his blankets and called himself estab-
lished
For some days he made no effort to
look over the pine, nor did he intend
to begin until he could be sure of doing
50 IN s"f"e' Ills object now was to