The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1906-01-19
PRICES OF STUMPAGE
Big Advance In Northwest During
Past Twenty Years.

The high prices that white pine
stumpage is commanding today
throughout the Northwest has called
out some interesting figures showing
the gradual but steady increase In
prices during the last twenty years, as
the timber has steadily disappeared,
says the Duluth Herald.
i In Michigan, the prices Of pine
stumpage on an acre basis twenty
years ago, as taken from the files of
lumber journals of that date show
that In 1866 white pine was worth
from 81 to s1.25 peracre. In Wisconsin
and Minnesota, twenty years ago pine
timber lands could be bought for rs
cents and so cents per thousand feet.
| Today, thousand feet basis pine
commands from $40 to s25 in Michigan
and from - to sl5 in Minnesota and
Wisconsin.
There are three controlling factors.
the lumbermen claim, regulating the
value Of timber. These are location
and accessibility: quality and density
Of growth. In some locations it is said
that the operator would have to pay
an extra dollar in order to conduct his
operations and In such case the tim
Der Is considered worth that much
less. In other tracts the timber is
faulty, or with natural defects and in
still other localities the timber Is so
scattered, both conditions thaC must
be considered In arriving at value
when prospective purchaser puts in
his estimators.
From 1850 to 1850 it is said thai
white pine was sold entirely the acre
and between 1860 and 1870 the prices
were adjusted on stumpage basis
running from % cents Is cents per
thousand feet.
Between the years 1870 and 1879
prices grew stronger so that by 1880
they were generally around the marks
OF 81 to $3.50 per thousand feet. From
1879 to 1884 there was marked stiff
fleming In stumpage values and by 1885
lumbermen were paying from % to 81
fper Thousand. After that it was not
long before the prices mounted steadi-
ly upward past the IS, the % and the
81 marks. At the present time the
price is not narrowly circumscribed.
II said that sales OF Minnesota pine
have been made as low as 81 and as
high as $40 per thousand feet.
Attention has been called to the
fact that the difference between the
present prices and those obtained forty
or fifty years ago Is not explained full
ly by price variation, for the reason
that tracts Of pine that would today
bring from IS to $40 per thousand feet
could not have beeu sold thirty years
ago at any price. In the early days
lumbermen logged only first class tim
Der as was the only kind saleable. At
the present time they log everything
and scarcely leave the leaves and tops.
Commenting on the variation OF
prices the American Lumberman says
but little pine is left in either. the up
per or lower peninsula of Michigan.
Wisconsin has yielded the greater por-
tion of its pine and Minnesota contri-
buted more than half the amount
that it contained originally.
Experienced lumbermen say that
tracts Of pure white pine timber are
hard to get at any figure nowadays,
that some of the stumpage sold con-
talns about equal quantities of white
pine, Norway and tamarack and
prices vary with the proportion each
timber bears to the the total amount.
1.-The ratio Of increase in timber
prices has been greater in the past
than seems possible in the future"
says the Lumberman.
Timber bought at $3.50 per acre ten
years ago and sold at SIS, or valued at
that, shows gain in price of 600 per
cent. The same ratio Of increase on
purchases made today would mean
price OF $50 per acre IN ten years and
not even the most optomistic timber
holders has set the mark so high.
While the price per acre probably will
show greater gain during the next
) period just ended, the percentage of
increase will be much smaller and the
amounts invested much greater. While
future records may and probably will
show earnings as large as those of the
past they will represent smaller per
. cent OF profit on the greater amount
OF capital employed and render it diff
cult for the man or concern OF small
means to secure a foothold.n