Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1907-03-23
THE FOREST SERVICE Of
FERS BARGAINS IN TIMBER.
Large Quantities of Good Timber Killed
by the Bark Beetle Offered for Sale
by the Forest Service.

ny Tue Il OAGbl service.
The United States Forest Service is ad-
vertising for purchasers of the dead and
insect-infested timber in the southern
portion Of the Black Hills Forest Re
serve in South Dakota The area south
OF the Lawrence and Pennington county
lines, is the tract affected. Within the
boundaries of this area, however the
timber on patented lands, valid mineral
or agricultural claims, and certain other
areas together with that on areas cover.
ed with sales which are already in pro.
gress, is excluded from sale. The sound
merchantabe material, excluding these
areas is estimated at two hundred and
fifty million feet, board measure
At present, many small operators are
cutting this material, but their opera
tions are confined to the vicinity of the
railroads, where wagon hauling has
been their only feasible means of trans.
portation. Beyond the limit of these
operations and even within it are still
immense quantities of good dead and
insect-infested timber, to which the gov
ernment hopes to attract parties who
will operate on large scale Timber
not now accessible can be reached un.
der operations extensive enough to war
rant the building of the necessary rail.
roads or the use Of traction engines.
The larger part of this section of the
reserve is not very rough, so thatloggng
in most cases is an easy matter. Good
wagon roads are numerous, and grading
for the construction of logging roads is
seldom necessary. Good water is every
where plentiful, and many excellent
saw mill sites exist to which the timber
would come easily for long distances by
down.hilI haus
An this material is western yellow or
bull pine, which has been killed or is at
present infested by the bark beetle. The
insect which in the adult stage is stout
black beetle from one sixth to one-fourth
Of an inch in length, has increased so
rapidly that it has got beyond the con-
troll of the Forest Service in this portion
of the Black Hills Forest Reserve. Over
large areas fully fifty to seventy Eve per
cent of all standing timber is dead or in.
tested. In other places the dead and
insect.infested trees occur in numerous
patches varying in size from few thou
sand up to several thousand feet, board
measure
The life history of the insect is briefly
as follows: The adults emerge from the
trees during the months of July, August
and September, and, flying in swarms,
attack healthy green trees. The beetles,
working in pairs, excavate longitudinal
galleries through the inner layer of the
bark and groove the surface ofthe wood
The female deposits her eggs at Intervals
along the sides of this gallery and after
the gallery has been completed the par
ent beetles die. Most Of the eggs soon
hatch into small white grubs or larvae,
which mine at right angles to the pri-
mary galleries through the inner bark,
on which they feed The larvae from
adjacent galleries working in the same
manner soon completely girdle the tree.
Most of the insects pass the winter in
the larval stage, and in the spring they
deyelope into the pupa, or transforma-
tion stage, and then into adults, which
emerge from the trees, as above describ-
ed, to continue their depreciation. These
facts have been established by a careful
study of the insect by DR.. A. d. Hop
kins, in charge of forest insect investga-
tions in the Bureau of Entomology.
Soon after the attack Of the bark beet
les, the wood of the pine begins to turn
blue This blue color is due to a fungus
in the wood cells. The blueing contin-
ues rapidly until in the Spring the sap
wood is entirely blue and then works
more slowly into the heartwood. The
so.called insectinfested trees are those
in which the insects are TO be found in
any stage of their development. After
infection these trees remain green usu-
ally until early Spring, when the leaves
| begin to die In this condition the
heartwood has usually not begun to blue
and lumber cut from such trees is sold as
green cut timber and in fact is just as
good as that cut from unin fected trees
The insect in no way Injuries the wood.
The dead timber is that from which
the beetles have emerged and whose
needles have died. It's conditions de-
pends on the length of time it has been
still found, known as "red-top" is prac-
tically always sound. Most of the lum-
ber sawed from ,''red-top" trees is blue,
but for many practical purposes this is
Just as good as that sawed from green or
lnsectinfested trees, Ia fair percentage
of this lumber coming from the heart is
unblued and clear. About two years af-
ter the trees have been infested by the
insects the dead leaves fall and although
many of the trees in this condition
known as the "black top stage" are
sound, their soundness is uncertain.
test made in the testing laboratory
of the department of civil engineering
Of Washington University, Saint Louis
to determine the comparative strength
Of the "blue" and the healthy timber
using over fifteen hundred pieces in the
test, showed that the blue" timber is
slightly stronger, both when compressed
endwise and when broken crosswise.
The durability of blue bug killed
, wood, exposed to moisture is not SC
, great as that of green cut timber. Fol
! building purposes, however, where the
t wood is not exposed to moisture, it ii