The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-09-19

But the time has come when the
value OF the timber removed is
more than the cost of the clearing
Much, however, is still burned or
otherwise destroyed that in Penn
sylvania would be of great value
But when this serious business
Of clearing is done, the settler is
not only compensated by the sale
of the timber but he has some
thing for his work in soil of great
richness. Not only in the valleys
and on the rugged hillsides and in
the deepest forest is the soil of re-
markable fertility and vigor. The
strength of the soil is we'll tested in
some of the older settlements, as
in Washington and Yamhill coun-
ties, where cultivated lands are of
great value by reason Of the we'll
known productiveness of the soil.
With the other gentlemen &C
companying me is was upon some
of the best timbered lands in the
State. To get there we went to
Hillsboro, county seat Of Wash
lngton county, twenty miles dis
tant. This place also enjoys the
distinction of having the oldest
person in the United States. 1t is
a woman over 100 years. On the
fourth of July last with appropriate
ceremony she was crowned queen
of Oregon. Judge Williams of this
place delivered the address. There
we stayed over night and from
there we went to Buxton seventeen
miles distant and present terminus
OF the railroad. From there we
drove 10 miles over a mountain
and for several miles close to the
Nehalem river to VERONA at the
point where Rock Creek flows into
the Nehalem. At this point
the creek appears larger
than the river. From that point
we drove about ten miles to Keazey
Post Office, on Rock Creek, kept
by George Stitt, with whom we
stopped for the night aud from that
point went up the creek about one
and one-half miles where camped.
The way up the creek was through
dense underground and very diff
cult travelling. To see the timber
of the kind referred to, we travelled
FIVE or six miles futther into the
wilderness encountering more diff
cult travelling.
The size to the timber is almost
fabulous. Trees Of "a, IS, % and
even 80 feet in circumference are
found. The length of the timber, its
slowly and gradually decreasing
diameter and its freedom from
damaging knots and limbs for a
great height are as remarkable as
the great girth, few feet from the
ground. The yellow fir and white
cedar are the prevailing timbers of
the region where we were. This
timber has greatly increased in
value in the last ten years and will
much more rapidly increase in the
next ten years both because of
rapid consumption of the timber of
the country and the nearer access
to the railroads now projected or
in process of construction. The
facilities for handling big timber
has kept pace with its growth. In
stead of cutting roads to the tim
Der and dragging it out to the
skidding place, as in former days,
an engine in placed at or near tie
railroad and by wire ropes the
trees, some of them 100 feet or
more in length, are dragged from
the stump to the skidding place,
and by another engine on the rail
road from the skids to the car.
The unloading process, at the 9th
er end of the line, is equally novel
and efficient. Instead of rolling
the log from the car, and engine is
put on a side track by the loaded
car and from it wire rope runs
around the whole load and in
few seconds that whole load dump
ed into pool. Another novelty
was to find a whole camp outfit,