Arizona republican., 1907-08-20
EXTENSION OF RI SERVES
A LIMITATION OF FIRES
One of the Claims Made by the Advo-
Gates of the National Forestry Serv-
ice.

Portland. Ore. Aug. 17.-(Special
Correspondence of the Republican,
Increasing the acreage of the national
forests. more Familiarity known as the
forest reserves. as well as adding Ia
the number OF forest rangers. is claim
ed by the friends of the Roosevelt ad-
ministration to be responsible to a
large extent for the absence of forest
fires in this state.
Others contend that We have had
more rain than usual. and still some
of the Old-timers say that there have
been summers in the past when the
forest fire was unknown.
Be that as ii may. citizens OF Port
land have not forgotten the remark of
Henry Ward Beecher. when interview
ed BY reporter as to the country and
its scenery said: Il might as well
have been in a mail sack for all | saw"
and there have been many occasions
during August when the smoke from
the innumerable forest fires hid the
scenery and almost Obscured the sky.
The increased value Of timber is
having much To do with the care the
forests are receiving. and the private
holders are guarding their great store
of wealth even more Zealously than the
government.
The advance in the values of timber
during the last three years is so enor-
nous as To be almost unbelievable.
There are three hundred billion of feet
of standing timber in oregon alone,
and counting the advance at only Sc
per- thousand feet. and in many kinds
Inn har haS
the increased value would be a billion
and a half dollars. or a hundred mill
lion more than the capitalization of the
United States Steel and Standard Oil
companies combined.
James J. Hill recently made a state
ment that one acre Of oregon timber
was worth as much to a railroad from
Ia transportation standpoint as 100
acres of wheat, or as he graphically
put it, zone harvest from your well
timbered acres gives the transporta-
ton company as much freight as the
same area in wheat would supply in a
hundred and sixty years.
The scarcity of timber throughout
the United States and Europe is prob
ably the chief reason why skilled tim
bermen from all parts of the world are
gathering in the Pacific northwest. II
is not unusual to meet men who have
made their millions out of the devel-
opment of the timber resources of
Texas. Louisiana. and Mississippi.
joining with those from Michigan,
Minnesota and Wisconsin in acquiring
timber holdings here. and the millions
that have been transferred from the
older states To the northwest in such
purchases have had much to do with
making oregon and Washington indie
pendent of Wall street in their devel-
opment.
Slab-wood. the outside or trimming
from the log. including the bark. has
become a luxury instead Of a drug on
the market. as formerly. for years
slab" has been the staple fuel for the |
home. a few years ago it was deliv- |
cred in any part of the city for dol |
lar a cord; then il rose in price. up to |
two years ago. TO $1.75 per cord. and |
the housekeepers groaned at the ad- |
vance and figured over the increased !
cost of running their furnaces and
their stoves. and many put in coal |
Now the slab-wood brings 81 per cord |
where formerly the mills were so anx-
ious to get rid of it that they used II |
as filling for the low lands around |
their grounds.
Ordinary fir wood in four foot |
lengths was formerly SO per cord; then
it rose to 81 and $3.50. Now it is SC |
per cord and the buyer is the one who |
is favored.
The waste resulting from the cree
ton of new buildings was until last |
year stacked up in the street and |
burned. 1t seemed a wasteful thing to
those from eastern states. where kind
ling is carefully put away. but the peo-
pie out here have the habit now of |
saving this waste and IL is stacked |
away in the basement for the coming
winter with the same care as it would
be in Ohio or Illinois. 4
Then in the yards of the larger mills 4
ears can be seen loading lumber for
Cleveland, New York. and even points
in Kansas and Oklahoma. just north
1f the timber belt in Texas, Louisiana
and Arkansas. There seems to be an Il
vigorous demand for large II
timbers which require two or three
ears TO transport them. and these go
to every point of the compass and are
-oday available only in the northwest
When the forest lands are cleared
hey take the name of logged off
ands'' or "cut over timber lands and
are then available for farms. fruit and
and these lands are particu-
arly sought by the newcomer.
The Increased cost OF timber for fuel
and power has caused the people of
he northwest to realize the worth of