East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1907-08-24

as the forest reserve, as we'll as add
ing to the number of forest rangers,
is claimed by the friends of the |
Roosevelt administration to be re-
sponsible to a large extent for the |
absence OF forest fires in this state, |
says a Portland correspondent.
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 1t may, citizens Of Port
land have not forgotten the remark
of Henry Ward Beecher, when inter-
viewed by reporter as to the north
west and its scenery, said: 81 might
as we'll have been in mail sack for
all l saw" And there have been
many occasions during August when
the smoke from the innumerable
forest fires hid the scenery and al
most 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 tim
Der during the last three years is so
enormous as to be almost unbeliev-
able. There are three hundred bill
lions of feet of standing timber in
Oregon alone, and counting the ad-
vance at only IS per thousand feet,
and in many kinds of lumber 1t has
been five times that. the increased
value would be a billion and a half
dollars, or a hundred million more
than the capitalization of the United
States Steel and Standard Oil compa-
nies combined.
James j. Hill recently made the
statement that one acre of Oregon
timber was worth as much to rail-
road from a transportation stand
point as 100 acres of wheat, or as he
graphically put it. zone harvest from
your well timbered acres gives the
transportation 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
probably the chief reason why skilled
timbermen from all parts of the
world are gathering in the Pacific
northwest. 1t is not unusual to meet
men who have. made their millions
out of the development 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 north
west in such purchases have had
much to do with making Oregon and
Washington Independent of Wal
street in their development.
Slabwood, the outside or trimming
from the log, including the bark, has
become luxury instead of a drug
on the market, as formerly, for year:
"slab" has been the staple fuel fol
the home. A few years ago 1t wa
delivered to any part of the city fol
81 cord; then it rose in price, up tC
two years ago to $1.75 per cord, ant
the housekeepers groaned at the ad
vance and figured over the increased
cost OF running their furnaces an'
their stoves. and many put in coal
Now this slabwood brings "a pc
cord. where formerly the mills wer
so anxious to get rid of 1t that the
used It as a filling for the low land
around their grounds.
Ordinary fir wood in four foo
lengths was formerly SO per cord
then It rose to "a and $3.50. Now
is So per cord and the buyer is tn
one who is favored. ....
The waste resulting from the erec
ton of new buildings was until las
year stacked up in the street an
burned. 1t seemed a wasteful thin
to those from the eastern state:
where kindling is carefully put away
but the people out here have the hab
it now of saving this, waste, and 1t
stacked away in the basement for tn
coming winter with the same care a
1t would be in Ohio or Illinois.
Then IN the yards of the large
mills cars can be seen loading lumbe
for Cleveland, New York and eve
points in Kansas and Oklahoma, jus
. north of the timber belt in Texa
Louisiana and Arkansas. Ther
seems to be an especially vigorou
demand for large timbers which re
quire two or three cars to transpol
them, and these go to every point {
: the compass and are today availabl
only in the northwest.
When the forest lands are cleare
, they take the name of "logged o.
lands" or "cut over timber lands
: and are then available for farm
fruit and dairyirg, and these lane
are particularly sought by the new
conner.
. The increased cost of timber fc
fuel and power has caused the peop
of the northwest to realize the wort
: Of their water powers, for while theI
Is an extremely progressive populs
ton in this section of the countr
they are like those everywhere.
not caring to make a change unit
necessity compels 1t.
The increased value of fuel ha
brought into service various COT
] fields, and there will not be man
years before good wood will not /
used for fuel even In this sectlo
, where Uncle Sam holds his large
, fund OF wealth In that direction.
y