The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1908-10-24
FAVORS PROTECTING FORESTS
Our Townsman, w. E. Jeannot,
Discusses the Subject in An
Interesting Manner

W. E. Jeannot, who is interested in
the Nevada Mining & Development
Company operating the Holly mine on
Adams Hill. and IN other mining
properties in this section, was in Salt
Lake recently. and in an interview with
the Deseret Evening News Of that city
discussed the timber industry in the
United States generally = in which
he is largely interested in the State of
Maine-as follows:
W. E. J~eannot. who for 20 years has
been prominent in the development Of
the commercial end Of the tim Der lands
of Maine and Oregon. and who is
heavily interested in timber lands in
both those states and in the Southern
States, expressed himself this morning
to the effect, that. although he would
be injured personally by the measure
he was thoroughly confident of the
need of general forest and timber con
servation laws as informally suggested
by Senator Reed Smoot. who recently
returned from Germany, where he
made an investigation of German
forestry methods.
although. personally" said Mr..
Jeannot, II can see that such laws
would restrict and Ii NIT my rights over
my own property, l believe that unless
reforesting is made a law. the life of the
timbe industry in the United States
will be very short. The timbermen Of
Maine alone are cutting zoo, 1000. 900
board feet of timber per year. The
Maine pine gave out years ago, but
there is still a great quantity Of spruce
remaining.
up to two years ago the timbermen
Of the E ,st had optionally taken means
to preserve their own tracts, but during
the last two years they have not done
SO to any great extent. And they are
even cutting timber less than IA inches
in diameter at the base. Five years
ago the smallest diameter they cut was
16 inches. As we understand, the
German methods which foresters are
attempting to make. conform with the
conditions Of this country, the alph,
and omega of the system is to plant the
seed of a young tree for every large tree
that is cut aud therefore never allowing
the forests to become smaller than Their
present size, and to made it a law, with
a penalty, for the owner of timber lands
to see that the broken limbs and scraps
are burned or disposed of in some other
way, thereby giving the forest fires the
least possible medium through which to
travel.
This law, however, would if enacted
hit the small timberman much more
severely than it would the large timber
men. The big, long established timber
companies realizs that in the long run
every Tree they plant will be in a given
number of years a source of profit tC
them. But not so with the man who
comes into Oregon. say. with enough
money to buy 1000 acres of cumberland
and put up a mill. He cannot wait for
the small trees to grow. yet he must
sustain the additional expense Of plant.
ing the small trees. They mean nc
profit to him, but they decidedly do
mean a great profit to the moneyed
corporations, which calculate 30 years
in the future.
THE timber agitation, is however.
more of an agitation than a reality. for
for the reason that. should the Federal
Government drift along casually dis.
cussing the proposition until all the
forests are gone, or at least until all
the industry is ruined then there would
still be sufficient time as the ~boundless
forests of Canada could be drawn on
for another cycle in the discussion.
"Of course, it goes without saying.
that the people at large would neces-
sarily pay for the reforesting in the
advanced price they would pay for
timber.
"In my opinion the German plan
would not answer the requirements of
the United States as it stands, but could
be modified to meet our conditions.
when l took up the business 20
years ago the cutters did not use saws
and by chopping the trees lost at least
two feet at the base of the tree. They
were also in the habit of leaving the
top 12 feet of the trees on the ground,
because they were filled with knots.
The saw came in very slowly, but is
now used universally"