The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1911-08-11
LUMBERMEN OFFER
LOGGED LANDS
DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
PLANS PLACED IN HANDS
OF PROMINENT MEN.
Will Form q Holding Company
Which Will Create Conditions At
tractive to Newcomers in This
State-Long Time and Low Inter-
est.

Chehalis, Aug. PLANS Of the
executive committee of the South
west Washington Development As
ISOLATION for the development of the
logged-off lands of this section of
Washington have been placed in the
hands of body of prominent lum-
bermen, millmen and timber own
ers, including the following: George
S. Long, of the Weyerhaeuser Timber
Company, Tacoma; F.. G. Mumby,
Bordeaux; F. B. Hubbard, of the
Eastern Railway & Lumber Com
pany, of Centralia; H. w. Leadber-
ter, Portland; William B. Mack, A:,-
erdeen; Ralph H. Burnside, Ray
mond; L. I. Wakefield, Elma, and
George Mccoy, Vancouver.
To Form Holding Company.
At the Chehalis meeting early in
June plans were put forward for per-
fecting a permanent organization to
operate as a holding company with
which to list for sale the logged-off
and unimproved agricultural land:;
of Southwestern Washington, for the
purpose of making them available
for settlement and production. To
N. B. Coffman, of Chehalis, as head
of the executive committee, was left
the selection of eight men who are
to act with him in arranging the de-
tails for the future work. The fur
Their study of this great question of
logged-off land development and in
tensive farming, with the purpose of
bringing about the early sediment
and improvement of the lands, is
now up to the committee.
The first meeting has been called
for Chehalis, Monday, September 4.
The plans and purposes of the as
ISOLATION have been carefully ex-
planned personally to most of the
larger lumbermen and land owners,
resulting in assurances of approval
and hearty cooperation. The men
above named have given personal as
surances not only of their willing
ness to serve, but also of their heart
felt interest in working out a great
problem SO important to the whole
Northwest.
Plan to Incorporate.
The plans of the organization con-
template the Incorporation of either
the Southwest Washington Develop
ment Association itself, or the COM
mittee that will have charge of the
logged-off land matter, the creation
then of the committee into a per-
manent commission with terms Of
Office to expire one-third annually
and successors to be elected by the
association The plan would neces-
state the establishment of a head
Office, in charge Of a general land
agent, and the opening of branch
Offices with local agents in charge. In
each town where there is club or
longing to the association.
Lands Are Offered.
The Weyerhaeuser Timber Com
pany and most of the larger land
owners in Southwest Washington
have signified their willingness to
list their agricultural lands with an
organization framed along these
lines. Listed lands could be offered
either cleared ready for cultivation.
or partly improved. or unimprovei
and subdivided into small tracts,
with roads opened up and construc-
ed, or otherwise made attractive for
settlement. 1t is generally recogniz-
ed that the more inviting the offer
ings are made the more quickly the:-
will sell and the higher the prices
that may be obtained.
Further details of the plan pro-
vide that the lands be listed for per-
haps five years, with provision for
adding taxes and interest and cost of
subsequent Improvements to the sale
price, and that the prices for the
acreage be determined by expert APP
praisers employed by the commits
sion, or IL fixed by the owner, to be
accepted by the commission only az
ter due appraisement and approval
of values. Terms of sale are to be
easy, the contracts covering a pc
riod of ten years, If desired, at an
interest rate not to exceed per
cent. The maintenance and expense
of the organization will be paid out
of the sales, allowing probably !;
per cent for. general maintenance and
5 per cent for commission to sales
agents.
In Interest to Settler.
The early settlement of the lands
is the most earnest desire Of the as.
ISOLATION, and the work of the COM
mission, therefore, would be pri-
marily to act as agent for and in the
interest Of the immigrant or settler;
to see that he is located where he
lean prosper and where by previous
training he can by industry make a
success in his new home: where his
social surroundings viii be agree
able: where there will be proper ed