The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1912-09-26
SAL
Of a Great Amount of Gov
eminent Timber Made to
California Concern.
IN ORDER TO MARKET
Chief Forester Says Safe
guards Are Made against
Possible Monopoly.

rOTeSttT GEdfc5 AotOh ME NAJ ~ 1850
Francisco to make final arrangements
under which a California lumber
company Will purchase 800 million
feet of timber on ahe Sierra National
forest. The timber has already been
awarded, after public advertisement
to the highest bidder, but under the
terms o fthe advertisement the final
signing of the contract Will not take
place until the company has been
shown o nthe ground what timber
he government will reserve from
cutting in order to preserve good for
est conditions and provide for repro
dnction.
The company will be allowed its full
SOC million feet but naturally 1t will
not be allowed to cut clean. As a
rule the forest service reserves some
thing like one-third of the, forest
stand in applying forestry, on govern
ment holdings. A marking board
made up of one man sent from Wash
ington, one from the district Office in
San Francisco, and the local forest
supervisor wilp carefully mark a
sample area, to show how the re-
strictions on cutting will be applied.
Representative of the company will
then go over this area, after which
Chief Forester Graves and his as
sistants will, 1t is expected, make
final arrangements with the COM
pany in San Francisco, and the con-
tract CT sale will be signed.
THE Forest Service" said Mr..
Graves in speaking of this sale,
has received number OF inquiries
whether in selling so much timber to
single purchaser the government
may not be opening The way to. a
monopolistic control of local lumber
markets. Other correspondents are
disturbed lest the sale prove a bad
Bargain for the government through
the rise in value OF the timber in the
twenty-five years during which the
company will cut.
Such large and longtime sales of
National Forest timber as that to the
California company are new de
NeIopment in the Forest Service.
Great bodies Of mature but inaccess-
ible timber can be put on the market
only IL sale contracts are let on terms
which will justify very heavy initial
investment in transportation facill-.
tss In entering Into such contracts,
however, special safeguards to pro-
tect the public against monopoly and
10 prevent an undue speculative pro-
fit to the purchaser are employed
THE National Forest contains, in
all, the equivalent of nearly 500 bill
lion feet OF timber now of merchant
able size, besides young growth for
future harvest. Because of its re-
moteness from market and the wild,
mountainous country, without trans
portatlon facilities, in which most of
II lies. only small percentage can
now be sold on any terms. Most of 1t
would cost more to get 1t out than it
would bring. The sale of less than
one-fifth of one per cent .6f0hr total
supply to one. company leaves plenty
CT room for competition by. other
comanpies.
The timber which has been sold
to the California compahg lies we'll
back in the Sierra Nevada mountains
and will require the construction OF
seventy mtlesc of standard gauge
eailroad to open up the area. Since
This road will also open up other ma
.ional forest timber and will be a
common carrier, 1t creates another
safeguard against< monopoly. The
company is given a cutting period Of
twenty-five years o remove he tim
Ser, besides all additional two years
Tor the construction Of logging and
manufacturing facilities. The sale
was publicly advertised for six
months in order to give an opportun-
ity for all who wished to compete for
the contract to make bids, as is done
in all large national forest sales.
mo business organization would
undertake the heavy Investment nee
essary in such cases unless the
handling OF a large body OF timber
and a sufficient period in which to
remove it undar practicable logging
conditions are assured. The great
difficulty in making such long-tern
sales IS TO establish a price which
will be fair to both sides. No one can
foresee future conditions we'll enough
to know what stumpage will be worth
ten, fifteen, or twenty years hence.
Consequently uhe terms OF sale
provide for the readiustment of
stumpage prices every Eve years.
The basis Tor fixing the prices will
be. in each case, the prices of manu-