Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-10-21
Impression Given Out that Lands Are of No
Value when Timber is Removed Works
Injury to ChehdiiS County
THEY WILL ATTRACT LAND HUNGRY SETTLERS
Conditions are Much Better than When Early
Settlers Made Their Farms. Is Ideal
Dairy and Stock Country


abroad which works injury to Cheha-
lis county, and that is that the tim
ber lands of the county are valueless
after the timber is removed; that the
task of clearing off the stumps is
SO great that it costs more than the
land is worth, and so on. The fact
truth.
1t requires but a glance at the
rich farms dotting the valleys of the
Chehalis, Humptulips, Neushkah
Wishkah, Wynooche, Satsop, Cloqual
lam, Porter and Garrard, to disprove
this statement. At least ninety per
cent of those farms were covered
with timber within forty years, the
greatest part of it within 20 years.
In the eastern end of the county
much of the bottom lands was GOV.
cred with large spruce trees, the
most difficult in this region to dis
pose Of yet the early settlers took
these lands and carved fine farms from
them.
When it is remembered that they
had no market for the timber but
had to burn the entire trees as we'll
as remove the stumps, were without
roads, markets, schools, churches or
other concomitants of civilization, it
will be readily seen that the lot of
the settler now on logged off lands
with roads, schools and markets close
by is offered better inducement, al,
though he has to purchase the land,
than was the early settler. 1t is
no exaggeration to say that at least
20 per cent of the farms in Western
Washington and Western Oregon
were cleared under much more un-
favorable conditions than those con-
fronting settlers who come now.
Land Hunger Now Intense
Now that free government land is
a thing of the past, the hunger for
land ownership has grown intense,
as seen in Nebraska, where tree
less forest reserve has been opened
to homestead, and where there are
said to be $4,000 applicants for 1000
quarter sections, or SO to the claim.
This hunger for land is even more
intense in the minds of the European
immigrants who will seek the Pacific
Coast upon the completion of the Pan
ANA canal. Those from farming dis
tricts are attracted by desire to
secure land of their own--an end they
could never hope to attain in their
native land-and they will come pre-
pared to undergo few years of pion-
eer hardship to ultimately secure
farm they may call their own. This
fact is we'll demonstrated near Aber-
deem, where the Polish colony is rap
idly converting the logged-off lands
of the Wishkah valley into fertile
farms, the men, many of them, work
ing in nearby logging camps in the
summer, and clearing their land in
the winter months.
Clearing Now Going on
During the summer of 1913 land
has been cleared for agricultural pur
poses in this state at an unparalleled
rate, according to figures compiled by
State Forester f. w. Ferris, for the
fire season just past.
A total of 10,4S0 separate burning
permits were issued during the sum-
mer, calling for the burning over of
$4,000 acres of land as compared to
41,O00 acres in 1912. OF this total
acreage $4,000 acres were cleared for
agricultural purposes.
Figuring 40 acres to a family"
states Forester Ferris, "this means
that land has been cleared this sum-
mer sufficient to support over 2,1Oo
families or more than 10000 addi-
tional population"
These figures cover only % of the
80 counties in the state. none but
timbered counties being under the
jurisdiction of the forester.
In the face of such evidence as
this, it is wickedly absurd to contend
IA.