The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1913-12-19

kick to make until after he has prov
ed up' on the land, after which time
he is lord of all that was surveyed in
his deed. So, Mr.. DUNCAN and the
lumber people concluded to leave mat
tiers in Statu quo until after the for
mer gets his patent to the land, when
all improvements become the pro-
perty of DUNCAN aud the other fell
low must pay him rentals therefor as
long as they wish to use them, which
however, will not be a great while
after that event-nOw a year distant
yet-as by that time the numbering on
Stony will be a thing of history. so
thoroughly has the millions Of acres
eff land between Ely and Lake Superior
been denuded Of its once magnificent
forests OF white, Norway pine and
cedar, and the fires which consumed
the tops and brush also destroying
millions Of young trees which would
some day have replenished the timber
supply on this land. which is abSO-
lutely worthless for anything else
even being too rocky for goat pas
ture. and millions of tall straight jack
pine, birch and pOpple, which were
not considered worth cutting for lum-
Der, now stand gaunt and naked SEN
tinels over the desolated hills, which
where there is soil enough, are now
growing up to brush and creating
a new haunt for the deer and moose,
and fur-bearing animals, leaving the
country to the sole occupancy Of the
hunter and trapper. And the fellows
who originally "proved up" on this
land, and afterwards sold the timber
off from it to the lumber companies at
from $500 to S., ZOO per claim, all &C
tually went down to the land office and
swore to deliberate lies. to the effect
that they had habitable house on
the land and five acres cleared and in
cultivatiOn-when, as a fact, there
are no remnants Of even shack" nor
sign of any sort of a cultivation to
be found in any direction for miles
and miles, except what the lumber
company has cleared in two or three
places for it's truck farms. The very
character Of the land gives the lie
point-blank to such affidavts.
This man DUNCAN was land isl the
first actnal settler in the township in
which his claim if located, which has
since been included within the "FOr-
est Reserve" which was established d
couple Of yeare ago by the government
and includes the larger parts of Lake
and Cook counties extending from ST.
Louis county to Lake Superior, and
the land therein withdrawn fro m
settlement and held as a timber and
game reserve, where it extends across
the logging trail has this fall been
withdrawn from the game preserve, so
that DUNCAN is in the forest reserve
but not game reserve.
When he found we were hunting
land, he was anxious to show us some
good agricultural land" within the
forest reserve, as he was anxious to
get settlers enough in the neighbor-
hood to organize the township. He
said that on recent trapping eXpedi-
ton he had seen some very fine land
on the north side Of little lake,
which was just mile and half from
the camp with fine building site on
the shore. We spent the greater
part of two days cutting our way
through the brush and examining the
vicinity, which had looked good from
the tops Of the "hogback" ridge he
had traversed only to find that it was,
on close inspection, fully as rocky as
anything to be found in the county
though the building site was there
all right, beautiful point, command
ing full view of both ends of the
lake, and it was with reluctant step
that we were obliged to turn our back
and say it would not do, for we could
not live on prospect alone, but had
to have land enough at least for a
later patch. So we returned to Ely,
arriving there Sunday noon, having
been ''out in the wild" since early
Tuesday morning.
SAM s. SHERMAN.
Next TravelOgue: ION the Roof Of
the United States"