Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1921-08-18
COUNTY CRUISE
PLAN ENDORSED
COMMERCIAL CLUB ASKS COMMIS-
SIONERS TO PROCEED TO Sc
CURE ACTUAL VALUATIONS
ACTION is RESULT OF N. P. SUIT
Delegation From POrthilI and Cone
land Favor Cruise.

Monday night the members of the
Kootenai Valley Commercial Club
unanimously voted to endorse steps
the board of county commissioners
might take towards securing the act
ual valuations of lands embraced in
Boundary county and recommended 70
the county commissioners that they
make start at once towards securing
such valuations.
The question was brought up in lhe
discussion of the Northern Pacific
Railway Co., suit against the county
for the refund of the last half of the
1917 taxes paid by the company. the
company winning the suit in the fed
eral court.
j. A. Welch chairman of the board
of county commissioners, stated that
the county had lost this suit because
it was shown in court that no county
assessor had ever been on the lands
on which the railway company claimed
the assessment was too high He SAID
that the commissioners did not feel
that Northern Pacific lands were as
sessed too high and that they were not
disposed to reduce the valuaIIon but
that in the face of threats of continued
lawsuits he felt the only thing to do
would be to put deputy assessors in the
field and get at the actual values.
e. Des Voignes stated that cruising
contracts ran from 8 to II cents an
acre but that he figured that the
county could do this work cheaper
with its own men than by contract
and that it would not be necessary to
secure valuations in every section of
the county as in many sections the
values are known.
County Attorney 0. G. Wilson re-
viewed some of the important testi-
mony submitted in the recent trial of
the case of the Northern Pacific Rail
way Co. VS.. Boundary county and said
that the county was up against the
continual possibility of the n p Ry
going into court and enjoining the col
lection of the taxes levied on it's
holdings. He brought out the point
that whenever the N. P. Ry. company's
valuations were reduced the other tax
payers of the county are compelled to
pay more, for a certain amount of
money must be raised every year to
carry on the business of the county
He said further that at this time it
was not possible to make a compari-
son that would convince the court
that ~ P. lands were not over as
sessed and that it might cost far more
to carry on litigation in future years
than to put assessors in the field to
determine once for all the actual
values of the N. P. Ry Co. lands.
Commissioner Welch stated that the
cruising of Boundary county lands
would be an expensive job and that
the commissioners did not care to go
ahead in the matter unless the move
was endorsed by the taxpayers of the
county A number of speakers stated
that they knew from experience that
county cruises would result in higher
valuations and in the long run would |
more than save cruising expenses.
A large delegation from the Porthill
and Copeland districts was present
and were called on for their views
by Vice President Mcdonald.
c. ]. Daufau said that short time |
ago one of his boys wanted to buy
some timber on N. P. lands. The boy
received word from the n P. company
that the land was not for sale and that |
the price on the timber was $40 per
acre for 120 acres. Mr.. Daufau said |
this same section was only assessed |
at $4,000. He felt that the N P. should |
be forced to pay its just share of the
taxes in this county.
o. H. Campbell stated that he had
never heard of a decrease in valua-
tions resulting from cruising lands. |
He said that the question was big
one and that all land in each township |
should be classified. preferably in 40 |
acre tracts. He said that the question
of accessibility should have a great |
deal to do in determining the value
OF timber lands and that he believed
cruise in this county would cost s /
cents an acre.
D. H. Chisholm said he would like
to see the cruise made and he thought
that the valuations would be mater
tally raised by such cruise, in most
cases.
2. Montgomery said he felt positive
the taxpayers would gain in the end
by asking the commissioners to have
a cruise made. He wanted to see