Evening star., 1922-09-24

father to son, with no need for the
succeeding generations to follow the
receding forest to some distant re-
Sion-
! The recent announcement 'of the
forest service that this last of Its for
est race would be opened to develop
nnent had an added phase of unusual
interest because 1t means at the same
time the passing of the last frontier
in the United States. barring Alaska.
The forest stands in the midst of a
stretch of country 10000 square miles
in extent, which Is almost untouched
agriculturally, and whose only indus
trial activities worthy of mention are
sheep and cattle raising. Remote from
railways, little on the arid side ana,
therefore. requiring irrigation. but
little farming has been done as yet
in this region, though its mountains
are gently sloped and it abounds In
beautiful and fertile valleys.
+ \ II
ITO cut and manufacture the timber
that is now offered for sale it
will be necessary to build eighty miles
Of standard-gauge railway line and
many miles of branch lines. in order to
bring out the logs and give the LUMBER
access to the outside world. This rail-
way will justify number of irrigation
and reclamation projects. which will
eventually support considerable pop
ulation. The big industry of the region.
however. in addition to cattle and
sheep, will be the numbering of the tim
Der of the Malheur forest.
The lumberman who is awarded this
contract by the forest service will, by
the same token, become the outstand-
ing figure of this entire region. He will
have a life job. and his sons and their
remote posterity. This lumber family
may go on cutting the timber OF the
Malheur forest forever and never get
through with the work. The time Will
never come when their sawmill Will be
dismantled and its structure left to
gloomy silence in the midst of a decay
ing settlement There are 000,00o.00
feet of timber in the Malheur. and the
forest service has SO planned the lum-
bering operations that when the last OF
the now standing saw timber has been
cut the unit now to be opened Will be
ready for second cutting. and so on
in rotation to the end OF time.
OF course. the forest service cannot
enter into a binding contract with the
lumberman who takes the first unit
that fe will get the other units in sue
cession, but that is the intention. and 1t
stands to reason that the man who goes
in now, builds the railways. puts up the
mill and establishes manufacturing
community, will. naturally be the sue
cessful BIDDER for later units. Anyway,
he will have sso. 100000 feet Of logs to
start with and 1t will take a fair sized
mill not less than twenty years to con-
vert that amount Of logs into lumber.
A 81 per cent Of the forest is OF the
highly priced western yellow pine, which
commands premium pricess 1t Is calcu-
lated that q twenty years run VIII
amortise the entire original Investment,
which would be in the neishborhood Of
$4,000, geo, and make good return on
1t even II operations cease at the end OF
that time. ~
T<HE actually timbered tract com.
/ prises an area Of about s7.4o0
acres lying on the headwaters Of the
eflvfes river, In . broad basin known
N Bear valley. It Is almost entirely
bstwsen $500 and 5000 feet above sea
leysl. It 10 nifty miles north Of the
inland town of Burns. which In turn
IL about thirty miles from Crane. the
nearest railway point on q branch OF
the oregon Short Line Of the Union
Pacific. rs as.. S,,.
i II IL sxpsctsd that the railway com-
pany WIN itesH build ne thirty miles
frpn Cssns 70 Burns, whsn 4 Is scer-