The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-03-21
of Section / of the original bill.
Explanation.


erior National forest, whose develop
ment and use will be restricted by the
incorporation of these two words in the
original bill The private lands which
we now mention are part of the col
lateral and part of the valuation on
which the county has had to assume
$685,2l729 of outstanding indebtedness
If the development of these lands
which are prospective mineral lands
and also have some recreational pos
Sibilities, is interfered with, it will
mean the impoverishment of Lake
county.
"We submit the following dilemma,
which might possibly occur. We have
been assured by the author of the bill
that there is no intention to tie up
private lands in any way, shape or
form. Assuming that, on the strength
of this statement, prospecting and
drilling was done on some of these
lands, and that body of ore, say ap-
proXimately of about a million tons,
was blocked out according to the law
of the State of Minnesota, report
would have to be made forthwith to
the Minnesota tax commission, who
would Immediately enter the ore upon
the tax rolls to be taxed on an ad val
orem basis. The rule of the tax COM
mission is that merchantable ore in the
ground is worth so cents a ton. The
law states that this ore shall be taxed
on so cent ad valorem basis, which
would make the taxes on this block of
ore at the rate of lit mills, in ex-
cess Of $4,000. Should anything then
interfere with the development of this
ore body, owing to the lack of trans
portation or the refusal of a permit to
transport this ore across government
lands, it means that the property will
become tax delinquent, that Lake
county would lose the revenue and the
itself would be confiscated.
The point is further made that the
regions embraced by the Lake Superior
National forest in Lake and Cook coun-
ties, in which these private lands are
situated, is not a tourist section and
is not embraced in the canoe routes
which lie west and north of that Sec
ton. The future welfare Of the res
idents in these two counties is worthy
of consideration.
eve make this statement: That the
of the bill in its original
form have never given this matter a
thought; rather, when they appeared
before the Minnesota legislature, they
entertained fiat denial of any and
all possibilities of future development
in Lake and Cook counties
Hence we desire to also submit the
following proyiso:
THAT the Forest Service of the De-
partment of Agriculture shall, upon
written application and upon proof of
convenience and necessity, grant such
rights of way for railways and high
ways within this area as are necessary
to the development of mineral re-
sources and to the economic utilization
of forest products.
'The present trend of mind of the
of this bill is to discourage
roads within the area embraced within
the original bill. Mr.. Seth Gordon
testified that they were not against
roads leading to the canoe routes; but,
when the forest service sought to ex-
tend road from Ely, Minnesota,
est, to Buyck, Minnesota, and when
this application was made to the st.
Louis county board of county COM
to legalize this road, the
Izaak Walton league appeared in
opposition to it. While this road was
intended to make the fighting of for
est fires within the Superior National
forest good deal easier and the right
of way thereof was not laid in any reg
ion where there are canoe routes,
nevertheless, the Izaak Walton league
opposed it on the ground that they
wanted to preserve the eXclusiveness
and the inaccessibility of the territory.
We. submit that, in view of this attitude
on the part of the Izaak Walton
league, they have been successful in
blocking the attempts of the forest
service to build the necessary roads
within that area as are necessary to
the protection of the area itself. The
people of Lake county are very sus-
picious of the intent of the original bill,
sponsored by the Izaak Walton league,
in connection with the development OF
the economic resources of that region
which mean so much toward lessening
the tax burden of those two counties
and which means future employment
and payrolls within that region.
1--WE submit, further, that the amend
ment we propose would give these peo-
pie guarantee as against the present
attitude of the Izaak Walton league,
who, in the past, have been successful
in opposition to the well-meant plans of
the forest service of the department of
agriculture.
IF the committee, in its judgment,
deems that this amendment is not
suitable, we would suggest the respect
full consideration of the following pro-
viso, in Section l of the original bill:
provided that nothing herein shall
be construed to restrict the develop
ment utilization of overland trans
portation of mineral and forest pro-
ducts within this area and of the re-
creational possibilities theref'
COR, in the judgement of the COM
mittee, any other proviso 1t might deem
fit and proper to guarantee that the
development of the private lands and
private resources within the Superior
National forest shall not be stopped
under the terms of this act.
I'VE respectfully suggest to your hon
orable committee the Incorporation of
the following proviso, referring to Sec
ton of the original bill:
Provided, further, that the pro-
visions of this act shall not apply to
any proposed development for water
power purposes for which an applic-
alton for license was pending under the
terms of the federal water power act
on or before January 1, 1929
1.-The project now before the federal
water power commission lies entirely
within Lake county and will be sub
ject to tax in that county. The