The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-10-07
200 FAMILIES
GET FREE WOOD
Work of Cleaning Storm Swept
Area Furnishing Families
With Wood.

More than 200 Ely families will burn
free firewood the coming winter, say
forest authorities. They will pay
nothing for the stumpage, which will
come out of the wreckage along the
roadsides made by the great 1000
square mile windStorm of July 90
Others will get their firewood at very
low prices. It is being cut from the
same areas by men who are paying so
cents a cord for the down logs and
saving them up to sell. The price of
cordwood in Ely has fallen to $3.25
cord. It is estimated that 1000 to
5000 cords will be salvaged in this
manner.
In an effort to finish before winter
the clearing of wreckage from trails
and portages it has been decided i'm
mediately to increase the force of men
employed on this work in areas where
there can be no hope of salvaging the
material Telephone lines were restored
first.
Indicating the damage in some areas
is the fact that one party of three men
worked three weeks in clearing way
over a foot trail only eight miles long.
On one day they progressed only
seventy-five feet through fallen logs
piled ten to twelve feet high.
Most of the timber along the prin-
cipal highways will be salvaged to the
community, though it will bring no in
come to the national forest service or
to the counties. The timber has been
offered free to those who will cut the
down logs, looping the branches and
tops and piling the refuse in compact
heaps easy to burn. Each man who
cuts timber for his own use promises
to give one day of work in burning for
each ten cords of wood. They will be
called upon to give the time as soon rs
the first snow falls.
Millions of feet of the wind-blown
timber never can be salvaged. The
blow-down occurred in part of the
forest most of which is not reached by
roads and little of which as yet is
traversed even by trails other than
canoe routes. The waterways are not
practicable for logs, and under present
market conditions, there is no prospect
of getting roads or rail lines built to
salvage it. 1t will lie on the ground
and rot. The sooner it rots the better
as it forms serious fire hazard.
1t is hoped to protect the remainder
of the forest from fire to reasonable
extent by clearing away the wreckage
to a distance of 100 to 200 feet from
roads, trails and portageS during the
coming winter. This will reduce the
danger of fires being set by smokers
and campers, and it will provide lines
along which it might be possible for
fire fighters to put up defense against
any fires which might be started by
lightning.
1t is estimated that it will take a
force of 200 to 300 men most of the
winter to clear such lines. It is hoped
to obtain money to pay for the work
from three sources. The forest service
has been asked for $35,00O The execu-
tive committee of the state government
has been asked to provide somewhat
smaller sum to do the work on state
owned land within the forest, and the
Federal unemployment fund will be
called on for still smaller amO1ot
to do the work on lands owned by in
dividuals, about 10 per cent of the lands
along the affected trails.
1t will be possible to salvage some of
the unshattered down logs in the more
accessible places by getting them out
and building them into structures
needed by the forest service.
The loss to the forest service and
the counties of Cook, Lake and St.
Louis will total many millions of dollars,
even though no fires get started in
the dry needles, twigs and branches.
However, if fires can be kept out or
held reasonably in check, most of the
area will come back into timber
promptly.
So rapidly has the work of salvage
been pushed by the wood cutters Of
Ely that little evidence of storm now
is observable by the casual tourist along
the principal highways. Roads travers-
ing the southeastern corner of the af-
fected tract are the Ely-Finland trail
,,nal 1aodinr from E1u m