Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/398

 personage, as there is no doubt the lumbering industry there is only in its infancy, and the country at large is compelled to look westward for its supply on account of its practical exhaustion in the Eastern and Middle West sections. By process of reservations. President Roosevelt has wisely preserved the use of the forests for future generations, and had this policy heen adopted fifty years ago, there is no doubt the supply throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan would have been adecjuate to meet demands for a century to come, without counting upon the possibilities incident to replanting.

This article would be incomplete without detailing some of the nefarious methods in vogue among a certain class known as "locators," who make a point of plying their vocations for no other purpose than reaping a harvest from the crop of "suckers" abounding in all public land States. They represent the unwary that are caught in every conceivable net. When "Hungry Joe," the celebrated New York bunco sharp was asked how it was possible for him to ply his vocation when his methods were so well known, he replied: "Because there is a sucker born every minute!"

The same conclusion would apply with equal force to the business of locating persons on the public lands, and especially in a timbered region. Visions of great wealthy are always in the mind's eye wherever the public domain is involved, because it appeals to the general public as being a something for nothing proposition. Consequently, it is usually an easy matter to find some one quite eager to bite at any get-rich-quick bait of this character. The woods are full of timber land locators, styling themselves cruisers, when, at a matter of fact, they are not familiar with the first rudiments of the game when it comes to estimating the quantity of timber on a given tract of land. They are ex]ierts, however, in any plan that contemplates swindling some poor deluded creature out of from $25 to $100 by locating him in a "burn," or on a worthless piece of ground, under the representation that it will cut several million feet of lumber. The scheme is worked by taking the victim into a heavy tract of timber already patented, showing him the cornerposts of the section he is to file on. and then taking him to the land office where he makes his entry. In all probability the post has either been manufactured to order, or else transplanted from another section in some township miles away, but it answers the purpose of deluding him into the belief that he is securing a great bargain, and he only discovers his mistake when a subsequent survey indicates that an imposition has been practised.

For the benefit of those contemplating acquiring a timber claim at any time in the future there is presented herewith the diagram of a section corner, exhibiting the customary witness trees and other evidence of exact locality, from the field notes of an official survey, a careful study of which will enable any person to readily determine whether he is on the land represented irrespective of what marks may be on the alleged section post.

Every section corner is supposed to have four bearing, or witness trees, by which to identify the corner. This is done in order that the corner can be easily re-established in case of destruction by fire or any other process. The witness trees are generally those nearest to the corner, and vary in size as well as quality, for puq^oses of identification. With that idea in view, they are naturally at different angles from the section post, and at random distances as well, the "land mark" feature being the chief consideration. These trees are marked by the deputy United States surveyor at the time he sets the posts when surveying the towmship, and a description of these marks is incorporated in his field notes, at which time he designates the character of the trees, their diameter, as well as the distance and angle of each from the post. These field notes are readily obtainable from the United States Surveyor-General's office in any public land State.

In order to make certain that you are on the land calculated to be taken up as a claim, have the locator show you one of the section corners of your intended claim, at which time you can note the character of the surroundings,

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