Show U r fi kunfi D ENT DAVID BARNETT TT conferring WITH DISTRICT FORESTER reports snow in forest three feet deep mercury twenty one below supervisor david barnett of the forest idaho I 1 is s in the city conferring with district distri A fores forester ter clyde leavitt on matters portal pertaining to his station near st anthony idaho a mr barrett states that the sale 1 t f timber is still going on and will continue probably until the middle of january the snows in the forest at the present time being but three thre e feet deep which does docs not interfere inter tere materially with the sale and disposition tion of timber our winter up there said mr barnett has not been very severe as yot yet the mercury having dropped only to 21 degrees below zero thirty days more will probably find the too deep tor for forest work and the temperature will be found considerably sider ably below what has already been registered the forest has only been withdrawn four years yet our timber transactions have been very heavy although there are A 9 number of mills in that section a large proportion of the timber used has been obtained through the use of the free use permits this is a forest regulation which allows a bona fide homesteader tile the free use of feet of sawed lumber annually wa with th which to furnish his farm with buildings he is also entitled to timber for fuel as well as lodgepole lodge pole timber limber for log construction there were no less than 2300 of these free use permits taken out last season reason which means that about that number of new settlers are getting started in that section with no now homes the number for this season will be considerably larger most of these ranchers have taken up their homesteads close to tho the forest where upon the adjacent bench lands they are carrying on dry farming of wheat with marked success in order to get this free lumber the rancher must secure his permit find then designate tile the timber which lie ho desires to use if tile the timber stands in that district it requires about twenty average sized trees to furnish foot feet of lumber wh when n permission is granted the rancher ranch tells fells his trees and hauls the logs to L ane nearest saw mill where they are worked up into the desired lumber and then taken to his farm those M mills ills are called custom mills the tha rancher must pay a certain price for tho the sawing custom work and he must use the lumber on his own place moreover he is not allowed to trade a portion of his timber in payment of his sawing charges tho the mill operators usually purchase timber from the forest management paying tho the regular stumpage rate this lumber they retail cut of course in the regular way most of the farm houses in that section are constructed of logs the lumber secured through the free uso permits being largely used for roofing ng and flooring purposes and finishing work |