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Show CHIEF FORESTER GRAVES LABORING TO MAKE THE FOREST SERVE AEE PEOPLE "Where are you from, orlginall yV asked Chief Forester Henry S. Graves, addressing, each in turn, a representative representa-tive of The Standard and Altred Glad-well, Glad-well, the local correspondent, of the Deserel News, to whom he granted last Saturday a special interview One confessed his origin in the mountians of Tennessee and the other said "Mother England." The chief sepru-ed sepru-ed delighted with each reply District Leon F. Kneipp said to him: ' Now that you are forewarned, it is safe to leave you with them." He went to luncheon, while Mr. Graves generously donated his hour to the press. In a serious narration of his recent work for humanity in the Cumberland mountains and the Appalachian range, Thief Graves conjured up visions in 'he memory of one listener that formed form-ed a veritable movine picture, replete with joy and grief, pathos and comedy, tragedy and jubilee. Again was heard singing the untamable mountain eer, from his lookout at "Plnnai le Rock," among the cragy peaks, the powerful baritone echoing a gondhe across the, painted canyons, awakening awaken-ing the dozing forest denizens: "Did you see that flatboat round the bend" Goodbye, my lover, goodbe' All loaded down with revenue men-Goodbye, men-Goodbye, my lover, good-bye! By-e o, my sweet-heart Good-bye, my lover, good-bye!" Of Intimate Local Interest. The quotation tells the story, familiar fa-miliar to all "movie" fans, one vhi b Chief Graves thoroughly understands, probably better, by far, than any "imported" "im-ported" revenue man. The mountaineers, of whom he spoke, all carry Browning guns invented in-vented by an Ogden man and are veritable magicians in the use of them. The chief said he found the mountain moun-tain folk, 'away back," still operating operat-ing the family looms, weaving their own cloth home-spun jeans and llnsey woolsey; carding their wool for thread, making their own cotton batting. The pleasing whirr of thp old spinning', wheel, the swish-swish of the cards, the sputtering of the pine knots, tal-1 low dips and grease-lamps, the crackling of the hickory In the great . open fireplace, the joyous laughter1 of home-grown children, the reverent "grace" and goodnight blessings all these features of mountain life in that section, inhabited by patriotic Ameri-cans Ameri-cans to whom the battle of King's Mountain, the Cowpens and York-ton York-ton n are as events of yesterday, are thoroughly familiar to Chief Graves, who has lived among those people and knows them intimately. Entertaining at Cards. W hen those mountain folk speak I of "cards," as the chief related, they rerer to me useiui implements wun which the women prepare the wool for the spinning-wheel. He has been an honored guest in scores of these humble homes, knows the social delight de-light of the moonlight parties, the 'possum 'pos-sum hunt, the quilting bees, the shooting-matches, barbecues and picnics. Old Fashions Now Passing. "But the isolation of the mountain folk." he said, "Is rapidly breaking down The old-fashioned household utilities are passing, with the introduction intro-duction of industries through the con. stant efforts of the Forest service The mountain men are being enticed into productive business. They frequent fre-quent what they called the 'settle-mints,' 'settle-mints,' encase In government work through our system of small contracts, and thus are becoming men of industrial in-dustrial importance" Former Ogden Man's Work. Several days ago, O. A. Kennedy, a local scribe, toasted in the Standard Stand-ard the Rev. John Wesley Hill, formerly for-merly of Ogden. now head of the Lin. coin Memorial university, which is two miles out from Cumberland Gap, Tenn. Without any suggestion from his guests, Chief Graves said concern-; ing this university: I am keenlv interested in the great work of this new institution T was one of a large party from Washington City attending exercises at the university uni-versity on Lincoln s Birthday What we heard and saw and learned was gratifying, indeed. "For the especial benefit of the mountain moun-tain folk, the institution has established establish-ed a course in forestry elementary surveying, estimating and marketing timber, tree growth, reforestation, fire protection, etc., and the mountain folks are famous students 'This work is of the noblest character. char-acter. It brings blessings to all with, in its reach and I have helped to raise money to sustain and develop it The students are benefited in every way; j they become real woodsmen and get started In the logging business, mar-keiinc mar-keiinc timber, ties rails etc and they will make ideal foresters." Mr. Graves made no direct reference to the Rev Mr. Hill, but praised highly this one phase of his university univers-ity extension work. Government Buying Lands. "The government.' said Chief Graves, "is purchasing large areas of lands, primarily located at strategic points for the protection of streajn. to provide permanent nuclei! for forestry for-estry work. Tho new policy was in I itiated by congress in 1011 and eleven million dollars was appropriated for the purpose. It has been my task to inspect and appraise lands for purchase pur-chase a monumental task, indeed, requiring re-quiring more time than was allowed, which caused a large part of the fund to revert to the treasury. "We have purchased a million and I a half acres, at an average price j of $5 per acre, mostly at the headwaters head-waters of naigable rivers. We paid no more than reasonable commm lal value for these lands, though 'boom prices' bad been freely predicted. Wo introduced the element of competition I and obtained the lands at reasonable rates. "Probably two thirds of these lands have been cut over, but not much of it has been denuded There Is a great deal of merchantable timber and a fine and valuable young growth. About one-third of the limber bus not been cut at all The Northern end of this project is In the White mountains of New Hampshire. "This new policy creates a deep in terest in forestry in that section, like that bo universal in the great West, All interests are uniting with the government gov-ernment in an economical plan of using and conserving natural resources. re-sources. Conquering Old Poverty. 'Theres' a great commercial demand de-mand for acid wood-maple, birch, etc. for the manufacture of acetic acid. We pri timber for this purpose and have adopted a system of small contracts con-tracts This provides the mountain and forest folk with steady work. They become, Independent government contractors. con-tractors. Every man who has a mule avails himself of the opportunity. The system is a great benefit to all those people. They are getting abow the poverty stage and becoming important import-ant factors in industry. 'Reforestation is being scientifical ly continued. In New Hampshire one immense outfit is utilizing everything we will allow them to cut. We mark the timber for them. Making the Forests Serve. "Thus we are trying to make all of the forests serve the public good. We are not thinking in terms of board feet, but in terms of human Industry, with a view to the creation of prosperous pros-perous homes, doing our utmost to build up the country, to give Increased advantages to all who have e6tab lished themselves in the forests. We are striving to enchance the value ot their industry and work bv making available new industries. This means more population, more opportunities, more things to do, more work of every creative kind. We are putting our work upon a permanent basis and many forests could never have survived sur-vived without this service. Find Roads Assured. 'With the fund of ten million dollars dol-lars made available by congress for good roads, we shall do our level best in this direction in every part of the country. The fund is to be distributed distribut-ed among all the forests. Thus road-building road-building will be stimulated. Dtafa will get its share, of course; how much, I do not know just now. Within ien years, excellent results will be shown. The new roads will be excellently graded and drained." Europe's Forest Problem. Asked what effect the war might have on Europe's forest service, Chief Graves replied: There is no actual destruction of the forests in Franco and Germany, Ih my opinion. They have merely over-cut their forests. The German forests have been excellent administra. tion for many years. They only cut the growth. There has been a tre mendous drain, of course, for special military needs, for trench material, ties, barracks, a thousand and one uses. This means overcutting, eco-my eco-my and continuous production. we anticipate there will be a great ! demand for lumber In Europe imme-I imme-I diately after this war, but this is an economic question. An era of reconstruction upon a vast scale I will, of course, follow the wear, i There also will be great colonial ex-pansion ex-pansion and development, from which Canada and Australia will benefiL j Canada, happily, has not sold nor given away her forests. They sold the timber only, retaining the lands, which we. alas! have lost. This means a great advantage to Canada in the immediate future These opin-ions, opin-ions, remember, are merely speculative, specula-tive, but reasonable. I think " Baking-Powder From Wood. Speaking of the many new uses for timber Chief Graves said: "The people have only a faint idea of the increasing uses for wood. See these socks (exhibiting them) which were made of wood fibre! The beautiful beau-tiful tie is made of wood. The shirt, silken in texture, is of wood-fibre. I have seen lately some beautiful 'silk' dress-goods, braids, embroidery', absorbent ab-sorbent 'cotton.' floor matting, dress-suit dress-suit cases and many other useful things, made of wood " "Chemical extracts of Innumerable kinds, dyes, medicines, are made of wood. They are even making sugar of wood, and Idaho is likely to become be-come famous for the baking-powder made of the larch, thus vieing with Connecticut and its ramous nutmeg." The chief's remarks along this line was semi-humorous and he ended the interview with a merry laugh and a wish that all the people of Ogden may live long and prosper. oo |
