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Show fELLOW PINE TIMBER BILLION FEET SOLD FROM KAI- BAB NATIONAL FOREST. In Order to Get Timber Out It Will Be Necessary to Build Railroad 200 Miles Long. Western Newspaper Vnion News Service. Washington. Secretary of Agriculture Agricul-ture Houston has approved the disposal dis-posal of one billion feet of western yellow pine timber from the Kaibab national forest in northern Arizona. In order to get this timber out it will be necessary to build a railroad approximately ap-proximately 200 miles long. Such a railroad will connect Colorado and Utah with the world-famous Grand canyon of the Colorado, which hitherto hither-to has been accessible only from the south. For several years the construction of such a railroad has been considered by various capitalists, but it has been stated that the lack of assured immediate imme-diate traffic was act effectual barrier. It is pointed out, however, that a contract con-tract for a billion feet of timber will overcome, this difficulty by providing a commodity for transportation which, together with tourist and local traffic, will place the project on a paying basis practically from the outset. Chief Forester Henry S. Graves made a personal examination on the ground, and this examination supplemented supple-mented by the reports of his forest engineers', induced him to recommend the sale of such a large body of timber tim-ber in order that the country might be developed through the supplying of this resource. Mr. Graves, says, however, how-ever, that the Kaibab forest is one of the most beautiful in America, and gives assurance that the marketing of the mature crop of timber will not bs allowed to mar the scenic beauty ot the region. In accordance with the timber sale policy of the government the stump-age stump-age will be disposed of to the highest bidder. In order to attract a sufficient suffi-cient investment to assure the building build-ing of the railroad and of the necessary neces-sary lumber mills at least a billion feet of timber had to be offered. The investment necessary to make this timber accessible will amount to more than $3,000,000. By placing this quantity quan-tity of timber before the lumbermen of the country the officials of the forest' for-est' service believe that the development develop-ment of extensive areas in southern Utah may be looked for, because the necessary railway will render accessible access-ible resources which have heretofore been undeveloped. The whole region is rich in agricultural land, in cattle and shep range, and in coal and copper cop-per deposits, as well as in timber. Bids for the timber will be received up' to the middle -of June, 1914, and three years will te allowed for the building of the railroad and mills, and twenty-five years for the cutting of the timber. The stumpage rates, however, how-ever, will be readjusted at the end of each five-year period of the contract, the readjustments being based on the then current lumber prices. By the end of the contract period, the forest officers say, the young trees left on the area first cut over will be. ready for cutting, so that by the system of lumbering which the government gov-ernment will require, operations can continue permanently in this lumber belt. The annual cut will be not less than fortv million feet, most of which will be readily sold in the large consuming con-suming lumber markets in Utah and Colorado. The Kaibab" forest is one of the most heavily timbered in the Southwest, South-west, the stand of timber being broken only occasionally by beautiful meadows mead-ows or openings locally known as parks. Lumbermen who have visited it consider the country ideally adapted adapt-ed to logging. There are, altogether, two billion feet of timber, of which more than one billion feet are mature and ready for cutting. |