Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1915 — MILLIONS IN LOGS THAT WERE BURIED FOR YEARS [ARTICLE]

MILLIONS IN LOGS THAT WERE BURIED FOR YEARS

Fortune Made in Raising Timber From River. Muskegon, Mich., April 2.—The operations which are* being carried on along the Muskegon river and its tributary waters beat hunting for buried treasure all hollow. Ordinary treasure hunting, that is, for these operations are literally hunting for buried treasure, with the additional advantage that those who are carrying them on know just where to hunt for the treasure and are able to convert it-into cash'as surely as if it were the minted money of other days. The treasure consists of approximately 1,000,000,000 feet of logs which m y e rested on the bed of the river ever since the palmy days of the lumbering industry in western Michigan,

For two decades, beginning almost half a century ago, this part of Michigan was the greatest lumber center in the United States and the world as well. Here were the tallest trees, the biggest timber. Here existed the typical methods of cutting lumber of that period. Timber was so plentiful that it was gathered recklessly. The methods of taking a claim were such as to attract a large number of lumber men, and for a hundred miles up the river the sound of axes and saws was heard on every side, far back into the country.

Logs in a profusion seemingly endless filled the Muskegon river. They filled it not only on the surface, but the entire river bottom was clogged with logs, even to the deepest part of the channel. They were piled in the river in such numbers that, the logs on top -pushed other logs to the bottom and still ethers came on top of these, till the river for many miles was, in places, a solid mass of logs.

Two years ago the dam at Big Rapids was carried away. Then was revealed to the present generation, the amazing fact that the entirebottom of the Muskegon river was a mass of logs. When the darn broke great was the astonishment at the sight of that thick floor of logs. The Muskegon company bought the ri'-hts- of the original owners and began the work of removing the timber. The work of taking the logs from the river bottom has progressed until timber piles line the banks to a width of many rods for miles and miles.

Old-time lumbermen of the district become loquacious and tell of the interesting scene of ’ the time when the “river hogs,” as the waders were called, made things lively in western Michigan. Muskegon was a Mecca for all kinds of workers in logging, but especially those who were skilled in setting loose huge piles of logs - which had become blocked in enormous stacks while floating down stream. These logs would often become wedged together. when a skillful “river hog” would, with a cant hook, remove the keystone log and let the immense heap go ’tumbling free with thundering noise and. swirling currents, only perhaps, to become blocked again in another place. It is probable _ that in all the l nited States there have never been such lumber scenes, nor such deeds as have been done in this last year in Big Rapids.

James Gow of Muskegon, is the man at the head of the work of raising these sunken logs. In order to have undisputed title to the big timber which he brings to the surface Mr. Gow- has purchased 2f> per cent of all the marks used by the old-time loggers in this part of the’ state. He now owns 934 marks and controls many others. These marks made him undisputed possessor of all timbers he pulls out of their bed of mud at the bottom of the river, which runs from Muskegon up past Big Rapids. One thing Mr. Gow had to contend with for some time .was the claim that because the logs have remained in the r|ver with apparently no ownership for so long a time any person had the right to salvage and keep them. One sawmill started to cut up some of these logs without securing any title to the marks, but MY. Gow finally won out by buying up the marks from the owners and then fighting the matter out in the courts.

The state supreme court has ruled the title to logs marked in any way lies in the owiier of the marks on the timbers. Thus Mr. Cow has a practically exclusive right on Muskegon river: He is bringing to the surface an almost incredible amount of lumber from the bottom of the river. In the last two years alone he has secured over 5.0,000 logs. Of this astonishing number about half have been secured near Big Rapids. The rest have come from Maple Is-land-and Muskegon lake vicinities. At the latter two places the logs are raised by a machine known as g log lifter, which is little more than a scow fitted up with machinery.

| Estimates as to the amount of logs hidden by the waters of Muskegon lake and river vary, a most conservative man places the figures at 01*0,000,000 feet, .While others predict at least double that totat will be reached •* finally. The fact that approximately 1,000,000,000 j f eet o? timber was allowed tq remain in the river bed is £>rocf of the careless accounting of the lumberman of the early period. It only goes to show that lumbermen were satisfied if they secured 75 per cent of their total cut when- the logs were received at the mill. The first suggestion of this novel method of raising logs from th* .Muskegon river bed belongs to John Torrent, now S 4 years old and still a most active man. He came to Muskegon practically sixty years ago. It was Mr. Torrent who-first interested Mr. Cow in the proposition, having been interested in the lumber business himself for over a quarter of a century. In other streams in Michigan and Wisconsin it is expected similar operations will be started in the near future, Mr. Cfow having found that the venture is an extremely profitable one. One astonishing fact is that the lumber produced from these logs is of as good quality as when the timber was first cut,—lndianapolis News.