Big Blackfoot Milling Company protests method of larch cutting

If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also about the fledgling U.S. Forest Service.

SEELEY LAKE – The last several articles in this Timber Sale series explored the Big Blackfoot Milling Company's contention the Forest Service charged them for one million board feet more than was delivered. Up to this point, the rebuttal has come primarily from Inspector Paul Redington, sent to investigate the matter on behalf of the Forest Service. Redington's report cited improper scaling as the reason for the discrepancy between the company's numbers and the Forest Service numbers. In addition, he noted several breaches of contract perpetrated by the company.

Redington's report also covered the issue of long-butting larch trees. Before delving into Redington's comments, it may be helpful to understand Big Blackfoot's side of the story.

John H. Toole's "The Baron, The Logger, The Miner and Me," contains a colorful description of the company's viewpoint. On his father's side, the author Toole is the grandson of John R. Toole, president of Big Blackfoot Milling Company during the Timber Sale of 1907-1910. On his mother's side, he was the grandson of Kenneth Ross, general manager of the mill at the time of the sale.

Toole's writing in the book contains factual details and information but often slips without prologue into storytelling in the voices of his grandfathers. That the author is writing down stories that have been told and retold numerous times and received embellishments that possibly veered from the truth is most evident in the name of the forest ranger in charge. Although Ambrose Norton was the ranger assigned to on-site overseeing of the project, grandson Toole's retelling names the ranger as Jim Girard. Girard did replace Norton during the second year of the sale, but Norton was the man with whom Ross quarreled over the issue of long-butting.

Author Toole begins with an explanation: "Larch trees (also called tamaracks) have a butt that is loaded with pitch. It will not float. It is splintery, and any good-size nail driven into a board sawed from the butt will split it. This wood is good only for shakes or shingles. Loggers for generations have 'long-butted' the larch; they have simply cut off the lower five feet and left it lying in the woods."

The story picks up color as Toole describes Girard [Norton] witnessing sawyers long-butting. According to Toole, Girard [Norton] orders the men to stop and they reply, "We don't take orders from you, mister." Girard [Norton] then takes up the matter with logging superintendent Bill Brian.

Here is Toole's account: "Girard [Norton] stumped down to the company office, burst in upon Brian, shouting, 'Your men are long-butting tamarack!'

"'Well, sure they are. What's wrong with that?'

"Girard [Norton], his face blood-red with fury, exploded: 'You know the Forest Service will never stand for that kind of waste!'

"'Waste! What's wrong with you ranger? Them butts ain't no good for nothin'!

"By now the two men were shouting nose to nose across the desk; the ranger yelled, 'Good for nothin'! Wait till Mr. Gifford Pinchot, Chief Ranger of the Forest Service hears about this. I order you to stop long-butting at once! And from now on, every tree must be cut 18 inches from the ground.'

"'Hell! I never heard of no Pinchot. If we don't long-butt those logs, every one of 'em will sink to the bottom of Seeley Lake! And how kin we cut stumps 18 inches off the ground with four feet of snow on the level? Get the hell out of here!"

The story continues with Brian addressing the lumbermen, "'Boys, you can't cut no more tamarack until we get this deal straightened out.'

"The sawyers became alert. 'Hell Brian, we're gyppos [the term for lumbermen paid not by salary but by how many thousand board feet they cut]. We can't make no money if we have to hunt here and there for pine trees!'

"'Yeah, I know, but I sent a letter to old man Ross today, and if I know him, he'll be up here pronto and take care of these goddam feds!'"

Toole continues the drama with Ross reading the letter. "...his cigar moved rapidly from one side of his mouth to the other." Ross then hops in his horse drawn sleigh and races down to Seeley Lake. Once there he confers with Brian and then with Girard [Norton], and then back to Brian.

Ross confirms the order to stop long-butting and to cut stumps 18 inches from the ground. When Brian says, "'It's just impossible!'" Ross tells him to "powder wedge" the tamaracks. Powder wedging is a way of splitting logs by driving a hollow wedge filled with gunpowder into the butts. When the gunpowder is detonated, the log splits in two. According to Ross, the log halves will then float down river, split side up.

Toole concludes the episode with Brian agreeing but adding, "Mr. Ross, there just ain't no justice in all this!"

To which, Ross replies, "'You're damn right there's no justice in it! I'm finding out that it's a one-way street when you're working with Uncle Sam.'"

After a few intervening words Ross assures Brian, "...when this deal is over, the Anaconda Company is gonna sue the United States Forest Service and we'll collect every dime of our losses!"

True to his word, year after year Ross relentlessly pursued what he considered the injustices of the Forest Service in the first year of the 1907 timber sale under Lumberman Norton. In November 1908, Missoula was established as United States Forest Service District 1 with jurisdiction over national forests in Montana, Idaho, northern Wyoming and northwestern South Dakota. W. B. Greeley was appointed District Forester. In February 1909, Greeley sent a letter to The Forester in Washington D.C. urging a quick settlement of the controversy between the Forest Service and Big Blackfoot Milling Company.

Greeley wrote, "I am exceedingly anxious that it should be done at once, since in my opinion, continued delay can only aggravate what has already become an awkward situation, and makes an administration of the sale appear dilatory and inefficient."

Even after the Forest Service made monetary concessions and considered the matter closed, Big Blackfoot continued to claim it had been unfairly treated. Not until January 1910 did Company President Toole and General Manager Ross accept a final concession by the Forest Service and officially agree to an end to the controversy.

The next segment of this series will look at the larch long-butting issue from the Forest Service's viewpoint.