In January, 1885, Gov. Hubbard, of Minnesota, appointed A. L. Hospes surveyor general, and the appointment creating some dissatisfaction, a lumberman's board of exchange was organized, and Judson McKusick was appointed as private scaler. He proceeded, under the direction of the exchange, to scale logs that had already been scaled by Hospes. When the members of the exchange proceeded to take possession of their logs and run them out into the lake, Hospes commenced a series of injunction cases to prevent them from so doing. The exchange brought suit against Hospes in Wisconsin courts to prevent him from scaling logs owned by the exchange. The exchange also declared that McKusick was a deputy of the general surveyor of the Fourth district, Wisconsin. Pending these suits, Hospes commenced a quo warranto proceeding in the Minnesota supreme court to have the articles of incorporation of the exchange annulled, but was defeated on the ground that the exchange could employ a private scaler at will, but held that such scaler could not interfere with the claims of Hospes, he being recognized as surveyor general. In July of the same year the claims of the conflicting parties were settled by the parties themselves, outside the courts, and the question of conflicting jurisdiction has therefore never been legally determined. It is true that some courts have passed upon the question, and appeals have been taken to higher courts. The decision of Judge Nelson of the supreme court has been given, a decision that the surveyor general of the First district of Minnesota has a right to scale all logs in his district, yet by his own decision Wisconsin has equal rights under concurrent jurisdiction. Should both state authorities under their surveyors general claim jurisdiction at the same time, concurrent jurisdiction would lead to a double taxation upon log owners. It seems, however, to be an admitted principle that when suits between the same parties, in relation to the same matter, are pending at the same time in different courts of jurisdiction, a judgment in the one may act as a bar to further proceedings in the other. The question ought to be more definitely and satisfactorily settled.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE LOGS.
It may not be amiss to explain somewhat in detail the system of marking adopted by the lumbermen. Owners of logs must be able to identify their property or lose the reward of their labor. A system of marking each log has, therefore, become a feature of the lumbering business, and has been in existence ever since lumbering has been prosecuted. When the business was confined to a limited number of firms it was an easy matter, and one of mutual arrangement, to select the property. But firms change; from a score the number of lumber firms increased to hundreds. A record of ownership of log marks is necessary, and a law has been enacted protecting the ownership of a mark as thoroughly as a trade mark is protected. This system of marks in the process of time has become a language in itself deep and intricate to the average mind, but as plain as the alphabet to every man having to do with the manufacture of logs. It is the aim of every lumberman originating a mark to make it simple, containing as many straight lines as possible, so that it can be put on the log speedily. These marks are cut on the logs, through the bark and a few inches into the body of the timber, soon after the tree is felled, by a skilled axeman who is charged with the duty. The cut is made deeper than the bark so it will be preserved after the bark comes off. The mark is made upon the side of the log.
This system of marks is a language in itself. Every prominent firm has a particular character, which, in a general way, is indicative of his ownership or interest in the log. This mark may be varied by additional or supplementary characters, indicating who cut the log, on whose land it was cut, or under what particular contract it was put into the stream. Some idea of the extent and variety of these marks can be formed from the statement that there is recorded in the St. Croix district—only a small portion of the entire lumber region of the Northwest—over 1,700 different and distinct characters. Many of these are quaint and interesting, and the whole etymology curious in the extreme.
In the books in the surveyor general's office these marks and figures are the only characters used except in the recording of the marks themselves and of instruments and agreements. The identity of mark and its association of ownership necessarily calls into play the utmost familiarity. To one not thoroughly familiar with the method the books are about as intelligible as the figures on the side of a Chinese tea chest to the average American. Once a man becomes thoroughly familiar with the marks on a river where lumbering is so extensively carried on as on the St. Croix, he becomes invaluable in the surveyor general's office, or in the booms, identified in some capacity with the scaling process. The fact that some particular character runs through the varied marks of all the leading firms is a key to the readiest understanding, just as the twenty-six characters in the alphabet are necessarily understood before one can read readily or intelligently.
When the logs reach the booms the marks serve as a guide in their distribution by the scaler, whose business it is to measure the logs, call out the number of feet in each log to the tallyman, who records it in a book kept for the purpose, the record, together with the mark attached, to be forwarded to the surveyor general's office, there to be posted and footed. A small army of men is engaged in bringing logs to the gap, a narrow passage admitting scarcely more than one log at a time.
A catch mark is a mark representing the original mark and is so placed as to appear always upon the upper side when the log floats at rest. Once through the gap, experienced men gather the logs, as they are floated downward by the current, into brills. These are subsequently gathered together in rafts, laid, as a rule, with the logs headed in the direction of the current. Rafts may be transported to any distance southward by the current of the stream, and through the waters of the lake, and not infrequently the whole distance by tow boats.
AMOUNT OF LOGS CUT FROM 1857 TO 1888.
The earliest statistics in the following table are from persons operating, and the later from record books. We have given the figures in round numbers. The table includes logs cut and floated down the St. Croix river and tributaries: