“THE SALE WAS A GOOD ONE,” The Globe, Oct. 14, 1892

Ontario’s Timber Limits Fetched High Prices

A BIG SUM REALISED

Total Proceeds Over Two Million Dollars

MOSTLY CANADIAN BUYERS

A Great Limit Goes to a Michigan Firm

INTERESTING FACTS AS TO PREVIOUS SALES […]

Hon. Mr. Hardy was confident when he sent broadcast through the land the announcement of yesterday’s sale of timber limits that the prices would overtop the most extravagant sums that had ever been paid, but he was hardly prepared for the magnificent result of this, the last of all the successful sales held during the regime of the present Administration. […]

The total amount realized was $2,308,475, truly a handsome return, when it is remembered that for an area of 3,976 square miles sold during the seventeen years between 1873 and 1890 there was paid by way of bonus $2,450,081, which in times past has been looked upon as a large amount. During that period the average rate of bonus per square mile was $751. At the sale of 1887 it reached the phenomenal rate of $2,859 a mile. The average rate for the 618 miles disposed of yesterday was a trifle over $3,735, which is the high-water mark.

[…]

The highest price paid per square mile was $17,500, which Gilmour & Co of Trenton gave for berth No. 6, in Peck Township, consisting of 11 3/4 miles, the total amount of the purchase being $205,625l. This is said to be the highest price ever paid for a square mile of timber in this country. […]

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS

At the conclusion of the sale, The Globe reporter found Mr. Hardy in the Speaker’s chambers, ensconced in a reposeful arm chair, and gazing intently at the fire, which burned brightly in the grate before him.

“We had expected a good sale, but the result has exceeded our expectations,” said he. The prices were all good, many of them extremely good. It has been by far the best sale that has ever taken place in the Province. The bidding was sharp and keen, buyers plenty, and every lot was sold, none remaining over. […] There were a number of Americans present, who, no doubt, stimulated the competition; but, speaking generally, and without having gone over the items in detail, I think nine out of every ten of the lots were bought by Canadians, and mostly Canadian manufacturers at that. This secures the result for which there have been some advocates, viz., that the timber should be manufactured in the Province. The department was inclined to the opinion that had the manufacture of the timber in the Province been imposed as a condition the receipts would probably have been from a quarter of a million to half a million less than they have been. […]. ”