THE “BLAZED TRAIL.”

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2461, 27 March 1909, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE “BLAZED TRAIL.”

Very few persons have any adequate notion of the meaning of the phrase “blazed trail,” as so often used in fiction having to do with the great West. In earlier days, when large portions of the country wore covered with forests and there were very few roads, travel was often only possible by way of paths “blazed” through the woods. To blaze, in tlio woodman’s sense, is to strike a chip from the sides of trees, so that the .line of marks shall indicate the direction of the trail. In blazing for a path, small trees are marked, but in blazing | for the bounds of a lot or town, or for a farm line, larger trees were usually selected, the blaze being made, about breasthigh. When, however, as was often the case, tho blazing was done in winter, - • • ON DEEP SNOW, by men travelling on snow shoes, the mark was necessarily higher up. When such a line is travelled in the summer, especially after some years, the marks are sometimes found high up on tbs trunks, and are likely to escape, the eye of the inexperienoed. As many of them will also be partially overgrown, the task of the surveyor who goes over one of these old lines is'not always easy. If the boundary-line passes "o the left, of a free'selected for blazing, the cut is made upon the right side. If the ii”e goes to the. right the tree is blazed upon the left side. In running a boundary at a corner, where two lines come together, either a “monument” is erected, a stake supported by four boulders, or a tree is “blazed” qn all four sides to indicate as nearly aB possible the turning-point of the line. The permanency of the reoord made by blazing trees is quite remarkable. It is a matter of fact that in many cases of disputed lines or boundaries of lots in forest lands the courts have held the record of the blazes are sufficientand reliable, where carefully drawn plans and formally attested title deeds have been set aside. The wound of a blazed tree heals over, but never so completely that the scar may not be recognised by the experienced woodman ; hence it follows that so long as th© blazed tree escapes fire and the-axe of the lumberman, so long it remains-a faithful record of tho line as surveyed. It will not lie, nor will argument or cross-examination refute its testimony, v 7 Blazed trees also fix dates almost as Accurately as they preserve boundaries. V which has grown over 3 "Near is cut away, and the rings in ' i \k testify to tho number of years tbat\ - o i a p Se d since the blaze was naaae.X \