East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1861-08-15
PINE LUMBER.
A LESSON FROM HISTORY.

The white pine, pine StroJas,) is perhaps
the most valuable tIee of our forests. From
the first settlement Of the country it has been
most highly priced for lumber, and it now
forms part of almost every good dwelling in
the land. The window frames and sashes, the
blinds and doors are almost universally of pine.
Ii often forms the mop. boards and shingles,
the floors and parts of the framework. This
tree was widely distributed over the older
States in the North, and occupied the valleys
of rivers and plains where it was most acces-
sible to the early settlers. The pine loved
smooth, easiyl worked land, and the settler
did the same. The pioneer, in making his
clearing for farm, had no thought for pos.
terity. He wanted to plant corn and cultivate
grasses, and the trees were his natural ene-
mics. They had no value except FOR fuel, as
they have none now, in many or the new set
Elements remote from na,igable streams.
As the population increased, and cities began
to be built, il would pay to cut and saw the
pine, and send it to market. The settler wanted
to realize Immediately upon his purchase, and
all the zine lumber was marketed that he could
cut end saw Thus all New England, except
Maine has been stripped of its pine, and even
in the Pine Tree State, the pines are beginning
TO fail, and spruce, fir, and hemlock are taking
their place 1t is said, We know not how truly,
that pine from Michigan now sometimes finds a
market in Maine.
1t is only about eighty years since Vermont
was settled, and it is not fifty years since the
lumber trade was the principal business at Bur.
lippton, on Lake Champlain. The region around
for twenty miles, back to the foot OF the Green
Mountain range, was heavily timbered with
white pine. The men are now living who re-
member the grand slaughter upon these mon
archs of the forest, and the shipping of the lum-
ber. through the lake, and the ST. Lawrence, to
Europe Trees from four to six feet in diane
ter. and from 140 to $50 feet in length, were
not uncommon. DR.. Wheelock, OF Dartmouth
Collepe is said to have measured a tree that
stood upon the college grounds, and found it
27O feet in length But now pine hundred
feet is rare object. In recent trip from Bur-
lington eastward to the mountains, we did not
see an acre Of primitive pine forest, and but few
of the second growth. Other varieties of wood
are much more common than the pine. Remains
of the old forests are occasionally seen, in enor
NOUS stumps not yet rotted in the ground, or in
stump fences, that have stood for a generation.
The export of pine lumber has long since ceased,
and the region is now dependent upon Canada
and the West for its supplies Hardly an in
tellipent farmer can be found that does not
growth of pines. 1t would take at least three
hundred years to restore them
l. there not lesson in this fact for the lum-
bermen of Michigan and the North Western
States? They own the land and wish to make
the most of it, for themselves, and their child
rem. The clearing up of their pine lands is
likely TO 20 forward more rapidly than in Yer
mont, for the tide of emigration moves stronger
westward, and we have an immense population
along the seaboard, that must be more and more
dependent upon these new States for their pine
lumber. At present they have but small profit
upon their lumber because of its distance from
market The market is all the while coming
nearer to them, and, judging from the past the
cost of transportation will be diminishing
Will it not be better for their estate, a richer
inheritance for .heir children, to leave at least
half of these forests untouched by the axe p
Suppose an acre Of primitive pine forests now
standing ner the shore of Lake Champlain.-
With pine lumber worth from $40 to $50
thousand, and a home market, every one ac-
auainted with the business can readily see the
value of euch pieco of property. Many of
the trees would be worth hundred dollars and
upwards, and an acre would purchase respect
able farm.
1t is worth while for the new settlers upon
these Zine lands to look forward fifty years,
and think Of their heirs, if not of their own
old age. Then an acre of meadow may be
worth $50 for cultivation, and an acre of primi-
tive pine 81 900 for lumber. Of course, the
most of the forest must perish to make room for
farms and the onward march of civilization
We only ask that the wants Of posterity may be
considered, and that the Improbable expert
ment of New England be not repeated.