The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1867-04-02
EIemIOCk Bark aud Lumber

In the early times a wide district of
country situated north and northeast of the
Blue Mountains, and drained by the Della
ware aud its affiuents, was timbered in
large part with pine and hemiock. The
latter had little or no market value Pine
was a resource for getting money, and was
first seized upon. 1t was literally exhaus-
ted at prices seldom rising above ST a thou
sand for boards at Philadelphia; which was
barely sufficient to keep the lumbermen in
condition bordering on savagery.
When there was no more pine, hem 'ock
began slowl ly to appreciate. At last hem
lock boards and scantling rose in market
somewhat above the rates at which the
pine had been sold; but for two or three
years before the Rebellion broke out there
was relapse, and hemLock sunk to $3.50,
and even considerably less.
! There was one relief to the lumbermen
meanwhile. At first, there was no market
or verv little, in all that country, for hem
/ lock bark. The tanneries by which New
! York was mainly supplied, were located in
] Greene and Schoharie counties, and had
not yet exhausted the territories by which
they were respectively fed Some twenty
years ago, bark began to fail them, and only
one bv one they were forced to emigrate.
! They came over into the district tributary
to the Erie Railway, some in New York
and others in Pennsylvania. Here they
established tanneries Of altogether uRprece-
dented magnitude, and have already slaugh-
tered most of the hemIock in their reach.
Some of these tannerieS have now no more
than two years supply Of bark at Com
! mand scarcely one Of them supp y reach
/ ING beyond seven or eight years of fuii busi-
mess LatterIy in these counties the bark
has become of more value than The timber,
though hemlock sawed stuff has grown as
high rs sixteen dollars thousand at Phil
adelphia and New York. HemIock laads,
as a matter Of course, have rapidly increaS-
ed in price, and many extraordinary sPecu-
latonS have been made.
1t becomes a question of importance to
determine where these tanneries will locate
when forced again to emgrate. From
Northumberland, along the line Of the
Phiadel pha and Erie Railroad, almost to
Erie county, in a region well supplied with
hemlock, and now conveniently accessible
to the seaboard by rail. This hemIock dis
trict extends from the northern border down
into the midland counties. 1t Is destined
soon to experience a friendly INVASION OF
swarming tanners, and a great enhance
ment in the value of wild lands. Fen years
will suffice to produce astonishing results IN
this respect, unless some inventive genius
shall, in the interim, effectuaIlv cOntrlve a
process to sUpe,sede leather in commerce
Al various times experiments have been
made to concentrate tannin, so as to lessen
the cost of transportation; the idea being
to carry the tannin to the hides, rather than
the hides to the tannn. A good deal of
concentrated tannin, brought from India, is
used in England; but in this country no
marked success has attended these efforts.
Unless further trials shall lead to improved
processes, the hides will continue to be sent
to the hemIock forests the cost Of transpor-
tdI'H bo|h ways DTIHS dNdO'i W VIC NC0l
Of leather In the great markets.
Some speculation has been excited at
different periods, in view of the use and de-
struction of timber, and the almost total
neglect, as yet, to plant forests, as to what
viii lee done for leather when the primitive
supply of bark shall be exhausted Such
speculations are about as premature and
idle as serious conjectures about coal when
/ the deposits of that material shall be used
up, So far, comparatively toA counties
have furnished the bulk Of the leather used
10y the American people, Between the At
lantic and Pacific oceans are immeasurabe
forests Of oak and hemock, which untold
generations will be required to consume.
True, a considerable POI ton of these forests
do not yield bark so rich in tanning as
to make the manufacture Of sole leather by
means ,f it easy and rapid But, after
abatng these deficient forests,enough remain
to render it unnecessary to consider what
sources of supply may be available when
these shall be gone.
The President vetoed the supplemental