Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-05-05
THE LUMBER INTEREST.

to our ways.
THE LUMBER INTEREST
The Saginaw is here a broad, deep stream,
navigable by large craft. Through its
tributaries, the Tittabawassa, Cass, Flint
and Shiawassee rivers, its waters drain the
interior parts of the State. These tributa-
res invade the most extensive pineries in
the world. Millions of these pines are cut
each year and tloated to the mills which
| line the banks of the Saginaw for miles on
either side. These mills are driven by
steam and work up the logs with fearful
rapidly. A circular saw will cut Il log a
foot and a half in diameter and thirteen or
more feet long into inch and half plank
in two minutes, taking apart in this brief
time what mother nature put together after
only a century of effort A gang of saws
will turn out thirty inch boards in five
times as many seconds, and this work is
continued day in and day out for eight
months of the year. 1 visited single
mill in which were three machines in OPP
Grafton. each of which will saw thirty
thousand shingles daily. In forty min
utes after Il log il drawn from the river it
will be packed in punches ready for ship
ment though it has passed through a score
of hands and as many different processes.
The shingle made here are exclusively of
pine so far as | have learned. Some idea
of the extent of the numbering business in
this vicinity may be got from the following
statistics of the year 1869 In the Saginaw
valley that year there were SO mills, run
ming 81 Mulay saws, ~ circular saws and
40 gang saws. These cut 523, 800, $50 feet of
lumber, jl,754, 22l lath, and employed p
900 men. There were made the same year
ll9,si3,j00 shingles, and l2,44s, 1884 slaves.
The slaves are chiefly made from oak. j27
men were employed in the manufacture of
shingles. One day this week there were
shipped from this vicinity $3.50, 900 feet of
lumber and 100000 shingles. In 1869,
277, O26,O57 logs we're RATED out of the Tit
tabawassee river, II, 075, go out of the Cass,
81, l0l,s9i out of the Bad and 20, 754, OlS out
ofthe Flint. Most ofthese were worked up
on the Saginaw. This gives some concep-
ton of the inroads which the lumb armen
are making upon the fores of Michigan.
of course this slaughter of the trees cannot
always last, as consumption greatly exceeds
growth and supply.
SALINE.
Salt is extensively made in East Sagi-
nav and vicinity. The brine is obtained
from artesan wells sunk about eight hun
dred feet below the surface. 1t is pumped
up by steam. The brine obtained here
contains more saline matter than that
at Syracuse. The standard of measure
ment for brine is water which holds in So
luton the greatest possible amount of salt.
BY this standard the brine now varies from
600 to 800, 1909 being the greatest maxi
mum. There are three methods of max
ing salt from brine here. The first is the
solar process. The brine is drawn into inn
mcnsc watts, some three feet deep, fifteen
wide and any lclgth, and exposed to the
heat of the sun. Acres OF ground are COW
cred with these watts. Roofs are provided
to run over them in case of rain. 1t re-
quires several months to effect the evapo-
ration by this method. They only get two
crops year in this way.
The second process is the kettle. An inn
mensc arch is constructed in which is set n
great number of kettles, the old style caul-
dron kettles. Messrs. Bundy and You
mans of Saina, who kindly showed me
through their works, have sixty kettles in
their arch. Their method of obtaining salt
is this The brine is forced into large "set-
tiers" where it remains forty-eight hours.
Quick lime, | believe, is added to precpi-
tate the iron and other foreign elements.
The brine passes from the settlers through
wooden pipes tothe kettles. 1t has to be
diluted to 75o before ii enters the kettles.
1t is then boiled from six to twelve hours
according to the intensity of the heat. The
salt is then taken from the kettles which
are immediately refilled with the brine
and So the work proceeds day and night
through the season. Salt making by the
kettle Is similar to sugar making from the
sap Of the maple
The third method of producing salt is
that by team. The brine is forced into II
settler where it remains twenty four hours.
1t is then assed into second settler and
kept at II temperature of about 1900 Fnh-
renheit for twenty-four hours moro. II Is
then drawn into watts and kept at high
temperature for another twenty-four hours
!
in this process is all done by steam.
The salt blocks are run almost wholly in
connection with the saw mills. The price
of salt is so low that the manufacturer can
not afford to buy fuel. The ellis are sunk
near the saw mills and in the kettle proc
ess the arch is supplied with fuel from the
saw dust and other fragments which cam
not he utilized for anything else In the
steam process the watts are heated by the
waste steam from the engine which drives
the saw mill.
Ii costs about two dollars u foot to sink
an artesian well, besides the cost of tubing.
The salt block of Messrs. Bundy 4 You
mans cost sl3,5OO. This includes cost of
well, machinery, arch and buildings. H8,-
s73 barrels of salt were made in the Sagi-
! nav Valley in 1899. There was then in