Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-02-08
PrOtcrl the Forecasts.


VI The value Of the various products d..
s'r"yed by the overwhelming disaster
which has betallcn Chicago; estimates
Of the probable amount to BE- realized
by insurance; estimates Of the actua:
loss in gold and paper money, but no
where have We see any estinlatas of the
loss the nation has recently sustained in
the destruction IF thousands Of square
s'iles If our primcvai forests. The
c"ndagration Of the great commercial
city Ut the West, awful aud ovcrpower-
ing as, 1t must have been, has been
cciipscd in the sublime grandeur Of the
burning forests. A new city will
emerge from the ashes Of that destoycd;
IN less than five years every vcstige .!
the disaster will have been removed.
and in all probability by that tiu,c Chi
Cage will boast relatively stronger pc.
cuniary position than ut any period in
the past. 1t will not be 20 easy to
make amends for the unparalleled dis
aster which has consun,cd millions Of
acres Of the best timber in the country
The amount OF lumber DESTROYED,
which is estimated variou$ly from $40,
O0O, 900 to SO, 900, 900, is but drop
IL the bucket compared with the lick.
ing up Of the millions of acres OF rich
timber lands Take, for instance, the
total destruction of the forests covering
the peninsula between Lake Huron and
Saginaw Bay. We are told that all
that portion of the State lying east OF
the Bay and north Of "a point forty
miles above Port Huron, has been prac-
tically swept BARE The four thousand
square miles lying between Green Bay
on the east, aud Fox and Wolf rivers
on the west. have been dcnuded Of their
vernal covering, leaving nothing bu,
b!ackened trunks, valueless, worse than
worthless, since they simply cuu,ber the
ground. The fires which have ragged
throughout Michigan and Wisconsin,
were preceded by destructive conflagra.
tons in Minnesota later We hear oI
similar appalling disasters in Western
Ontario.
The "big woods" Of Minnesota, tn,
vast and rich numbering districts O
Saginaw, and the equally rich timbc,
lands Of Green Bay, Fox and VOL
rivers utterly destroyed; these are sui
ficient in themselves to show the natur,
Of the loss the nation has incurred b,
> the great fires which have prevailed
throughout the West. At present writ
ing it is simply impossible to calculat,
the extent OF the disaster. We onl,
, know that we have sustained u grea
national misfortune in the dcstructio,
Of thousands Of square miles OF our hes
: timber lands. The probable cnst to tn
: country may be inferred from the asser
tions made within the past Year, to tn
effect that the timber lands Of Mich
gun and Wisconsin would not furnish
" more than twenty years supply to tn
< country at the present rapid rates q
8 consumption. These assertions wer
: based upon carfully prepared statistic.
0 reinforced by the evidence Of the H.,
6 gest land and mill owners. The ha,
q &c made by ak and saw, u,arvelou
r though it was, has been rendered ute,
Z y insignificant in comparison with tn
: fierce wrath Of the forest flames, whic
: has destroyed more timber in mont
n than all tn: mills in the West coul
c silt through their saws in five years.
It is not the inevitable appreciate
: Of the cost of mate. ial for buiIdiu
3 ships and houses alone that We ar
thinking of (although that is matte
: ofthe very first importance), so mnc
e us the fact that our law makers hav
$ witnessed the wholesale destruction q
d our primcval forests by approved moe
e ern appliances unmoved. The e.. ger
J. ence OF the Old World seems lost upo
u them. Our people, who are quic
e to prompt their representatives, con
t template the havoc made in tho growth
e OF centuries with the utmost sercnit,
. No organized effort ha ever been made
. that we are aware Of, Tor the better pro-
i lection Of our forests No effort BIZ
been made to regulate the cutting of, o
to provide for the growth or culture o
i timber. The TX and saws annually dc
a nude millions of acres Of the growth o
centuries; fires rage throughout thou
sands Of acres, consuming everything i,
. their path, leaving black desolation in
t their track, yet government looks on a
calmly as though it had Mccarthy in
> tercst in the total destruction OF tn,
2 best portion Of its possessions. It i
, futil" to attempt to stay the rav.ges O
5 u con8agration which sweeps over thou
sands Of miles Of forest nd,-man',
efforts are hopeless here, but laws ca,
be devised which will do much to re
claim the waste places, provisions car
be nnde for regulating tho cutting o
lumber, and protecties and oncoura
} eins early gro~ths. All this has bee,
accomplished in other countries it re-
mains for the people of the United
States, aud especially such as are d.
rectIy intere ted in the consumption o1
lumber, to say whether or not simila,
provisions be made in this country.