Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-11-19
The Fuel Question.

The Fuel Question.
WooD, that desirable article for a cold win
ter's day, bids fair to be more readily obtain
ed, and at reasonable price, this season than
has been possible in some winters we wot Of
This is one of the results of the completion
of the Montpelier and Wells River Railroad.
This railway opens up a magnificent lum-
Der and wood country, benefiting the people
of those sections equally with our villagers
But we do not imagine the farmers here
abouts who have made trade of supplying
this market with wood in the winter months
are to be injuriou sly or seriously affected by
this new weed supply. We mean those
furnisbers of wood who have driven an hon
est business in the fuel line.
1t is pretty certain that buyers of wood
this winter will insist with more than usual
frmness upon honest measurement and truth
full recommendation of quality. Sharpsters
and tricksters will scarcely be able to palm
Oft Eastwood limbs and decayed beech tops
at the same price that fair dealers expect to
receive for bright, solid maple or birch butts.
Our railroad friend Copp of Worcester will,
we fear, be unable to boast it an easy per-
formance to make cord and quarter of
wood sell for two cords when it reaches
Montpelier This new wood supply and its
consequent lessons may possibly teach him
that his town would not be greatly injured
by railroad facilities, if she can secure them
without paying too dearly for the whistle,
(no pun intended 1t is in fact true that the
present teaching inculcates alresh the old
lesson of the double blessedness said to follow
IN Charity's train. The wood chopper, or
wood vender, remote from Montpelier, on
the line of the road, gives US from his large
and superhuous supply better and cheaper
fuel and is blessed by the ready and remun-
erative market thus brought near to him
We receive through him an honest supply
Of needed fuel at reasonable prizes; and are
blessed by being thus saved from the extor-
ton and shameless cheats which conscience
p
to visit upon US, whenever our necessitl es or
a scant supply of wood in the market made
it possible to rob u.s.
Not to follow this idea through it's varied
ramifications, it may be proper to consider
the effect of this new opening of the forests
in the neighborhood of Peabody's station,
upon the interests or business Of those who
have heretofore largely supplied Montpelier
with wood. When we became an inhabi-
tant of Montpelier, wood was almost drug
in the market at 81 Is per cord. Much of it
came from the hills Immediately surrounding
US. Gradually and almost too quickly those
hills were denuded of their forest growths
Wood became more valuable as our popula-
ton increased, bringing increased demand
for fuel. Prices appreciated as forests dwin-
d led away. Five dollars per cord for four
foot and seven dollars for block wood was
readily obtained. Wood from more distant
points began to be brought in. Still the de-
mand increased as the supply diminished or
became more difficult of access.
Coal then came in to warm us and to furn-
ish heat wherewith to cook our dinners.
Farmers grumbled somewhat that the Penn
sylvania coal fields should thus be brought
in competition with their timbered land.
Still there was little stagnation in the wood
market.
There was demand, and at fair prices.
for all the wood farmers hereabouts could
spare from their farms. No reputable dealer
was driven out of our market from any lack
of buyers of his wood. The demand for fuel
had simply outrunUthe immediate wood sup
ply, and but for the coming in of anthracite.
fuel would have appreciated in value till it
would have become burdensome if not i'm
possible for many poor laborer to kindle a
fire about which to gather himself and house
hold.
Coal has been extensively used and became
SO general and desirable a fuel that it has
been no easy task to keep Montpelier fully
supplied at reasonable prices. This source
of heat has also run up in price until some of
its friends have returned to wood.
This fact and the scant supply of forests
hereabouts, would have inevitably worked
mischief, not only with people receiving only
moderate income but also with our farmers
who would have FASTENED their already d.
minished wood supply into market under
the stimulus of higher prices.
1t is not wisdom in farmers to denude their
hillsides of all forest growth, and especially
not when the future rise in prices of the
wood they would supply would more than
meet the interest ON the sum for which it
might now be sold. Farmers in near prox-
unity to Montpelier should not make haste