The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1873-05-01
CoNsUMPTIoN OF TIMBER

CoNsUMPTIoN OF TIMBER.
Our Immense Western Resources
No Cause for Panic yet.
A writer in the Nautical Gazette
says:
"A recent circular Of the lumber
men of Pennsylvania estimates the
number Of railroad ties In present use
in the United States at l50, ,0OO, 600. A
cut of 200 ties to the acre is above
rather than under the average, and ii
therefore has required the product OF
$50. 600 acres of well-timbeTed land to
furnish this supply. Railroad ties last
about five years, consequently 10000
600 ties are used annually for repairs.
taking the timber from 10000 acres
The manufacture Of rolling stock dis
poses of the entire yield of $50. 600 acres
aud full supply Of nearly 500. 900 acres
more every year. 1t appears, then,
that our railroads are stripping the
country at the rate Of 1000 600 acres
per annum. aud the demands are rap.
idly increasing.
"A competent authority estimates
that the select timber from $50 acres is
employed every day, or at the rate 81
4a.ooo acres per annum, In ship build
ing, including steamboat building. Al
it Is well understood that the advanc-
ing price Of coal is causing revival Of
wooden ship-building, this demand
must also increase.
| The circular above referred 10 makes
3 careful calculation Of the area of
timber lands and the average yield
| per acre, and comes to the alarming
conclusion that three years stocking.
At the present rate. will entirely ex
haust the lumber now standing in
Pennsylvania. A similar state OF
things may be shown in all the fores,
districts heretofore furnishing lumber |
except that the remoter regions OF |
Maine and Michigan will hold out a
few years longer. Far-sighted lumber
men are already looking, with anxious
interest to the last two belts OF prime
val forests within our borders, which
are Of sufficient extent to be consid-
cred rs national sources of supply.
These are the magnificent pineries of
the Upper Mississippi, lying mainly
in Minnesota, and the immense growth
Of our North Pacific coast, In Wash
ington Territory.
The lumber trade of Minnesota now
amounts to 5000, ,00O, 900 feet per an.
mum but as even this enormous cut
ting is supposed only to keep pace
with the annual growth, this vast pre-
serve may be said to be almost virtu.
ally intact. These Mississippi pineriss
extend from the headw of the great
river eastward to the Montreal river In
Wisconsin, occupying nearly all Of
Northwestern Minnesota and part of
Northwestern Wisconsin, and cover
ing All area Of about 10000 square
miles. Here will undou btedly be the
seat Of our domestic lumber trade for
the next fifty years.
Our ship-builders must, and indeed
already do, depend largely on the tim
ber of Washington Territory. The
gigantic pines, frs and cedars OF that
region are becoming known the world
over, aud vessels from every quarter
Of the globe load in Puget sound. The
following, from the pen Of Hon. Will
lain A. Howard, Land Commissioner
Of the Northern Pacific Railroad, gives
description of the mighty trees found
about the waters where tho western
terminus Of the road will be located:
There is moro lumber around Puget |
sound than ever saw before. There
is one channel, called Hoods canal
that seems to run from Port Townsend
sixty or seventy miles toward the
Columbia river, and perhaps not aver
aging over half mile wide, and If one
half of what people said about the
timber growing there was true, aud 1t
was here in the market, 1t would
build the Northern Pacific Road. The
timber is fir and pine. There are
three kinds, the white, yellow and the
red-the red predominating. II has
coarse grain, more like hemlock. but
is free from knots, and the wood be-
tween the seams that separates the
layers is OF u red color. and soft.
This kind of tree grows to an enor-
nous size. Indeed, all that the timber
thieves there think Of and exert their
ingenuity for. Is to find trees small
enough to handle to advantage. not
liking to grapple with big ones. We
went through q portion Of this forest
when We went to Oily npia by stage,
and it W w,s very rare to find tree as
small as feet through at the butt
They were from 5 to 8, Z, s, and some-
times or 10 feet through at the butt,
and marvelously tall, some $50 feet
high.
What would you say if I stated that
| saw q tree that would make an
amount Of lumber more than the
average for five acres in Michigan
Every one that knows pine lumber
lands in Michigan knows that 10000
feet Is more than All average; taking
the whole Of the pine lands OF the
State, perhaps 5000 would be the fair
average. At 10000, five acres would
have $4,000 feet.
Now suppose we take tree 10 feet
through that ought to square 8 feet
A piece of square timber l foot In
length would contain SO cubic feet, or
of board measure 432 feet. Suppose
you went on in that way until you had
worked up 200 feet, you would have
200 times 4s2 feet, that is, s6,4OO feet,
aud then you have 20 or so feet beyond
that left. l saw there trees 10 feet
at the butt, sound as they
could be, straight as an arrow, more
than $50 feet high. 1t does not make
very good finishing lumber, As it is
coarse. But all over there are enor-
nous white cedars, which even grow
on the islands, and which make very
fine finishing lumber. was told at
Olympia that this cedar brought $40