Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-02-08
TO THE LUMBERMEN OF ESSEX
COUNTY,

The chief source of wealth in the
County is the large area of we'll tim
bered lands. Probably no other
County in the State approximates
Essex in the amount and value of
growing wood and timber. With the
excellent facilities for marketing man.
ufactured lumb-r afforded by the G..
T. the d. G. and NJ. and the p. and O..
r. r. and the active demand for
logs on the Connecticut River bank
to be aoated down the river and man
ufatured at points below, very seri-
Gus inroads are being made upon the
forests and the rate of consumption
at the present time is such as will, if
continued, exhaust the supply before
many years and prove ruinoIs to this
nur rnnet productive oUurCe OF nome
industry. There are already many
large mills in operation in this Coun-
ty, and the amount annually shipped
to the markets of Maine, Massachusetts
and other States far exceeds what it
is generally supposed to be. For the
year ending June 1st, 1872 there was
manufactured in the County the
amount of, 37,236,OO0 feet, and add
ing to this the amount sold in the log
on the river banks and driven down
the river and manufactured out of the
County and the total consumption for
that year alone will not fell short of
the enormous amount of 50,000,000
feet. During that year the Norton
Mills in the township of Norton were
burned so that that company, which
is one of the largest in VT, if not in
n. E. did not manufacture their aver
age amount into some millions of feet.
Since that time the Norton mills have
been rebuilt better than before and
other new mills have been built in va
rious towns, the amount delivered on
the rivers to be driven has much in
creased, so that we feel safe in saying
that not less than 70,000.000 feet
will be required to supply the demands
for the present year. So this ques-
ton is becoming one Of grave impor-
lance to the land owners of Essex. AS
it is plainly to be seen that the present
rate Of expectation will, soon exhaust
the supply-consider for a moment
the following proposition: 5000 feet
is said to be rather more than an
average yield per acre, at that rate
IA, 900 acres of land would yield but
oae years supply. An ordinary town
ship, contains but about p 900 acres ;
of this probably not more than one
half would be spruce or black timber
land, thus requiring more than a
township each year, prov ided there
had been no timber taken from the
county before now. The County con-
tains sixteen townships, two cores
and one grant. In more than one
half Of these towns the most valuable
Of the timbers have already been
taken, and the town of Lewis only is
as yet comparatively untouched. AL
lowing our estimates to have been in
the main correct and the facts show
that ten years more of draft upon the
timbered lands Of Essex will leave us
comparatively without even supply
for home use.
There is yet another matter to
which the attention of the farm
ers Of Essex ought to be
directed; it is the practice of falling
the hemlock trees for the bark, only
and leaving the trunks to decay
where they fall. The time is not fal
distant when the hemlocks will readi
ly bring as high price as the spruces
now do, and the trunk, when Invested
Of the bark, will sell for more thar
the bark itself
Within q time veil remembered
by many Of our citizens, not yet ole
men, the same kind of warfare was car
ried on against the noble pines whi2l
lined the banks Of the Connecticut
and they were hailed upon the rive
at a price which barely paid for TIN
labor of bringing item there and tina
at the old time rate Of wages, clea
and sound pine logs having been sole
in this town delivered on the rive
banks as low as two dollars per thous
and. The supply was considered in
exhaustable and predictions of scar
city Of pine was laughed and scorne
at, but experience has shown that tn
supply was limited and the result G
the matter is that to day scarcely
pine tree is to be found and the pric
hoe or oIyonooJ nc to Lo,,o ,,o.lo,o