River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-09-30
THE PERISHING PINE.
The Pine Forests of Michigan Being
Rapidly Exhausted by the Lumber
Aldena Cor. Cincinnati Gazette.

hhS hthe FORESTS OF MIchlSah DcihS
Rapidly Exhausted by the Lumber
nen-
Aldena Cor. Cincinnati Gazette.
Alpena Is one of the many Michigan
towns that are springing up along the
lake shore at the mouth of rivers
whose tributaries flow through the
great pine forests of the state Every
river throughout the constantly reced-
ing timber belt Of Michigan. now reach
ing from the Saginaw valley to the
straits of Mackinaw, sufficiently large
to float raft of logs, becomes high
way between the lumber camps, where
III motley crews of men, gathered for n
few winter months from all nations of
the world, rob the forests of their prec-
ious pine. The time is near when the
pine, boarded by nature for ages with
in the bosom of her forests, will be cx-
hausted; when the rough woodsmen
will have departed to other lands:
when the saw-mils now busting with
life, will stand silent and deserted.
What is to he the nature of this region
when that time shall arrive? Is it to
remain a useless waste, awaiting the
slow restoration of the forests? It is
certain the agricultural value of the
land stripped of its pine is proving to
he much greater than was formerly
supposed. Clearings are being made,
and good crops of wheat, oats, hay, and
potatoes raised. A tide of emigration
in this way is following the woodchop-
pers, and converting the mutilated for
est into prosperous farms. When the
terrible forest fires of Michigan swept
over ten thousand acres of pine land
along the lake Huron coast, south
of Saginaw bay, and destroyed
whole towns, many lives, and millions
of dollars worth of property, the lum-
herring interests were utterly destroyed
Not single mill, am told, in that re-
gion has since been built. 1t was
thought the fire had ruined the future
ofthe burned district, and that il would
be thenceforth valueless. These fires
occurred the year of the Chicago fire,
just ten years ago aud to-day this
burned district is said to be the finest
farming region in the state.
The Destruction of the pineros of
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota is
a matter Of importance How long
will the forests of these three states
that contain the chief stores of pine
timber on this continent east Of the
Rocky Mountains continue to supply
the enormous Grains being made upon
them? One example will show how
rapid is the process Of destruction.
The Saginaw valley formerly contained
the largest and finest pine forests in the
built along the bank of the river, until
. -. a. tsnn
600 feet of lumber per year. To sup
ply these mills the pine in the Saginaw
valley has been already IN great part
exhausted, and mill-owners are obliged
to bring logs from other rivers, often rs
far as one hundred and fifty miles dis
tant, to supplement the stock OF the
Saginaw river. The output on that
river has reached its climax. No more
new mills are built or old ones replaced.
The business must gradually diminish
in volume, until the Saginaw valley,
now the greatest lumber district in the
world, shall hear the buzz Of the sawno
more.
Talking to a gentleman of Alpena,
who has witnessed the growth of the
numbering business of that place almost
from its commencement, and whose
business for years has kept him accu-
rately posted as to the quantity and 10
cation of the pine in the Alpena dis
trict, he said that, dividing the number
of millions of feet of pine timber
tributary to the Alpona river by the
annual capacity Of the Alpena mills, it
gave them fifteen years supply. These
figures agree very closely with those
given me a few weeks ago by the presi-
dent of the largest logging company ON
the Mississippi river, operating in the
Wisconsin pmeries, region that has
than the Michigan pineries. They
would last, he said, thirty or forty
years The Minnesota pineries are
not so large as either Of the others, and
Will probably not survive them. In
from twenty-five to forty years the last
tree will he cut, and the entire country
from Maine to the Rocky Mountains
must learn to live with meagre quanti-
tics of pine lumber brought at great
expense from distant countries
The pineries can not be replaced, A
fullgrown tree represents hundreds and
hundreds of years of growth. | saw
small pines, no larger around than
mans arm, bearing the scars made by
the axes of the United States engineers
thirty-fvo years ago What ages, then,
must be required to produce a tree
three or four feet in diameter? When
the forests reach the condition Of the
pinciies Of Maine and New York, and
become extinct, no new ones will take
their places The American of the
near future must learn to hue and
build without pine, and marvel at the
th0ughtless rccklessncss of his anccs-
tors.