The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1881-10-12
MIOhinan Letter.

LAST OOLDbN, N1lCi.i CoIt' oV, loOls /
Ed. REPUBLICAN -
/ hear from my
Forest county friends through your
paper which 1 receive regularly. Per-
haps a few jottings from Northern
Michigan may prove interesting to
some of your readers. left Erie, Pa,
about one o'clock June 21st, for the
tewn of Shelby. / reached Muskegan,
a town Of over six thousand, and yet
the blackened stumps of the recent
wilderness stand thickly in her princi-
pal streets. Her saw mills are her
only source of prosperity. Here 1
took another railroad for Shelby, a
town of about five hundred people, S6
miles north of Muskegan. The speed
on this road astonished me, notwith-
standing 1 had made several trips in
my life from Sheffield to Warren on
the local freight. BY fastening the
vision firmly upon tree, you could
satisfy yourself that the train was in
motion. At the end of the first half
hour I became alarmed, and suggested
to the conductor-a gentleman ofvery
thin legs and astonishing large feet
that he reverse the cow. catcher to the
rear of the train, for fear that drove
of cattle, that started from Muskegan
few minutes after we did, might run
into us. The conductor looked
me intently in the eye for
a few seconds, with CLEAN of
pity in his face and passed on without
a word. He was followed by boy
peddling prize candy packages to the
credulous passengers. Taking it for
granted that the lad was the inevitable
newsboy of all passenger trains, and
forgetting for an instant my change of
place and circumstances, 1 requested
him to bring me the New York Tri-
baae. The boy started, slightly
changed color, and responded with :
"The what ?" "The New York Tribune" "
The lad drew a long breath and slid
past me. Two seats to the rear he met
the conductor, and l heard him whis-
per to that functionarY: "TAat feller
over there is crazy; he axed me for a
New York Trombone" The conduc.
tor then recited to the astonished lad
my suggestion about the cow.catcher.
and after that the twain never passed
me without scrutinizing look in
which alarm was blendid with com
miseration.
Shelby is in a valley, and the situa
tlon is truly pretty one. Like al
western towns, it is laid out to lin
itless expansion. The founders o
these embryo cities seem to contem
plate the no distant day when thei
now villages will rival New York anC
Philadelphia in population and wealth
The timber here is divided into wha
; is called "hard wood" and "soft wood.
The former consists mainly Of beecE
and maple; the latter of pine ant
hemlock. All this region for hundreds
of miles, has been surveyed off int,
l forty acre tracts. But very few of tn
settlers own over one of these lots
s All the land here was original,
owned by the mill proprietors ! spec
ulators from other States, who bough
vast tracts for immense pines whicl
grew thereon. These pine forests linet
b. the eastern shore of the lake for hun
4 dreds Of miles, and hundreds OF say
}. mills have been engaged in their de
: struotion for the past eighteen years
The waste has been fearful. Between
I here and Chicago, a distance Of tw,
4 hundred miles, but few pines are lsf
in majestic supremacy, the lordlings o
the forest. For eighteen years tn
4 "best" have been annually marked b.
' the spoilers, hewn down, and cast int
8 the saw mills. But the huge hem
4 locks have been passed by as WORTHLESS
for commercial purposes. The neV
9 settler alone makes war upon them
They are yearly cut down by tn
thousands, left to dry for a season, anC
y then the remorseless fire is let lOOs'
for their destruction 1 haven't tim