Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-04-03
TIMBER DESTRUCTION.

bermen's Exchange in Chicago few
days ago, Mr.. G. C. Thompson, vice
president of the exchange, stated that
| it has been estimated that the in
creased demand in the production of
lumber since 1850 has been at the rate
Of not less than fifty per cent. for
| every five years. 'sShOuld this in
crease continue" he says, g I calculate
that our forests must suffer annihila-
ton within the next, twenty years.
This fact can be. demonstrated from
actual estimates, which the time Of
this article will not permit of discuss
ing. Year by year, as our country be-
comes populated, greater distances are
covered by long stretches of railroads
in every direction, not only away from
but towards and into our pine forests,
as if for no other purposes than their
| destruction. A demand has but re-
Gently sprung up for our choice pine
in foreign lands, SO that the product,
mainly confined to two States, is a
staple Of the world, while the bound
aries Of our home shipments are the
Atlantic coast on the east, the Pacific
on the west, and the gulf Of Mexico
on the sou6h. The natural increase of
our population fully justifies the
prediction that the year 1900 will find
our vast forests Of soft pine exhausted
! unless other woods are introduced for
their protection
To many, such statements seem alb.
surd, and the writer's who have ven
tured to make them have been sub
jected to c0ntempuous ridicule.
Among the few papers in the country
that have endeavored to inform the
people on this subject, and have raised
the cry of alarm, is the Northwestern,
Lun,berman. 1t has made the asser-
ton that "the timber supply of the
Northwest is becoming so rapidly ex-
hausted that within the next ten years
something like timber famine may
be looked for" For making this as
sertion it has been sharply criticised,
and, to show that it is not mistaken,
publishes statistics that are in large
part official and will appear in the
forthcoming report of the United
States census. These statistics were
prepared in 1880. They include the
states of Michigan, Minnesota, and
Wisconsin, and were prepared under
the direction of Mr.. II. C: Putnam of
Eau Claire, Wis.,, assisted by many
of the leading practical lumberman of
those states.
MINNESOTA HAS BEEN CREDITED
by popular estimate with possessing
4O, 000, OOO, 900 feet Of lumber, but these
statistics show it to have only a little
over 100000, 900 feet, as follows:
Rainy lake and tributaries. $500. $50, 000,0 900
Red river and tributaries. ........ 100000, 900
St. Louis and Cloquet rivers, etc / 800 100000
Mississippi river and tributaries 2, 900 00O, 900
North shore of Lake SUPERIOR. SOC, 200, 900
Total e, 150, 900, 900
Of the amount in Wisconsin esti-
mates have been from eighty to one
hundred billion feet, but the official
statistics show it, distributed by dis
tricts, to be:
st. Croix river and south shore
of Lake Superior. .......... 6,OOO ,OO0, OOO
Chippewa river and tributaries. IL, 500 ,O00, 0CO
Wisconsin river and tributaries. II, OOO, OO0 900
Lake Superior, districts east OF
range IL. 1000 ,0O0, 900
East Of the Wisconsin river. i. 5000 ZOO, 600
Total. :. ..40, SOC, 000, 900
The statistics for Michigan are said
to have been prepared from lnforma-
ton furnished by not less than 100 of
the best informed lumbermen in the
state, and they show the timber area
to be as follows:
Upper peninsula east of Chicago
81 Northwestern railway. $50. 200 ,0OO, 600
Upper peninsula west Of Chicago
q Northwestern railway. 49,. 1900, 00O, 0C0
Lower peninsula. .29, 200 ,OOO, 900
Total. 81, 600, 000, 900
The aggregate cut and destruction
of pine in these three states is about
8,000,000,000 feet year and, as the
total resources of the three states are
81 csc, 100000 feet, it is easy to see
that in the assertion that g within the
next ten years something like tim
Der famine is to be looked for " the
Lumberman was not far from being
correct. These facts are important,
and should waken those having the
power to check the destruction of
forests to the necessity for some ac-
ton. There is large part of our
forest area Euthlessly and needlessly
laid waste. Some of tits on public land,
and is stolen from the people; and
to cover up the theft of the salable
timber, millions of feet of uncOmmer-
cial timber are destroyed. Much of
the stolen timber is transported to
and sold in foreign lands. 1t should
be kept in this country to supply our
future demands. 1t is to be hoped
the new administration will give this
question earnest attention, and en-
deavor to break up the timber-steal-
ing business, and that the president
will use his influence to secure the
planting Of forests. A timber famine
would be greater calamity than
most people suppose---how great we
can only appreciate by the experience
of those countries which have suffered,
and the deserts that mark the places
where they once flourished.
Politics at the Bench.