Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1882-11-02
THE GREAT PINERIEs.
What Influence They Have Had on
the Country's Progress-An In

What Influence They Have Had on
the Country's Progress-An In
teresting Article.
hioago Cor N. Y. Tribune
Of the rather more than 1000, 00O,-
600 feet of white pine lumber that
yearly reaches the docks and yards of
Chicago, nearly all comes from the
western half of Michigan, the northern
peninsula of the same State and the
Green Bay districts of Eastern Wis
consin. OF the total amount, as much
as l,200000,000 is derived from a
dozen places along the eastern shore
OF Lake Michigan. Muskegon alone
in 1881 furnished 49l, 1924, 900 feet,
and 25,7l5,000 shingles, while Manis-
tee sent forward Isl, 10000 feet of
lumber, and 357,000,493 shingles, the
latter place being the greatest shingle
manufacturing place on that shore.
The chief district of lumber manu-
facture on the upper peninsula is at
the mouth of the MenOminee River,
which empties into Green Bay and
divides the States of Michigan and
Wisconsin. The mills are located at
Menominee, in Michigan, and Marinette,
Wisconsin. A large proportion of
the lumber stock that goes to make
up the residue of Chicago's 2,OOO,-
100000 feet is produced at
these two points. The Menominee
district in 1881 furnished 265, 900
feet Of lumber, and this year it is
thought the amount will reach over
300,000,000 feet. The other Green
Bay and Upper Peninsula ports of i'm
portance in 1881 shipped as follows:
Peshtigo, 52,260,000; Ford River. 25,-
$4,000; Escanaba, 5,6S0,000; Oconto,
100000. Of Saginaw lumber in 1881
37,573,0OO feet were received but it
is probable that much more will have
arrived at the close of the present sea-
son, on account of the unusual reach.
ing about after stocks this year. AL
pena, on the Huron shore, in 1881 sup
piled Chicago with 9,439,000 feet, and
more than that will arrive from that
port this year. Some is furnished from
other Lake Huron points. Latterly
the Lake Superior region has produced
considerable lumber, most of which
has reached the Chicago market, the
arrivals from Ashland in 1881 amount
ing to 20.995,000 feet, snd from Onto
nagon to 100000. The lumber in
dustry of that section is being greatly
developed, and the time will soon come
when the output along the south shore
of the great lake will swell the yearly
total to 250,000,000, but large part
of it will no doubt go to supply the
markets of the new Northwest by way
of Duluth and the three Northern Pa
ciic railroads.
1t is impossible to estimate the in
huence the pine Of Michigan and Wis
consin has had in the development of
the northwest and of the entire coun-
try. An important factor in this great
agency is the fact that a water way ex-
listed between the fOres is and the
prairies. White pine is light and
portable timber, eminently adapted to
the wants of new settlers, easily work
ed by partly skilled labor. 1t has fur
nished a material for the building of
homes, the improvement of farms, the
sudden growth of cities and villages,
and by its means All empire has been
created, as it were, in day. Compar-
ison is the most conclusive argument;
and if one compares white pine with
the yellow or pitch variety of the south,
it will be seen that if the northwest
had been dependent upon the weighty
and hardly worked pine of the southern
sections of the country, the progress of
the prairie states would have dragged
far behind its present advanced condi-
ton. Even TO this day, when railroad
facilities from south TO north are quite
ample, the weight of yellow pine
amounts to almost an embargo on ship
ments to the northwest, though strenu-
Gus efforts are being made to overcome
this difficulty by cheaper frelghts.
The estimate placed ON the standing
pine af the Northwest by the Federal
census forestry bulletins, however
much they may be criticised, has served
to awaken much interest in the present
and prospective pine supply. Ten years
ago it was claimed in the Saginaw Val
ley that the available pine in that Sec
ton would be used up in ten years;
yet the yearly product since then has
steadily increased, and last year the
output was greater than ever before
The same is true of the Lake Michigan
districts. This at first blush seems an
inconsistent proposition, but being bet
ter understood, 1t appears more Ieason-
able. When the first estimates of Mich
igan pine were made, the operators
took into account only such timber rs
was accessible to the streams, and was
of certain proportions. For instance,
time was when pine less than four
teen inches in diameter was never cut.
Now, such has become the Unsuitable
demand that trees NO more than eight
inches in diameter are sacrificed to the
greed of the lumbermen; and it is a
common joke among the red-shirtei
brigade that sawed sticks exc, are often
seen with all four corners "waney." In
the early days of the industry Michigan
lumbermer penetrated the forests no
further than would make q short
haul necessary to bring the sticks "
stream. After timber became scarce on
short hauls, long hauls were undertake
EN-. AT length operations had become
; so thorough that teams could no longer
bring the logs to bank, and there was
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