Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1883-01-26
Destruction of Timber.

Destruction OF Timber.
In his evidence before the Agricultu-
raj Commission of Canada. says the
Toronto Globe, Mr.. Brown, of Port Ell
gin, expressed the opinion that the
country should be reclothed with forest
trees. He recommended the planting OF
large nurseries by the Government. from
which the people could obtain trees at O
low price, and, also, that the Govern
ment should replant the crown lands,
as is done in Australia and other coun
tries. Mr.. Brown has been engaged il
what he said before the commission /;
worthy of serious attention. The pro
cess of stripping the land of its timber
supply, and more particularly of Its
merchantable timber, has been goine
on at n reckless rate for many years bot
in Canada and the United States, anC
unless it is checked the time must soo1
come when even the demands of the
home market cannot be supplied. 1t il
not with q forest as with grain u live
stock it can not be reproduced in
year or III q generation. Our great pine
woods are the growth of hundreds o
years, and once they are cut down o.
burned over the supply is ended.
The pine forests of Maine fifty years
ago were thought to be i~nexhaustible
Thousands of men were employed dnr
ing the winter months telling and cut
ting trees, and in the summer rafting
the logs down the streams or cutting
them into lumber in the mills. Bangor
on the Penobscot, was once the busies
town in the United States. The rive
was lined with saw mills for miles, anC
1000 vessels were engaged in the cal
rying trade. The forests for 900 mile
up the river, and for many miles OF
either side, have been laid waste, andth'
"Old Pine Tree State is no more thar
a figure of speech. Spruce, which rap
idly reproduces itself, is the lumbe
most generally manufactured-the pro
duct on the Penobscot this year bein!
ten times that of pine.
In Michigan and Wisconsin the sam
reckless haste and waste are going OF
The Saginaw valley, whichformerly con
tanned the largest and finest forests /
Michigan, is being rapidly depleted
It's mills have a capacity of 600, 900, 90
feet of lumber per year, and mill-owner
are obliged to bring logs from othe
rivers, often as far as $50 miles distant
to supplement the stock of the Saginaw
The output has reached its climax, an
no new mills are built or old ones re
placed. On the Muskegon river tn
amount of logs RATED this year is 400
600, 900 feet, and one large operate
alone will put in about 250, 000, 900 fee
this winter, hauling to the river by Ia
an average distance of eight miles. TIL
Alpena district will, at the preser
rate of cutting, be stripped in tiftee
years.
The Wisconsin pineries have bee
worked much less extensively than thos
of Michigan, but an estimate made b
the President of one of the largest log
ging companies ON the Mississippi tixt
the utmost limit of the supply at fort
years. In Minnesota the forests al
much smaller in extent, and will prol
ably not survive the others. Unles
then, a new departure is made, the la,
tree will be cut from Maine to the Rock
mountains by the end of forty year
and the United States must depend fC
its supply of pine lumber on foreig
countries.
Is there no way of limiting produ,
ton, of outstanding our resources,
putting an end to reckless waste, of pr,
lection against forest fires, or of replel
ishing our woods bysystematic forestry
These are questions in which the who
country has an interest, and which mu
be discussed and answered.
A PARTY of Italian savants have ia
gone home from an expedition to Il
South Pacific. They have settled
their own satisfaction the question