Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-11-08
THE DANGER OF TIMBER r.,.,,,-
Few hiSures Showing the Fno-
destruction Going on in Ameri cs y . Us
Forests

II any one doubts the .darr..
timber famine in the United g. g. u
some future day let him lool, a. ' ~ At
struction of trees in his own noi ,,ie ue-
hood, says Gen. Brisbin n r. .'-,'ioor-
.dLree-Ftq,nt'ng. Where are the f9rss.-
that sheltered our youth? Com '' ~
an the game with them. I remo,,t ny
the furnaces of my own CONT. ' Tl
ter, in Pennsylvania, how tbey ~, ~
ceased until all the big woods gor -, ~. y
down aud burned up into cllareo ,S '.lI
make iron '' 70
a lew Years ago, in the towns "a
canaan; Salisbury, Norfolk, Sharon
Cornwall, and Goshen, comprisin ,',' "a el
northwestern part Of Litchtield go, tllo
Connecticut, and small portion
Duchess county, New York anJ - al
shire county, Massachusetts wor ~ Il, A.
less than twelve iron furnaces f,r -
manufacture of charcoal pic-iron frs
iron dug within these districts. Tboso
furnaces made about $500 tons If nio
iron each per year To run tEesso
furnaces one year it required that III
tween 400 and 800 acres of land sbonId
be stripped of the wood, or a total ~
between 5000 and 5000 acres cut eva,T,
year.
As everyone knows it takes abort
twenty years there to make n cron NJ
wood, the whole amount of l5n5
stripped bare would be in the nejob,
borhood of 100000 acres, or nearly 27bo
whole of the woodland In the section
above named. But not only in one or
two states, but in all the states tho do.
struction goes steadily on. Take for|
the purpose of illustration the record
of the amount of logs RATED out Of hal
great lumber-producing streams of tbe|
Saginaw districts for a number al
years. In round numbers the Titfa.
bawassee RATED out 228,000,0O0 feet al
logs in 1871, 316,000,000 feet in 1879
and 269,000,000 feet in 1873, and had
left each year from 200, 900, 900 to 300 i.
100000 feet. In 1873 the amount leftI
over was stated at 25S, 000 900 feat
Taking the amount RATED out and the
amount left over in 1873, we should
have 100000 feet as the total pro-
duct of the Tittabawassee lumberinrI
that year. Up to August, 1874, there
has been RATED out of the Tittabawas.
see 1902, 81 pieces or about2l5, 100000
feet, making a total for the year Of,
say, 315,000,000 feet for 1874, against
$40, 100000 feet for 1878.
Let us take the Cass river, tbe
largest lumber-producing stream Of
this region, except the Tittabawasseo,
In 1871 there were RATED ont Of the
Cass river 55,841,61S feet of logs; in
1872 there were 99,913, 1888 feet; in 1878
there were 100, 450, $40 feet, and in 1874
all the logs being now out, there have
been but 80, zoos feet, and there are
no logs left.
We might continue these illustra.
tons by exhibiting the figures for the
other streams in this section, and by
giving the facts concerning the i'm
mense waste of forests, but these will
do for one region.
A Virginia City (Neyada) paper
says that an immense destruction Of
the forests is taking place in that yicin-
ity, and in short time the lumber
men have advanced from the base 70
the summit of the Sierras, and soon
they will 90 over the crest; conse-
quently it is predicted that, when tim
Der is all gone, the snow will melt
early in summer, leaving the streams
from which they irrigate dry, and cold
and fierce winds will have an unin'
terupted ana unobstructed sweep, max
ing the country uninhabitable.