The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-07-29
USING UP FORESTS
RAPID DESTRUCTION OF TIM
BER IN THE. UNITED STATES.
The Logging Industries Seeking New
Fields for Their Operations-Dam-
age From Forest Fires Decreas-
ing-Signifcant Figures. t


The question as. to- how long it will
take at the present rate to complete the
destruction of the forests of the United
; States seems to be one which will prob
ably be solved within the next ten
years, unless more effective means shall
; be found to preserve the wood land
which still belongs to the United States
and to various States. The matter ID
; one of extreme importance in every
sense, and it is also one which directly
and personally interests more thousands
, of human beings than IS imagined by
persons who are not familiar with the
growth and extent Of the lumber and
timber industries of the country. To
! indicate the Importance of this consid-
Grafton it may be sufficient to say that in
the year ended May 81, 1890, the aver:
age number of peraons employed in the
logging camps, in the transportation OF
logs to mills, aud in the lumber mills1
sawmills and planning mills of TIE three
States of Michigan. Wisconsin and Min
nesota, was 143, ,912, to whom was paid
in wages the enormous sum of $3S, ,279, i
597. The persons thus employed repre4
sented total population, propably, Of
at least 5000 persons who were
directly or Indirectly dependent upon
these industries in the three States men,
toned. i
Now, the investigations of the special
agents of the Census Bureau strongly in
dicate that these industries will virtually
cease to exists in those States within the
next six years, so far as they are depen5
dent upon the timber on lands which
are held by individuals. Already the
employers have begun 10 prepare for the
future by buying large areas of timbered
land in other States. In Montana and
Idaho they have become the owners of
LOO, 600 acres OF fir and cedar, which
it is estimated will yield 5000, ,000, 900
feet, board measure, of merchantable.
lumber; in California, Oregon and WASH
ington they have acquired 1,275, ,339
acres of Douglas fir and red wood, esti;;
mated to yield 81, ,431, 400, 900 feet; in
Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Flor.
ida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Arkansas and Missouri their holdings.
amount to 1,407,3 acres of yellow,
pine and cypress, which, it is estimateds
will yield total of II, 143, ,725, 900 feet;
and in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ten
nessee, Ohio and illinois they own 1885,
420 acres of yellow poplar and hard
woods, which, it is estimated, will pro-;
duce a total of 1, 119, ,7SO, 900 feet. 4
These figures seem prodigious, and yet;
they make an aggregate of less that 45, =
600, 100000 feet, which is less than five.
times the aggregate output of white pine,
lumber from the mills of the Northwest,
ern States in the year 1890, and less BY
1s, 900, 900, 900 feet than the estimated
amount of merchantable timber standing
on private or corporate holdings in the,
States of Michigan, Wisconsin and Min
nesota on May 81, 1890. The Census
Bureau has been unable to ascertain how
much of the land still in these States be-
longs to the United States, and how
much to each of the States respectively
and the opinion is expressed that the.
timber thereon comprise substantially
the entire reserve upon which depenjj
dence can be placed for future supplies
from the Northwest after the year 1895.
It should be noted that nearly all of ths,
merchantable white pine remaining I'M
the United States is found in the three
States mentioned.
One of the subjects of inquiry was the
extent of forest fires and the damage to-
standing timber owned by milling estab5
lishments in the decade of 1880 to 1890.
Reports were received from 11S concerns
in Michigan, thirty-seven in Wisconsin,
and eleven in Minnesota. The estimated
area of timbered land burned over from
June 1, 1880, to May 81, 1890, was 14s,-,.
9ss acres, or nearly ten per cent. of the
acreage reported; the estimated quantity
OF timber killed, board measure, was.
424, ,254. 600 feet, and the resultant dam.
age 81, ,O23, 9ss, or more than S1O0, ,009
a year. The total number of establish;
ments reporting the ownership of tim
bered land was eighty-three, of which
166 reported loss by fire. Special Agent
Priest says: u
"The results obtained show much
lower rate of loss than has been generally
indicated by current forestry statistics.
It appears that greater care has been taken
to prevent fires since the timber has be-,
come so valuable, and that the careless
and wasteiul methods which once pre-
vailed in numbering operations have given
place to more sensible and conservative
management. It is now the custom
promptly to cut all timber of merchants
BILE size which has been killed by fire and
manufacture it before 1t has become DAM
aged by worms, in which case the reduc-l
ton in value from that of green timber;
does not exceed fifty per cent. The to-
tai average reduction Of value to growing
timber from fire, as obtained from the data
presented, is found to be $3.50 per cent.
From the loss for ten years is shown an
average annual loss of S1O2, ,399 to estab-
lishments which cut 2S,21S,SS7 feet
during the census year, which is equiva-
lent to an annual charge of sos cents per
1000 feet of product. ."-Nsw York 1r'-
bune.