The Saint Paul globe., 1898-05-22

and all this lumber goes by rail. The
mills adjac cent to the waterways are a.
disadvantages; for hard wood logs
are too heavy to be foated down the
streams.
But it may be asked why have the
mills st. adily prograsse into the inter
ior? The answer to this is ominously
p a n. They have sought the wood. The
shores of the lakes and of the logging
streams have been denuded by the vast
output Of a half-century. The supply
is no longer at hand what once was
a concondtant Of the water has broken
away from the c,ose association. FNa-
NOUS old logging streams, like the Bet
sic, the Kalamazoo and the Wolf no
longer send down their countless array
of logs. AS the wood has retreated, 50
have the streams suffered, many d y.ny
up or becoming too small to be Of use.
And wherever the mills have gone,
there has 70 lowed the narrow lines of
rail. adaptable to conditions, and in
different alike to the assaults of ma
ture or the ravages of man.
LESSENING OF SUPPLY.
But the retreat Of the wood. and the
changes in the methods of doing bust
ness, are net the only things that mill
Der trade posse ssed Of the lim1tless
possibilities of fifty years ago. lake
t: ansportaticn would doubtless provide
facilities to me,t. the conditions. Ter
minals would be improved; machinery
would be used in handling; vessels let
ter ada pied foc carrying would be built;
all the scattered odds and ends of in
vestm6 mt, which pull in so many differ
ent ways, would be combined; for capt
tai would be attracted. But there Is
rot only retreat, but a lesse ming of
supply; and trees are like o.her mann
moths, when they once disappear they
don't come back.
The few statistics are noteworthy in
another respect from the one which
they illustra ted: In each and every.
case the tOsals for 1897 are smaller
than those for 1887. Not only has the
manner Of shipment changed, but there
is rot so much shipped. True, the sup
plies at present handled, would in any
other country in the world constitute
vast business, but the lumber trade
of the Northwest has long been ac-
customed to being superlative, and
heEce any comparisons are odious. The
tota pI o iucti of l'7mber in the North
west In 1897 was 6,233 454, coo feet, suffi-
cient, one would say, to furnish
plank road to the moon; but in 1887 the
total output was 1857 ,916,000 feet and
this greater amount was far more ac--
cessible than the less. During the past
three decades there has been an in
crease of ab3ut 80 per cent in wood
consumption in the United States for
each decade; and just as rapidly has
the forest area been waning. When
the candle is burned at both ends, its
life is a brief one.
In the last census report, on trans
portation by watsr, forest products held
the second rank among the commodities
received at the lake ports. In a COM
parison instituted there between lum-
Der and coal, including coke, the re-
ceipts Of the former were shown to be
6,857,257 tons, and Of the latter 5,162, Al
tons. 1t is safe to say that the next
census showing will be far different.
II. indeed, lumber is not classed with
other minor articles.
UNRELIABLE CENSUS.
OF course many will say that census
reports are unreliable, and will gain
comfort from the undoubted fact that
the census of 1880 was so alarming in
Its figures that properly there should
not be any white pine in the North
west at the present day. But there IS
very little heat in this comfort; for there
has been Improvement since in the
gathering of statistics, but none at all
in the gathering Of wood.
Let us see, then, what the experts
say about the present pine supply of
the Northwest. According to B. e.
Fernow, chief Of the division of fores-
try in the United States department of
agriculture, there are some eighteen
6lliion feet OF white pine, together with
Norway pine, fit for numbering pur-
poses still standing In Minnesota In
Wisconsin, ten billion Is given as the
maximum stand. While in Michigan.
canvas from township to township
by the commissioner Of labor for 1895