Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1907-12-25
PASSING OF THE PINE.

At Present Rate Of Cutting, Pine
VIII Soon be Thing Of the Past.
The position which the United States
has held as lumber-producing nation
has, perhaps, been due more to white pine
than to any other wood. The timber Of
this valuable tree, which has played most
important part in the material develop
ment OF the nation, is fast disappearing
and now it is as costly as the finest Ameri-
can hardwoods.
Rev. Edward Everett Hale, the chaplain
Of the Senate, who has always taken an
interest in forestry, deplores the passing
OF white pine as our foremost wood, and
tells how in his own lifetime he has seen
the day when ''the masts of every vessel
that sailed the Seven Seas were made from
New England grown pine; while to-day
very little white pine is cut in New Eng
land big enough to furnish q good sized
SPAR" He tells also, to illustrate the in
creasing cost Of the wood, that he ordered
set of book shelves on which the cabinet
maker made price, and then asked
whether they should be Of mahogany or
white pine.
The white pine production has shifted
from New England to the Lake states, and
Michigan was the leading lumber pro-
ducing state for twenty years, from 1870
to 1890, with supremacy based on white
pine. In these two decades the cut was
100 billions Of board feet, valued, at the
point OF production, at not less than two
billions of dollars, or nearly half as much
again as the value derived from all the
gold fields OF California from their dis
covery in the late 'forties until the present.
The rich forests of Michigan were once
thought inexhaustible, and numbering
continued in most reckless manner for
years. Suddenly the people awoke to the
fact that the thoughtless destruction Of
the trees had thrown 100000 Of acres on
the delinquent tax list. These white pine
barrens point to the terrible penalty Of
wasting the forest resources which should
have been the heritage of all future gem
erations.
An idea Of the increasing scarcity of
white pine timber is given by the New
York F. o. B. quotations, on a basis of
carload lots. "Uppers," of the best grade,
cost $97 to $114 thousand board feet, and
the ''selects", or next lower grade, cost
$3.50 to $3.50. Men who are not yet mid
dle-aged remember the time when these
grades could be purchased at SIS to s25 q
thousand feet. The present quotations on
quartered white oak, which are SIS to $50,
offer another basis Of comparison which
indicates the condition Of the market for
white pine.
The best stands of this timber now in
this country are in scattered sections in
Minnesota, New England, and parts of
Idaho. The species in Idaho is sometimes
called silver pine. Some of the country's
best white pine is found on the Indian
reservations in Minnesota and Wisconsin,
and scattered stands are found in the
states Of Wyoming, Montana, Colorado,
and one or two other states.
At the present rate of cutting the tree
will soon be practically thing of the
past. The small stands in the national
forests are uncomfortable, but they will
be managed with the greatest conserva
tism by the government through the for
est service, and through this method and
practice Of reforestation, it may be hoped
that the fine old tree will furnish timber
for other generations.