The Virginia enterprise., 1907-11-22
the pAss'NG.of the WHITE PINE.
The Best Stands of the Timber Nov,
Exist on Minnesota Reservations.

The Best Stands of the Timber Nov
Exist on Minnesota Reservations.
The position which the United
States has held as lumber produc
ing nation has, perhaps, been due
more to white pine than to any 9th
er wood. The timber of this va]u
able tree which has played a mont
material part in the development Of
the nation is fast disappearing and
now it is as costly ~ the finest
American hardwooda.
Rev. Edward Everett Hale, the
| aplain of the Senate, who has al.
ways 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 yes
sci that sailed the Seven Seas were
made from New England grown
pine; while today very little white
pine is cut in New England big
enough to furnish good-sized
spar.' He tells also, to illustrate
the increasing cast of the wood
that he ordered II set of book shelves
on which the cabinet maker made a
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 producing state for
twenty years. from 1870 to 1890, with
a supremacy based on white pine
In these two decades the cut was
one hundred and sixty 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 Califor-
MIA from their discovery in the late
forties until the present. The rich
forests of Michigan were once
thought inexhaustible and lusn ber-
ing continued in most reckless
manner for years. Suddenly the
people awoke to the fact that the
thoug ghtless destruction of the trees
had thrown six milliona of acres on
the delinquent tax list. These white
pine barrens point to the terrible
penalty of wasting the forest re.
sources which should have been
the heritage of all fnture genera
tiOns.
An idea of the increasing scarcity
of white pine tim ber is given by the
New York F. o. B. quotations, on a
basis of carload lots. "Uppers" of
the best grade cost $97 to $1l4 per
thousand board feet and the ''se-
lects," or next lower grade, cost
$3.50 to $3.50. Men who are not yet
middle aged remember the time
when those grades could be pur.
cha~ed at $l5 to $25 per thousand
feet. The present quotations on
quartered white oak. which are $7j
to $50, offer another basis of com
parison which indicates the condi.
tion of the market for white pine.
The best stands of this timber
now in this country are in scattered
sections in Minnesota, New Eng.
land and parts Of Idaho. The spec.
les in Idaho is sometimes called sil.
yer pine. Some of the country's
best white pine is found on the In
dian 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 practi
cally thing of the past. The email
stands in the national forests are
inconsiderable, but they will be
managed with the greatest conserv,
atism by the government through
the Forest Service, and through this
method and practice of reforestra
ton it may be hoped that the fine
old tree will furnish timber for 9th
er generations.