The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1910-09-01

It tips over and floats cornerwise. But
q stick OF birch timber In 80 heavy
the center of gravity Is below the wa
ter line and 1t floats fiatwise In fact
some sticks are 30 heavy that they
float along under the water and finally
become water-logged and sink. So in
order to get birch timber to market
by water 1t has to be assisted by
foaters.
Away back In the SOS after the pine
fit for timber was gone, many Of the
old underwriters commenced to
make birch. Now at that time spruce
was considered the most useless culch
/ in the woods. but 1t was light and
floated readily. 80 big spruce trees were
cut and RATED in among the sticks of
birch timber to make them float
When the timber got to st. John 1t
was taken OUT and the spruce was
cast adrift and went out to sea.
But one day man who owned a
little saw mill down on the shore of
the Bay of Fundy, picked up some of
those floating logs and sawed them
into plank. Great was his surprise to
find that the planks were as light as
pine and strong and elastic. Now for
miles around this mans mill the
shores of the bay were covered with
studded growth of black spruce. but
still the millman did not know the
big logs from up river were spruce.
SO he called them blue pine" and
and had them RATED to his mill 1t
soon became evident that they made
better spars for the old. square
rugged vessels than pine, and the de-
mand was soon greater than the sup
ply.
Those who made birch timber In
northern Aroostook were Handicapped
in getting it over the falls. Those who
operated on the Aroostook had the
Aroostook Falls to contend with, and
those working at the business on the
Wooloostook and Fish rivers had the
Grand Falls In the way.
When raft of timber came to the
falls the raft had to be "snubbed" and
taken apart and hauled around the
falls and re-rafted. Then a skillful
river man was taken on board as pilot
and the great raft started on its long
ho To- ri
All Of the largest birch trees in
Aroostook .or any where are hollow
butted; timber had to be perfectly
sound, consequently the big over
grown trees were not taken. A stick
of timber two feet square and 80 feet
long, would be a nice stick and better
than the average. Eighteen-inch
timber was called good and some of 1t
was made as small as IA inches
square. Birch timber was made all
lengths; 1t was girted In the center of
the stick and scaled by the same rule
as pine timber.
The great Aroostook elms were al
SO made into ton timber
Notwithstanding the water falls
that blocked navigation the New
Brunswick lumbermen found it more
profitable to come to Aroostook and
make timber than on their own terri
tory, for in the garden land" the
yellow birch grows bigger and better
than any other place on the planet.
Birch timber was once extensively
used In ship building, especially war
ships, ice breakers and gun boats. A
wooden war ship with tier of heavy
birch timber we'll bolted together in
side the planking, had nothing to fear
from any projectile fred from al
smooth bore, muzzle loading cannon.
With the advent OF the iron ships the
market for hardwood timber vanished
There are still thousands of those
great yellow giants standing on
Aroostook soil; but the chances are
there will never be another stick of
birch timber made in the county
Those great trees will sometime in
the future be sawed up in mills and
go to market by rail.