The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-04-20
OUR LUMBER INDUSTRY
Richard r. Bailey

wolves thinning out of the more UNI
desirable species TO give these trees
better chance to grow.
The Experiment Station survey shows
that of the 10000, 900 acres of so-called
forest land, less than 4,25O,0OO acres are
actually bearing commercial forest
OF this amount, 10000 acres are OF
the sawlog timber and 2,690,0 900 acres
have timber of cord wood or pulp size.
There is, however, young growth
of timber on approximately 12,s70,OOO
acres which eventually will have COM
mercial value and about 100000 acres
are claSsed as bare land. It is esti-
mated that there are today only eight
and half billion board feet of timber
in the state as contrasted with seventy
billion board feet estimated to have
been cut from the original forest. This
does not take into consideration an
estimated forty-nine million cords OF
pulp wood and cord wood material.
The amount of lumber consumed in
Minnesota in 1920 was SOC, 700 900 board
feet and the production was $4,000, 600
board feet. This means that l34 900 600
board feet was imported by the state.
This importation figure was increased
to 300 900 900 board feet by 1926. The
gap between production and consump-
ton now, it is safe to estimate, is
greater than it was in 1926. This i'm
ported lumber bill, including freight,
cost the people of Minnesota about
sc, OOO, 900 a year, which money can
be kept in the state by restoring our
lumber industry on permanent basis
About the only forest industries that
have not been affected by the shortage
of wood supply are the pulp and paper
industries, whose average annual con-
sumption is approximately 1000 cords
Minnesota ships about 100000 cords OF
lumber to the pulp and paper industries
of Wisconsin and other states.
While the better types of commercial
timber and Norway pine-are
still being depleted faster than they
are being replaced, the condition can
be reversed by increasing the area OF
these trees. The aspen type, however
shows an excessive growth over cutting
at the present time. The annual
growth is estimated at zoo, 100000 cubic
feet, while only 100000 cubic feet
are being used up per year. But the
thing to be borne in mind is the out
standing fact that whereas only the
better species of trees We're for
merly utilized, today aspen and other
such trees have good commercial value
The demand for this wood is certain
to increase. There also is real COM
mercial value in spruce, balSam, fir,
cedar and tamarack which grow in the
swamp or poorly drained lands OF which
there are about 4,6OO,OOO acres. A study
of the forest industries located at Clo-
quet reveal the great commercial pos
sibilities of these former ".pauper" trees
of the forest.
Although in some respects 1t may be
desirable to restore our forests OF white
and Norway pine to somewhat their
former Importance, We may as well
make I'D our minds that this Is only
fanciful dream The poor" wood IS
certain to play a very important part
in our future program of forest manage
ment.
The lumber industry Of the future is
not going to be a sawmill industry such
as it once was. Today there are more
diversified uses for wood and wood
products that have revolutionized the
industry and may revolutionize it even
more. Instead of a sawmill industry
for lumber as such, we are going to
have a wood-uSing industry. Cloquet
is showing us the way. 1t takes from
forty to eighty years to grow a pine
tree for harvest purposes. This fact
is very important as it makes it neces-
sary to control the cutting of these
trees in the most judicious way. The
wood using industries of Cloquet today
use only fifteen per cent of white and
Norway pine, while spruce, balsam,
jack-pine, tamarack and popple (aspen
varieties) constitute eighty-fiye per cent
of the supply. At Deer River and
Cass Lake we have two large SawmilS
that utilize only popple, the supply being
more than enough to keep these mills
going indefinitely.
The early lumber industry made no
use whatever of the type Of trees that
now constitute the bulk of the supply
at Cloquet, Deer River and Cass Lake.
The wood today is used not only for
lumber and furniture, building, ETC.,
but for paper, rayon, cellophane, balsam
wool, wall board, packing boxes, tooth
picks, matches and fibre boards of
various kinds. We have found that
spruce and balSam are more valuable
than pine for many purposes. Aspen
is more desirable than pine for meat
packing and other boxes. It is safe to
estimate that the future forests of our
state will be able to supply material
for more than a score of major wood
using centers such as we have at
Cloquet with innumerable small wood
using industries. The late w E.. Nc