The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-03-07
Loggers Who Once Thought
Trees Would Never End
Are Responsible.

Minnesota's timber supply, which al
one time was thought TO be inexhaust-
ible, is in danger Of ceasing altogether
unless something is done about it, &C
cording to a bulletin published by the
forestry department Of the state de-
partment Of conservation.
The answer to this grave problem is
reforeStation first and fire protection
next. In 1899 timber operators were
stripping the trees from the forests al
the rate Of nearly two and one third
billion board feet, and it was believed
at that time there would be no end 70
the supply.
Today, however, with but an esti-
mated II billion board feet standing,
conservationists talk about the time
when numbering in any quantity viii
be q thing Of the past
Excerpts from the bulletin, selected
by the conservation department, fol-
low:
Between 1887 and 1927, minnesota
north woods yielded more than rs
billion board feet Of pine lumber
Despite this heavy output, there still
remains in the state not less than y
billion feet Of standing pine
These facts, and many more, are
presented in the bulletin Copies can
be obtained by writing the Division Of
Forestry, State Office Building, St.
Paul.
Declaring the purpose of the bulle-
tin to be to describe briefly Mime
sofas timber resources as they once
were, to trace the history Of the early
industry and its decline; to sketch con-
ditions as they are now, and to out
line forest program for the future" il
proceeds to do these things in highly
interesting and informative manner.
According to the bulletin, 81 500 O01
acres, 81 per cent of the states area
was covered with forests originally
~Tody only two-thirds of that area is
forest land and much of it has very
little timber
The original forest Of Minnesota,
it continues, was divided into two Sec
tons: the hardwood forest and the
evergreen (pine) forest The hardwood
forests, or the big woods as they were
known TO the pioneers, extended from
the mouth Of the Crow Wing river
south to the boundary Of the state and
west to the prairies where tree growth
was scarce even IN the early days.
The North Woods, or evergreen
forests, were larger They extended
from the Big Woods north to Canada
and west to the prairies. Pines anc
spruce predominated; maple, birch,
poplar, balsam, tamarack and cedar
were scattered through the region and
occasionally formed more OF less pure
stands over small areas. merchandise
timber was composed mostly Of a mix
ture Of Norway. pine, white pine and
spruce with the addition of Jack pine
on the poorer soils, the jack pine
forming pure stands on very light
sandy soil
The timber Of the North Woods
was cut mostly by lumbermen. A few
settlers went into the area before The
timber was cut that they might sell
their logs to the lumbermen"
In its outline Of Minnesota's lumber
ing history, the bulletin notes thai
the first sawmil IN the state was MOI
a commercial mill" but one to saw lurn-
Der for the building Of Fort Smelling
L was built IN 1921 and located II
T1FI-cnnan'S Grove m Tnro~ D-.-~
river
at was not until 1899 that the frs
commercial mill started operating al
Marine-On-The-St- Croix This mil
was small and water wheel supplied
the power. Il ran so years and sawed