44 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



lakes were utilized to carry the pine logs 

 from forest to mill. Before the golden 

 age of New York's white pine period 

 had passed, the steam saw mill put 

 in its appearance, and the chugging 

 sash saw and the flutter wheel vanished. 

 By that time the railroad was carry- 

 ing lumber to such markets as no boat 

 or ship could reach, and the land 

 market for white pine assumed propor- 

 tions never heard of before. Then 

 came Michigan, Wisconsin and Alinne- 

 sota with their matchless forests of pine, 

 and Chicago as the distributing market 

 for the product. That was two hundred 

 years after the first lumbering was done 

 on the Atlantic seaboard. Michatix in 

 his day said that the white pine lumber- 

 man moved westward twenty-five or 

 thirty years ahead of the farmer, and 

 De Tocqueville said that the, farmer's 

 rate of movement westward was seven- 

 teen miles a year. Both of the writers 

 set too rapid a pace. The average 

 movement of the lumberman from New 

 England to the Lake States for two 

 hundred years was five miles a year, 

 and the white pine lumberman led the 

 van. They have reached Minnesota 

 where the forests of pine end. 



MARKETS AND PRICES. 



It seems superfluous to designate the 

 white pine markets. The wood not 

 only goes everywhere now, but it has 

 been going since the first. Within 

 thirty years after the Pilgrims landed 

 in New England they were sending 

 white pine lumber to Africa and trading 

 it for slaves. They traded the slaves in 

 the West Indies for rum which they 

 sold in England and Holland, and 

 brought cash home. That was 250 years 

 ago. This present year Minnesota 

 limibermen are exporting white pine 

 to Africa where the earliest exports of 

 this remarkable wood went; but it is 

 needless to say that slaves are not ac- 

 cepted in payment, nor is it necessary 

 to haul rum thousands of miles to com- 

 plete the trade; because payment now 

 comes back in yellow gold from the 

 Rand and diamonds from Kimberley. 



It is natural that prices vary greatly, 

 not only now, but in past years and 

 centuries. Formerly the place of sale 



had most to do with the price; now it 

 is the grade. When pine was plentiful 

 everywhere, only the best was offered 

 for sale; and, except for the matter of 

 freight, it brought about the same 

 figure everywhere. In 1805 rafts of 

 choice pine from western New York 

 sold in Pittsburgh for five dollars a 

 thousand; but similar lumber, rafted 

 2,000 miles further to New Orleans, 

 brought $40. In early days in Michigan 

 good pine was sometimes bought at 

 four dollars a thousand at the mill. 



Prices are more systemized now. The 

 following list gives the average mill run 

 values, of white pine lumber in the yard, 

 for the whole United States: 



Per 

 1000 

 ■^ feet 



1899 $12.69 



1904 14.93 



1906 18.32 



1907 19.41 



1908 18.17 



1909 18.16 



1910 18.93 



1911 18.54 



1912 19.13 



The wholesale prices of white pine by 

 grades in the Lake States in 1912 were 

 as follows: Selects C and better ^/U 

 (M. L.), Minnesota, $54.51, Wisconsin, 

 $57.06. 



Inch finish, C Selects, 10" (M. L.), 

 S46.48, Wisconsin, $48.04, Michigan, 

 $47.33. 



Shop No. 1, \', (M. L.), Minnesota, 

 $47.65, Wisconsin, $48.84, Michigan, 

 $53.38. 



Shop No. 3, H (M. L.), Minnesota, 

 $23.23, Wisconsin, $24.02, Michigan, 

 $27.42. 



Beveled Siding, C 6"- 16', Minnesota, 

 $23.94, Wisconsin, $24.96, Michigan, 

 $26.33. 



Boards No. 2, \" x 8"-16', Minnesota, 

 $22.43, Wisconsin, $23.56, Michigan, 

 S26 38 



Boards No. 3, 12", 10'-20', Minne- 

 sota, $20.53, Wisconsin, $21.09, Michi- 

 gan, $25.67. 



Boards No. 4, Mixed Widths, 10'- 

 20', Minnesota, $14.32, Wisconsin, $14.- 

 65, Michigan, $13.50. 



