No.112.] 811 



of lumber is in most sections of the county nearly extinct, from 

 the exhaustion of the raw material. A large proportion of the 

 sawed lumber shipped at Port Kent and Port Douglas, is derived 

 from the forests of Franklin county, which are rendered accessi- 

 ble by the plank rgads. The mills at Ticonderoga are chiefly sup- 

 plied from Lake George. The amount of lumber annually ex- 

 ported from Crown Point, is about 5,000,000 feet of sawed lumber, 

 and ten hundred thousand of shingles. 200,000 pieces of lumber 

 were shipped from Port Douglas in 1852 ;* 600,000 pieces from Ti- 

 conderoga ; 1,000,000 pieces of boards and plank, equal to 

 1 ,G25,000 feet boards from Port Kent.f From Port Kendall 9,227 

 promiscuous pieces. | Large quantities of sawed lumber are 

 shipped from various other ports in the county, the amount of 

 which I have not been able to procure. 



The pine in the vicinity of Crown Point affords an article of 

 lumber much superior in quality to that manufactured upon the 

 Ausable or Saranac,and is distinguished by a finer grain, softer 

 fibre, and a more brilliant surface. My attention was particu- 

 larly directed to the circumstance, and I notice it as a curious 

 fact in vegetable physiology. 



The exhaustion of the forests accessible from Lake Champlain, 

 has constrained the lumber manufacturer to seek his resources in 

 the wilds of the interior. Logs are now floated from the most 

 remote districts of Franklin county down the Saranac river and 

 through a portion of Essex county, to supply the mills on that 

 stream. State bounty has been extended with munificence to aid 

 in opening that wilderness to this policy, by important improve- 

 ments in the navigation of the Saranac, Ka<iuette, and other rivers, 

 which penetrate that territory. 



A large and valuable tract of tini!)er land lying in the confines 

 of Wilmington and North Klha, s})rends along the acclivities and 

 for many miles around the hase f)f the White Face mountain. 

 This is the only distiic^ol extent or value, occupied by the primi- 

 tive forest of pine, spryce, and Iiemlock, now renniniug upon the 

 territory of Essex county. Enviroued by lofty mountain bairiers, 

 it is impracticable to export manufactured lumber from this 



• W»Jpoii>. t C. p. Alln X LeTi Highbf . 



