812 [.Aj3SmMBL"Y 



region. It is estimated that this tract may yield one million of 

 Paw logs. Although the Aq Sable river in its various branches, 

 spreads through it a length of perhaps thirty miles, its channel is 

 so obstructed as to render it useless for the floating of logs. These 

 impediments have rendered this tract inaccessible to ordinary 

 private elTurt and enterpiize. A slight application of that 

 patronage which has been lavished by the State, u|>on other lo- 

 calities, "^vould make this stream practicable for the floating of 

 the logs to mills, from whence their products would find a mar- 

 ket by the Champlaiu canal, and thus pour a vast tribute into 

 the public revenue. I witnessed the results of individual exer- 

 tions In the improvement of this navigation, and much has been 

 accomplished: but public policy and justice invoke with the 

 strongest emphasis action from the Legislature, that shall open 

 the latent and inaccessible resources of this secluded territory. 

 The efficiency and value ot this mode of transporting timber are 

 fully illustrated by its successful operation in other parts of the 

 country. 



The numerous and widely diffused branches of the Hudson are 

 annually appropriated for the transit of a very large amount of 

 logs. Insignificant mountain rivulets, swollen by the spring 

 freshets, are converted into valuable mediums for this purpose, 

 by the adroit management of the experienced lumberman. 



The following statistics, furnished by a person prominently 

 engaged in the occupation,* exhibits some interesting and import- 

 ant facts. In the spring of 1352, 2,0,000 standard pine logs, 

 6,t)00 spruce, and 15,000 Lemlocklogs, from the town of Schroon, 

 were rafted at the head of Schroon lake. The expense of getting 

 and driving these logs, was slxty-fivo cents each for the pine and 

 spruce, and fifty-five cents for the hemlock. These logs were 

 worth, delivered at Glen's Falls, $2.25 for the pine. $1.25 for the 

 spruce, and $1,00 for the hemlock. During the last season, 

 30,000 logs, chiefly pine, were transported In this manner from 

 the town of Newcomb, at an expense of $1.00 for each hundred 

 .logs. At the same time, 32,000 logs of pine and spruce, and 

 8,000 of hemlock, were floated down the ^^preas river, a tribu- 



* Mr. Abijah Snuibj of Schroon^ to ^hom I am ir«iebt«d for mort of my infonnatioc on this 



