10 HISTORY OF LUMBER INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK. 



The advertiser and his fellow lumbermen of that region have long 

 since gone their way, and with them their " inexhaustible quantity of 

 Pine Wood." 



With the White Pine there was in many localities an admixture of 

 Norway Pine; and in Steuben County, or along the southern border, 

 considerable Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata Mill.), known in that local- 

 ity as Yellow Pine. 



The White Pine, being the most valuable of all the forest trees, was 

 taken first, and, until 1850 or thereabouts, lumbering was confined 

 almost exclusively to this species. 



Next in importance atthat time was the Hemlock, which was like- 

 wise distributed over the whole territory. Though of inferior dimen- 

 sions and quality throughout the Adirondack region, in the southern 

 tier of counties and along the Catskill Range it attained a size and 

 strength that compared favorably with the best Pennsylvania Hem- 

 lock.' 1 But, for a long period, it had no value except for tan bark. 

 The trees were cut and peeled, and the bark hauled to the tanneries; 

 the fallen tree trunks were left in the woods to decay. This was 

 largely the case until within twenty-five years, especially in Penn- 

 sylvania, the demand for bark being greatly in excess of the demand 

 for hemlock lumber. Not until there was a scarcity of spruce and 

 pine did lumbermen find it profitable to cut Hemlock for market, and 

 then for many years the margin of profit was very small. 



The spruce, which in late years has formed so large a part of our 

 lumber product, was confined mostly to the Adirondack plateau and 

 Catskill slopes. It was not generally found in the western or south- 

 western portions of the State, nor in the southern tier of counties 

 along the Pennsylvania line, west of Broome County. 



The other evergreen species of the State were not extensively used 

 for lumber until quite recently. The Balsam, which is confined 

 chiefly to the Adirondack forests, is now used for lumber and also 

 for pulpwood in a certain percentage of mixture with spruce. The 

 White Cedar has a steady demand, where accessible, for the manu- 

 facture of shingles, fence posts, and telegraph poles. 



The hardwoods, or broadleafed trees, were everywhere mixed more 

 or less with the evergreens. In some places within the primeval for- 

 ests there were "hardwood ridges,"' so called because there were no 

 other species; and in other places there were slopes on which pine, 



a In the town of Colchester, Delaware County, there is a Hemlock tree over 2 feet 

 in diameter standing on the line between divisions 63 and 64, upon the north side of 

 the hill, opposite the schoolhouse in the Wilson Hollow. In 1535, while it was a 

 young tree about 6 inches through, it was marked by some sharp instrument, prob- 

 ably an Indian weapon. Two hundred and fifty-three annual rings of growth over 

 this mark is a blaze made by James Cockburn in 1788, and over another twenty- 

 eight annual rings is a blaze made by Christopher Tappen in 1816. 



