22 HISTORY OF LUMBER INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK. 



was thought to he more valuable; it was stronger and would last 

 longer than sawed timber wherever it was used. The sticks were of 

 AVhite Pine, ranging from 30 to 70 feet long and from 12 to 24 inches 

 square. At one time considerable "square 1 ' timber, as it was called, 

 was sent to the Albany and New York markets by canal, the rafts 

 being made up into "lockbands" corresponding in size to the canal 

 locks. 



LOG-DRIVING. 



Log-driving on the upper Hudson commenced about 1813. This 

 idea of floating logs to mill was first used b} T the Fox Brothers, Norman 

 and Alanson, in bringing their timber from the Brant Lake Tract to 

 the mills at Glens Falls. These had previously been stocked by haul- 

 ing the logs direct to the mill. Their example was quickly followed, 

 and for seventy-five years the great sawmills at Glens Falls, Sandy 

 Hill, and Fort Edward obtained their stock in this way, thereby center- 

 ing the entire manufacturing business of the upper Hudson and its 

 tributaries in that locality. 



In time a sorting boom became necessaiy at some convenient place 

 on the Hudson where the logs of the various lumber companies could 

 be separated in accordance with the "log-marks" stamped on the ends 

 of each log. This necessity, together with the frequent loss of stock 

 by the breaking of poorly constructed booms in time of high water, 

 caused the organization, in 1849, of the Hudson River Boom Associa- 

 tion, and the construction of the "big boom" at Glens Falls. Here 

 suitable arrangements were made for holding and sorting the logs 

 belonging to the various mills located at or below that place. 



From the books of this compan} T it appears that in 1851 there were 

 132,500 "market" logs, a 19-inch standard, equivalent to 26,500,000 

 feetB. M., received at this boom. The next year 69,080,000 feet of 

 logs passed through. These figures show approximately the extent 

 of the lumber business on the upper Hudson at that time. 



The business increased yearly until the maximum was reached in 

 1872, when 1,069,000 standards, or 213,800,000 feet, were handled at 

 this point. At that time lumbermen were not cutting below 12 inches 

 on the stump, or nothing less than ""two-log" trees. Hence, the logs 

 in the boom ran, on an average, about two to the standard, and the 

 1,069,000 standards delivered that year represented over 2,000,000 

 separate logs or "pieces." 



After 1872 the business declined steadity until 1900, when the books 

 of the boom company showed that 282,771 markets, or 56,554,200 feet 

 had been received that year. These figures tell briefly the story of the 

 rise and fall of the lumber business on the Hudson watershed. 



a The market or standard log is 19 inches in diameter at the small end and 13 feet 

 long. 



