28 HISTORY OF LUMBER INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK. 



show plainly above the water. The river-drivers and men at the 

 sorting boom necessarily became very familiar with the various log 

 marks and had their own terms for them, suggested by some resem- 

 blance. Thus there was the crow's foot, double O, wine cup, triangle, 

 hawk eye, box, deer's foot, anchor, etc. These marks were also of 

 use in the mill yard or piling ground, as showing the job or firm to 

 which the lumber belonged, a part or all of the stamp showing here 

 and there on the ends of a board or plank. 



With the introduction of railroads, logging cars, steam log-loaders, 

 and jack-works for loading logs from the lake or stream onto cars, the 

 Lumbermen are no longer entirely dependent on river-driving for get- 

 ting their stock to the mill. The railroad has the advantage of being 

 available any month of the year, and the mills are not compelled to 

 shut down in the dry season for lack of stock. There is no loss on 

 account of having a drive ''hung up" for many months, the logs dete- 

 riorating in the meantime. With the railroad the stock can be 

 brought to the mill just as it is required. 



LOG-RAILROADS. 



The first railroad for hauling logs was built in 1S52 by Fox, Wes- 

 ton & Bronson, in the town of Lindley, Steuben County, N. Y. It was 

 constructed of wooden rails and was equipped with platform cars and 

 a locomotive which bore on its cab the name "* Bull of the Woods.*' 

 This railroad was not used as a substitute for log-driving, but for haul- 

 ing logs to the bank of the Tioga River, whence they were driven to 

 the large gang-mills at Painted Post. 



Our Adirondack lumbermen were quick to perceive the advantage 

 of using railroads for transporting timber in localities where it was 

 not possible to drive the logs and timber to the desired point for man- 

 ufacture, and there are now several timber tracts in northern New 

 York where all the logs are taken out by rail. However, it is an 

 unquestioned fact that water furnishes the cheapest power for moving 

 timber, as each time the logs are handled separately, in loading and 

 unloading, adds to their cost, and the cost of transportation by rail 

 almost invariably exceeds that of log-driving. 



The use of the railroad makes it possible to get out hardwood timber, 

 which otherwise could not be utilized because the logs are too heavy 

 to be floated down the stream and would sink. The hardwoods — birch, 

 maple. Beech, ash, and cherry — constitute, on an average, over 65 per 

 cent of our northern forest. In the Catskills they form a still larger 

 proportion. As this class of timber becomes accessible under the 

 improved methods of logging the value of such timber lands is 

 greatly enhanced, and this in turn will have a direct influence on the 

 forest policy of the State. Hitherto the State has been purchasing 

 forest lands at a low price. The lumbermen, after removing the 

 small proportion of conifers, were willing to sell at a low figure, 



