40 HISTORY OF LUMBER INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK. 



Edward W. Hutching*, Lyman H. Wilcox, Harrison Plummer, A. M. 

 Adsit. and E. H. Rosekrans. 



On the Tioga River: Deacon Simeon Hammond. Abijah Weston. 

 William C. Bronson. William B. Stevens. Benjamin Harrower. and 

 Julius Tremaine. 



On the Saranac River: Senator Christopher F. Norton. Almon 

 Thomas. James Hammond. David H. Parsons, Wales Parsons. Hart- 

 well Brothers. O. A. Tefft. and Loren Ellis." 



In western New York: John G. Mersereau. of Portville. and the 

 Weston Brothers, of Olean. 



WOODPULP. 



Within twenty years the logging industry in northern New York 

 has been materially affected by the demand for material necessary in 

 the manufacture of woodpulp. an industry of comparatively recent 

 development. Ground pulp, obtained by holding blocks of wood 

 against a grindstone, was first made in this country in 1867, at Stock- 

 brido-e. Mass. Chemical mills, in which the fiber is reduced by the 

 action of acids under steam pressure, were introduced about the same 

 time. Now there are 2H3 mills, mechanical and chemical, in the 

 United States, of which 1(>l ; are located in New York. Wisconsin 

 comes next with 37. and Maine has 30. 



At first the New York mills used poplar only. This was deemed a 

 desirable condition by our foresters, because this species does not 

 appear to be available for any other purpose, while at the same time 

 it is the kind of tree with which nature most quickly reforests burned 

 areas in the Adirondacks. But poplar was soon discarded in favor of 

 spruce, to which have been added within the last live years some of the 

 other conifers, the process of manufacture having been improved so 

 that a satisfactory fiber is now being obtained from Hemlock, pine, and 

 Balsam. 



The effect on timber cutting was soon evident, Where the lumber- 

 men formerly took nothing less than two-log trees, leaving nearly all 

 that were 12 inches or less in diameter on the stump, the woodpulp 

 men cut all the trees of certain species, large and small. This close 

 cutting of spruce and other kinds left no provision for future growth, 

 and thinned the forest so severely in places that further damage was 

 inflicted by wind and ice storms. The river-drives, which were for- 

 merly composed of fair-sized logs, were mixed thickly with smaller 

 logs, and on some streams where pulpwood only was being driven, 

 the drives were entirely made up of 4-foot lengths. The methods 

 employed in cutting pulp timber differ somewhat from those used 



"For interesting and valuable facts relating to the history of lumbering in the 

 Saranac Valley, see paper read by Hon. EverittC. Baker before the Plattsburg Insti- 

 tute January 14, 1901, and printed in the Plattsburg Sentinel January 18, 1901. 



