APPENDIX. ♦ 61 



THE DEPRECIATION OF OUR FOREST GROWTH 

 AND ITS EFFECTS UPON OUR VARIOUS IN- 

 DUSTRIES. 



By John E. Hobbs, North Berwick. 



To Hon. Gyrus A. Packard, Forest Commissioner : 



SiR : In answer to your 1 tter of December 10th, requesting a 

 paper to be embodied in your first report as Forest Commissioner 

 on the topic : "The depieciation of Our Forest Growth and Its 

 Effects Upon Our Various Industries ;" I have to thank you for 

 this opportunity of calling the attention of the Legishxture and tbe 

 people of the State to a question which is exciting so much inti rest 

 among thoughtful persons throughout the nation. 



Lumbering has been a leading industry in Maine from its first 

 sett'ement. Even before the erection of saw mills, the first settlers 

 had begun to utilize the large oaks and tall pines, the growth of 

 centuries, riving the oak for pipe staves and the pine for clap- 

 boards. 



The first saw mill in Maine, and, perhaps, the first on this conti- 

 nent, was erected in 1634 at the falls of the Newichawannock at the 

 head of tide water, near the mouth of the Great Works river in 

 South Berwick. 



On the 18th of July of this year, the ship Pied Cowe, from 

 London, arrived in the Piscataqua, having as a part of her cargo 

 two saw mills, and as passengers a party of carpenters to set them 

 up. Both the men and material were sent by Capt. John Mason, 

 one of the earliest promoters of colonization on the New England 

 coast. After discharging her cargo at Newichawannock and taking 

 part of her lading on ihe river, the ship sailed for Saco on the 18th 

 of August, where she completed her loading with "cloave boards" 

 and pipe staves. This ship with the barque Warwicke, had made a 

 voyage to the Piscataqua in 1C31, returning, probably, with a 

 similar cargo. 



Saw mills soon began to multiply and their capacity was enlarged. 

 In 1650, a mill carrying eighteen saws moved by one wheel, — which 

 must have been a gang-saw, — was erected on the Great AVorks 

 river about one mile above the one erected in 1634. We learn that 



