1885.] THE FORESTS OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN. 211 



IN THE FORESTS OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN. 



BY EDWARD JACK, NEW BRUNSWICK. 



SOME two years since, in tlie month of November, the writer 

 found himself at Ashland, Wisconsin, a small town near the 

 head of Lake Superior, whose chief industry consists in the manu- 

 facture of pine logs into boards. These are carried by rail or 

 water to their destination east or west. The population of this 

 place at that time was about 2000. A walk of four or five hundred 

 yards from the front street carried one into a small growth of red 

 and white pine which would repay its proper protection. 



Looking up the lake from Ashland in a northerly or westerly 

 direction, one sees a forest of white pine, the trees in which 

 apparently stand as thick as they can grow. This forest is said to 

 extend to a distance of seventy miles. Fires do not rage among 

 these woods, as they do in so many parts of Canada. The red clay 

 lying upon the Potsdam sandstone, on which these trees grow, 

 retains the moisture, and is not favourable to the growth of mosses, 

 which serve so readily as fire-carriers, so much so that it will 

 smoulder among them for days — showers often failing to extinguish 

 the sparks, which a few weeks of dry weather may develope into a 

 vast conflagration. This comparative freedom from risk of forest 

 fires is very important, and adds much to the value of this country. 

 Tlie land in the vicinity of Ashland and on the opposite side of 

 the bay is by no means rough. It is of the moderate elevation of a 

 few hundred feet. There are no mountains to be seen, the American 

 side of Lake Superior differing in this respect from the Canadian, 

 being altogether more favourable to the protection of standing timber, 

 owing to its different mineralogical and geological characters. The 

 future of Ashland cannot be otherwise than assured, from the fact 

 that one can .stand in its streets and see pine growing as far as the 

 eye can reach in one direction. And we know that there are millions 

 of these trees standing on the shores of adjacent streams, and whicli 

 can be readily brought hither. Ashland countj^ contains upwards 

 of a million acres of land ; one-half of this is said to be covered with 

 a growth of hardwoods, the other witli conifers; 150,000,000 

 feet board measure of pine are said to pass annually over the 

 Wisconsin Central liailway alone. From A.shland one can see the 

 church originally built by Father Marquette on Magdalene Island, 

 at least I could see its white walls glistening beneath the rays of the 

 evening sun. A Jesuit priest is said to reside there, and to attend 

 to the duties of the mission. A few miles from Ashland the 



