16 THE WHITE PINE. 



whioli are rtpnominnted "pine bnrrona," tho coiiftcnial (Uvilliii}; place in the East for the Pitch Pino (P. rigida), and 

 ill thi' Nortliwest for tln' Itanksinu or .l;ick Piuo ( /*. diraricdla i: nor ilnes tlio Whiti- Pini- in rithir ri'fiioii grow 

 plentifully iiml of laryrst size on very clayey land, wliiili is tlie favoritr lnration for Miiples. liasswooil. KIniH. and 

 other deciduous tires. The White Pine in this iiia*t4'r of its ihoire of soil follows the injiinrtion. Mvilio tiiliHuimiis 

 ihU. Tile li'ed Pine ( /'. riHinosa), so far as I liavo oliserved, can thrive heltiM- on the very sandy plains and "bar- 

 rens" th.iii the White I'iiii', being intermediate in this hetweon the White Pino and tho I'itch anil .laek ]>inef<. 



Prof T. II. .Macbride, of the State I'uiversity of Iowa, says: 



I have collected White Pine in the f<dIowinj; eouuti<« in this .State: Mitchell, Howard, Winneshiek, .Vllaniakee, 

 Clayton, Diilincine. Didaware, .lackson, ami Miisc.itine. It is, by others, reported from .Scott. It on;;ht tn bo found 

 also in Payette, but I have never run across it there. 



[This would confine the White Pine in Iowa to the counties bordering the Mississippi Hiver and the Minnesota 

 State line os far west as the Cedar River Valley.] 



CONCLUSIONS REGARDING NATURAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The leading conclusions to be drawn from what lias liccii stated regardiii;,' the natural di.stri- 

 bution (if White TMiie seem to be the followiuo; 



(1) LeaAMug out ofcon.sideratioii all the outlying jiortions of the region under di.scussion, there 

 is left an area of not less than 400,000 sijuare miles in the United States and Dominion of Canaila 

 within which the White Pine is in its home and surrounded by the conditions of its own choice, 

 throughout which its successful cultivation is fully assured. 



(2) A much larger territory than this is included within the limits of extreme distribution as 

 defined above, and there is abundant evidence to show that over nearly the whole of this wide 

 area, and in some directions far beyond it, this species makes under cultivation a healthy and 

 rapid growth. There is apparently no species of eijual value indigenous to eastern North 

 America that is at the same time adapted to so wide an area. 



(3) The habits of this species near the western limit of its natural occurrence, as well as 

 experimental jilanting, indicate plainly that its successful growth can not be depended upon much 

 beyond this limit. 



THE WHITE PINE LUMBER INDUSTRY. 



No species of American timber has been so nincli useil for lumber as the White Pine, and 

 the development of the lumber industry in this country is coincident with the exploitation of the 

 White Pine forests. 



The commercial use of White Pine began with the first settlement of New England. The first 

 sawmills were established in tlie seventeentli century, and numerous small sawmills, which were 

 usually an attachment of the neighborhood gristmill, were in operation early in the eighteenth 

 century. Timber was exchanged for merchandise, and the collections thus made were floated to 

 ports of shipment, whence they were exported. This iirimitive industry, confined largely to White 

 Pine, was continued well into the third decade of the present century. In 1850, ,T. S. Sjiringer, of 

 Maine, wrote: "Thirty years ago it was unnecessary to search tor a locality for a lumber camp on 

 the Penobscot, for a man could step from his hou.se to his day's w-ork, the iiine, that forest king, 

 abounding on every side. Fitty years hence the vast jiine forests through which Ilie Penobscot 

 Hows will be on the eve of destruction.'" This prophecy has long since been verified, for the Spruce 

 has practically taken the place of the White Pine in the lumber outi>ut of Maine. 



This early trade in White Pine, though invohiiig small cajiital and lintited operations on the 

 part of each dealer, was by no means unimportant in the aggit-gate, lumber being a leading 

 industry in New England from the first. The Bangor Weekly Register of March 2, 1810, noted 

 that between .300 and 40(t sleigh loads of lumber, etc., mmo. into IJelfast in one day. The Gazette 

 of July 10. 1S22, says that l.'i(!,OSl) feet of bimlier and .'{."i.OOO shingles were hauled in on one Saturday 

 V)y teams. In 182.5 twenty-five vessels were engaged in the lumber trade from Bangor to the West 

 Indies. The mills of those days were all small afl'airs, generally single sash saws, driven by water 

 jiower, with a capacity of 1,000 to .'3.000 feet per day. About 18.30 the construction of larger mills 

 began, and in 1890 a capital of nearly .Ml2,00O,(M)f> was invested in the sawmilling industry in the 

 State of Maine alone. 



In general, it may be said that the White Pine of New Ihigland was cut by numerous small 

 concerns, and that the bulk of the supplies was (;ut before modern .sawmilling began. 



