190 : The Atlantic 



by the codfish. The development of fisheries was one of the early eco- 

 nomic assets of the colony and also here, as in other colonies, the set- 

 tlers in what is now Maine and Massachusetts engaged in the fur 

 trade. However, while Massachusetts was still a colony, there were 

 clear indications that its eventual prosperity must depend upon the 

 development of diversified products, upon manufacture and success- 

 ful trade. This is illustrated by what happened in the utilization of 

 New England's great resources of forests and in the development of 

 wood products. 



In the seventeenth century England was building up her power at 

 sea. She had the greatest need of materials for the manufacture of 

 ships. In order to prevent drawing too heavily on her own forestry 

 resources she was utilizing imports from Sweden and other north 

 European countries with forested areas but she did not like her 

 dependence on these sources. The forests of North America, therefore, 

 had for her the greatest value as a source of timber for the construc- 

 tion of houses and of ships. The colonists, on the other hand, were 

 anxious to clear some of the forested areas to permit the erection of 

 homes and the development of farms. 



England would have liked to have had the bulky raw timber deliv- 

 ered on her shores so that she could proceed with the manufacture, 

 but at that time and in the ships then available, the transportation 

 across the Atlantic was hardly possible and in any event would have 

 been fantastically expensive. It was inevitable then that the colonies 

 should have been encouraged in processing and fabricating some of 

 their own products for export. 



As early as 1621 the ship Fortune loaded at Plymouth with clap- 

 boards and beaver skins. As early as 1635 a sawmill was erected near 

 Portsmouth, New Hampshire and soon thereafter grist mills and saw- 

 mills began to appear in many of the settlements. The richness of the 

 New England forests was soon being demonstrated by the develop- 

 ment of diversified products. Pine, cedar and spruce provided lumber 

 for shipbuilding; red oak and white oak and other hardwoods were 

 converted into materials for the manufacture of casks and barrels; 

 cedar provided house frames and shingles; cherry, birch, maple and 

 walnut were used for furniture and gunstocks. 



The forests also supplied abundant fuel and thus made possible the 

 development of other industries such as the smelting of iron, the 

 manufacture of glass, of bricks, of pottery and the production of 

 potash. 



