16 THE WHITE PINE. 



which are denominated "pine barrens," the congenial dwelling place in the East for the Pitch Pine (P. rigida), and 

 in the Northwest for the Banksitin or Jack Pine (P. diraricata); nor does the White Pine in either region grow 

 plentifully and of largest size on very clayey land, which is the favorite location for Maples, Hasswood, Elms, and 

 other deciduous trees. The White Pine in this matter of its choice of soil follows the injunction, Media lulissimus 

 ibu. The Red Pine (P. retinota), so far as I have observed, can thrive better on the very sandy plains and "bar- 

 rens" than the White Pine, being intermediate in this between the White Pine and the Pitch and Jack pines. 



Prof. T. H. Macbride, of the State University of Iowa, says : 



I have collected White Pine in the following counties in this State: Mitchell, Howard, Winneshiek, Allamakee, 

 Clayton, Dnbnque, Delaware, Jackson, and Muscat inr. It is, by others, reported from Scott. It ought to be found 

 also in Fayette, bnt I have never rnn across it there. 



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

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



CONCLUSIONS REGARDING NATURAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The leading conclusions to be drawn from what has been stated regarding the natural distri- 

 bution of "White Pine seein to be the following: 



(1) Leaving out of consideration all the outlying portions of the region under discussion, there 

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

 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 

 denned 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 equal 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 planting, 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 much used 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 the seventeenth 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 primitive industry, confined largely to White 

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

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

 the Penobscot, for a man could step from his house to his day's work, the pine, that forest king, 

 abounding on every side. Fifty years hence the vast pine forests through which the Penobscot 

 flows will be on the eve of destruction." Thisprophecy has long since been verified, for the Spruce 

 has practically taken the place of the White Pine in the lumber output of Maine. 



This early trade in White Pine, though involving small capital and limited operations on the 

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

 industry in New England from the first. The Bangor Weekly Register of March 2, 1816, noted 

 that between 300 and 400 sleigh loads of lumber, etc., came into Belfast in one day. The Gazette 

 of July 10, 1822, says that 136,080 feet of lumber and 35,000 shingles were hauled in on one Saturday 

 by teams. In 1825 twenty-five vessels were engaged in the lumber trade from Bangor to the West 

 Indies. The mills of those days were all small affairs, generally single-sash saws, driven by water 

 power, with a capacity of 1,000 to 3,000 feet per day. About 1830 the construction of larger mills 

 began, and in 1890 a capital of nearly $12,000,000 was invested in the sawmilling industry in the 

 State of Maine alone. 



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

 concerns, and that the bnlk of the supplies was cut before modern sawmilling began. 



