76 North American Forests and Forestry 



corporations the capital of which often amounts to 

 millions. 



The first sawmills built in the Great Lakes 

 region and elsewhere were small affairs, driven 

 mostly by water-power and intended to supply 

 local demand. Sometimes they were run in con- 

 nection with grist-mills. People of the neighbor- 

 hood would bring logs cut on their farms to the 

 mill, and have them sawed into boards, paying a 

 toll, as they would for the grinding of grain into 

 flour. When sawing on a truly commercial basis 

 began, it was done to supply the demand for lumber 

 springing up in the cities that began to grow all 

 over the Mississippi Valley. This new demand 

 soon exhausted the timber supplies of the imme- 

 diate neighborhoods and made it necessary to go 

 to comparatively remote places to cut the logs 

 required. 



The history of the modern lumber industry may 

 be divided into two periods, with well marked char- 

 acteristics. During the first, the sawmills were 

 as near as possible to the places of consumption, 

 and the logs were brought long distances to the 

 mills. During the latter, it is more economical to 

 saw the lumber as near as feasible to the place 

 where the logs are cut, and transport the sawed 

 material to the place of consumption. The change 

 from one method to the other is marked by the 

 advent of the railway, aided by the great improve- 

 ments in mill machinery, which make it possible to 

 erect sawmills in the very heart of the forest. 



