MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



SAWS ARE EATING 



UP THE TiriBER. 



What is known as the Mackinaw division of 

 the Michigan Central railroad and its predecessor 



1906, shows lumber, manufactured, 150,460,243 

 feet; lath, pieces, 22,526,000; shingles, number, 

 29;962,250. 



The largest producer was the estate of David 

 Ward, at Deward, its output being 32,800,000 

 feet of pine ; 1,500,000 hemlock, and 242,000 



the northern division of the Jackson, Lansing hardwood. 752.000 shingles, 6,945,000 lath. Sall- 

 & Saginaw railroad, traverse the most prolific "? gl Hansen & Co., Grayling, come next with 

 timber producing territory in the state of Mich- P ine ' 8,429.000 feet; hemlock, 12,672,000; hard- 



igan, writes E. D. Cowles, in the Bay City Trib- 

 une. Forty years ago there were the big Ballou 

 & Co., and Van Etten, Kaiser & Co.'s saw mills 

 and one or two shingle mills at Kawkawlin; 

 there was the Terry, Seeley & Spencer mill at 

 Terry Station, and a number of others. In 1872 



wood, 6,980,000; shingles. 4.075,000; lath, 4,979- 

 000. The other producers were : Batchelor Lum- 

 ber Company, West Branch, hemlock 3,500,000 

 feet, hardwood 550,000, lath 780,000; Mclll- 

 venna-Kingsley Lumber Company, Highwood|, 

 pine 231,000, hemlock 214,000 hardwood 275,000; 



there were the foregoing and the F Gamble iCoan Lumber Company, Nolan, pine 125,000, 

 mill at State Road; Morehouse & Co. at Stirling; hemlock 1,000,000, hardwood 300,000, shingles 

 Cross, Wright & Co. and O. F. Stanton at Gran- 1 3,000,000 ; Boman Lumber Company, Boman- 

 ton; R. G. Horr, Summit; White Feather Lum- ! ville > hemlock 500,000, hardwood 1,000,000; C. C. 



l>er Co. at White Feather; Stevens & Graham, i Bliss, Butman, hardwood 300,000; N. W. Ogden, 



Co., Greenwood; Culver & Co., Culver; Ogemaw i 500 - lath 798,000; Houghton Lumber Lake Corn- 

 Lumber Co., Ogemaw; Gilmour & Co., Ogemaw 'P an y- Houghton Lake;, pine 200,000, hemlock 

 Witthauer, Schuermann & Co., St. Helens 10 .00, hardwood 400,000 ; D. Streator & Son. 

 Wright, Wells & Co., Bradford Lake; Smith. Este y- P ine 50,000, hemlock 5,000,000, hardwood 

 Kelly & Dwight, Otsego Lake. These mills ati 400 ' 000 ' Humphrey Brothers, Gaylord, pine 25,- 

 rthat time were cutting from 50,000,000 to 80,- il)00 ' hemlock 400,000. hardwood 75,000; Johan- 

 1000,000 feet of lumber annually. Many of them nesburg Mfg. Co., Johannesburg, pine 168,000. 

 were either destroyed by fire or went out of hemlock 3,550,000, hardwood 8,487,000; Michael- 

 ' commission, while others in some instances took son & Hanson Lumber Co., Lewiston, pine 267,- 

 :their places. Later when the railroad had been i 000 ' hemlock 10,892,000, hardwood 7,563.000. 

 extended to Mackinaw saw and shingle mills phingles 6,966,000, lath 2,970,000; Engel Lumber 

 were erected at various points. Between 1875 I Company. Hargrove, pine 350,000, hemlock 2.- 

 and 1880 there was annually manufactured over [OOO.OOO. hardwood 2,636,000; Henry Stevens 



100,000,000 feet of lumber on this line and as 

 many or a greater number of shingles. 



It was not until about 1882 that the business 

 of bringing logs from points along the line of 

 this road to the Saginaw river with which to 



Lumber Co., Waters, pine 400.000, heeilock 7,000,- 

 000, hardwood 8,000,000; L. Cornell Estate, 

 Wolverine, pine 101,000. hemlock 3,368,000, hard- 

 wood 175.000, lath 1,568,000; L. Jensen, Sailing, 

 Dine 250,000, hemlock 5,300,000, hardwood 2,012,- 



supply the local mills was inaugurated, and it i% lath 3,000,000 ; Haakwood Lumber Company 

 .rapidly developed into an important industry in "f k *. d - hemlock 100,000. hardwood 2,500.- 



000; Tolfrce & Co., West Branch, shingles 7.093,- 

 000;Frank Kelley, Vanderbilt, shingles 6,000,000. 

 Total pine 47,766,386, hemlock 58,915,920, hard- 

 wood 43,775,928, shingles 29,962,250, lath 22,526,- 

 000. 



points 



itself, exclusive of the manufacturing 

 along the line of the road. 



The extent of this business can be imagined 

 when it is known that from 1886 to 1890 in- 

 clusive there was hauled on this line 894,169,970 

 feet of unmanufactured saw logs, and in round 

 numbers there has been hauled since 1886 to 

 the close of 1906 a grand total of 2,250,000,000 

 feet of saw logs. 



It should also be borne in mind that this is 

 exclusive of the logs and lumber manufactured 

 at points along the line of the road. 



There isn't a saw mill on the Saginaw river 

 at the present time and in fact there hasn't been 

 for years but is dependent on this source of sup- 



ply for its stock. 

 Co 



over 40,000,000 feet of logs from this source in 

 1906 and it requires a train of 52 cars loaded with 

 logs every day to keep these mills in operation. 

 W. D. Young & Co. receive 20,000,000 feet a 

 year from this road ; the Kern Manufacturing 

 Co. over 20,000,000 feet ; Bousfield & Co. some- 

 thing like 10,000,000 to 13,000,000 feet; the Gates 

 mill, 7,5pO,000 feet; Flood mill, 5,000,000 feet; 

 Campbell-Brown Lumber Co. several million 

 feet; and the Hargrave mill a number of million 

 feet; Bliss & Van Auken, of Saginaw, 12,000,000 

 feet, and J. T. Wylie & Co., a number of million 

 feet, as well as some smaller lots. 



And exclusive of this there has been annually 

 manufactured on the line of the Mackinaw di- 

 vision from 100,000,000 to 180,000,000 feet of lum- 

 ber, and 80,000,000 to 200,000,000 shingles for 

 the last twenty-six years. 



The foregoing figures do not include hundreds 

 of thousands pieces of cedar and more than 30,- 

 000 cords of hemlock bark and hundreds of car 

 loads of wood. 



It will be seen that it has been a marvelous 

 producer of timber property. The pine has been 

 nearly whipped but there remains hemlock and 

 hardwood to furnish material for a substantial 

 industry twenty-five years hence. 



A detailed statement of the production of the 

 mills separated on the line of this road and its 

 branches from Bay City to Mackinaw during 



OLDEST TREE IN THE WORLD. 



What is supposed to be the oldest tree in the 

 world is still standing in Ceylon. Its age is given 

 as about 2,200 years and a writer in the Natii>ii-il 

 Geographic Magazine says that the statement is 

 undoubtedly quite correct. 



About 300 B. C. there was brought to Ceylon 

 a branch of the tree under which the Buddha 

 Gautama sat when he attained buddhahood. The 



in northern Michigan as there is much fire- 

 killed timber. If a way could be found of 

 using this without great expense, it would be 

 an excellent thing and would effect a great 

 saving. 



'I hi- Pennsylvania railway is now raising its 

 own ties and in addition to this is also using 

 the creosote treatment for the ones in use. 



LUDINQTON'S SAW MILLS. 



Last year the saw mills at Ludington cut 41,- 

 457.000 feet of lumber and 23,915,000 shingles. 

 Three firms operated there, the Stearns Salt & 

 Lumber Co., which cut 24,228,000 feet of lumber 

 and 5,480,000 shingles; the Cartier Co., which 

 cut 9,759,000 feet of lumber and 13,831,000 

 shingles, and the Butters Salt & Lumber Co., 

 which cut 7,470,000 feet of lumber and 4,604,000 

 shingles. 



The possibilities of extensive lumbering, as 

 far as that section of the state is concerned, are 

 limited. There are a few sections of virgin for- 

 ests yet standing in Mason county, but they are 

 not extensive. There is a considerable quantity 

 of second growth timber, which is rapidly in- 

 creasing in value. There is every indication, 

 however, that the local mills will be kept busy 

 for some years to come. 



The Butters Salt & Lumber Co. has secured 

 sufficient timber in the region for a run of five 

 years more. It is quite probable that other tim- 

 ber lands will be obtained from the northern 

 part of the state to insure a run of several years 

 more. 



The Cartier Lumber Co. has stumpage enough 

 on hand now to insure the mill's running for six 

 years at a conservative figure. New stumpage will 

 be secured and it is not unreasonable to sup- 

 pose that the mill will be going for ten years. 

 The Stearns plant, which is the largest concern 

 of its kind in Ludington, has enough stumpage 

 actually purchased to keep the mill in operation 

 for fifteen years. A large portion of this tract 

 is in Kalkaska county, which has just been tapped 

 this winter. 



Mississippi's Novel Roads. 



In the gumbo country of the Mississippi 

 the road question is one of the great problems 

 the planter has to deal with. Better roads are 

 absolutely necessary. But how are they to be 

 made? 



There isn't any rock or gravel within many" 

 miles, either above or below the ground 

 nothing but clay and mud. The United States 

 Government has been conducting some experi- 

 ments which may solve the problem. 



Greatly revered by the pilgrims, it has a temple 

 erected in its honor. Through centuries it has 

 been respected and spared by all. During its 

 lifetime most of the world's history has been 

 made. It was already old when Christ brougiu 



His message to the world. 



UTILIZING DEAD PINE. 



The government has just concluded a series 

 of experiments in Idaho by which it has 

 j demonstrated that dead lodgepole pine, prop- 

 erly treated with creosote, forms excellent 

 material for .fence posts. Without the treat- 

 ment, the dead pine was too short lived but 

 after the creosote had been applied they will 



certain portions of the 



last twenty years. 



Tho ranchmen in 



state have been using cedar for fence posts, 

 that being the only suitable wood available. 

 Now that timber is utterly exhausted and the 

 question of fence posts has become a serious 

 one. As the supply of lodgepole pine is prac- 

 tically unlimited, the government's experiment 

 is one of great practical benefit. 



Dead lo-lge^cle pine is snsily available a = 

 much of it has been killed by fire and other 

 agencies. The dead wood, after the simple 

 creosote treatment, is as good as the cedar. 



This experiment is of considerable interest 



- for its stock. The mills of Kneeland-Bigelow rree ( ThVh"no"w"harth^^^^ (if T f ^ E^L!? covered with cord wood of a kind 



. and Kneeland, Buell & Bigelow Co. received | oklest in the world is the th of that br * mch I lu- wood is overlaid with a 



*n f\nn i\r\n ~i ~r i iu:_ :_ i tew inches ot clay which is to be had in abun- 



dance upon all sides. Little flues are left 

 through the clay and then the fuel is set on 

 fire. 



When it has burned out the clay has hard- 

 ened into one great brick as wide as the road 



and as long as may be. This brick is not hard, 

 but it will wear off slowly and will not get 

 muddy. A mile of such road can be built for 

 about $1,400. 



Henrietta township, Jackson county, is so 

 well satisfied with the result of the construc- 

 tion last year of one mile of state reward road 

 that it will build another mile this year. It 

 will be an extension of the road built last year. 

 Deputy _State Highway Commissioner Rogers 

 says it is the best piece of road in Michigan 

 that has been built under the new road law; 

 that it had stood the winter the best of any he 

 had seen, and there is not a rut to be found in 

 it. Mr. Rogers complimented Highway Com- 

 missioner Leeke and the Township of Hen- 

 rietta for the handsome showing made. The 

 township will also build a mile of state reward 

 road extending one mile from Munith west to 

 Atwood's Corners. 



Jackson will do $120,000 worth of paving this 



year. 



