MICHKiAX ROADS AND FORESTS. 



THE PASSING OF 



A HISTORIC DRIVE 



For the first time since the spring of 1848 

 "the drive" will not come down Muskegon 

 River this spring, says the Muskegon News. 

 The forests which once existed along the river 

 and its tributaries have been wiped out by the 

 woodsman's ax, and there are no logs left to 

 drive, save a few dead heads, which will be 

 brought down this spring. 



The few remaining saw mills around Mus- 

 kegon this year will receive their logs by car* 

 instead of in the old way and the coupling 

 grounds at the head of Muskegon Lake will be 

 deserted and lonely where in former years the 

 shouts and songs of the river drivers mingled 

 with the nervous chug chug of the laboring 

 tug boats, slowly trailing great snakey tows 

 of logs out into the lake to the different mills. 



The story of "the drive" immortalized in a 

 classic poem by Douglas Malloch, "the lum- 

 berman poet," formerly of Muskegon, is more 

 romantic, more interesting, more vital than 

 any history of the cattle business of the west 

 could possibly be. It typifies the making of 

 Muskegon, and the children of the men who, 

 hardy and bold, rode the logs and risked their 

 lives in the jams, brought the city through the 

 crises after the lumber business had declined 

 and 'today are making it one of the greatest 

 municipalities on the east shore of Lake Mich- 

 igan. 



The first drive brought down the river by a 

 regularly organized company was in the year 

 of 1852 when an organization known as the 

 Log and Mill Owners Association was formed. 



Previous to this time there was no system 

 to the rafting of the logs to Muskegon Lake. 

 All of the timber was then cut this side of 

 Big Rapids and each mill owner got his timber 

 down "the river as best he might. 



The executive staff of the association con- 

 sisted of three men, Major Chauncey Davis, 

 Robert W. Morris and John Ruddiman. This 

 company continued doing business until 1855 

 when an act was passed by the legislature 

 authorizing the incorporation of companies for 

 the driving, rafting and booming of logs. Un- 

 der this law, what was known as the Lumber- 

 man's Association was formed. Alva Trow- 

 bridge was elected president of this body. The 

 association was not a financial success, how- 

 ever, although it did much toward developing 

 the lumber industry here. It continued to 

 operate, until 1864 when it was succeeded by 

 the Muskegon Booming Company. This o.- 

 ganization was incorporated in 1864 with a 

 capital of $40,000 which was later increased to 

 $200,000. Major Davis was president, C. D 

 Nelson, secretary, and J. H. Hackley, treasurer 

 Among the men on the board of directors 

 were S. A. Brown, C. D. Nelson, Martin Ryer- 

 son, R. P. Easton, and Lyman G. Mason. This 

 company did business continuously until 1896 

 when the Log Owners Booming Company 

 which brought the last drive down last spring 

 took hold. 



The old Muskegon Booming Company car- 

 ried on the business of rafting the logs down 

 the river through the height of the lumbering 

 industry in Muskegon. When Muskegon was 

 "The Queen Lumber City of the World," the 

 men at the head of the company directed the 

 handling of a proposition so gigantic that it 

 astonished the middle west. Everything they 

 did was in the nature of an experiment. Noth- 

 ing like it had ever been done before. The 

 river was straightened, the shallows deepened 

 and the crumbling banks strengthened by piles 

 and the forces of nature made to conform to 

 the desires of man. Where a few years be- 

 fore nothing but the bits of floating drift wood 

 or the Indian's dug-out canoe disturbed the 

 waters of the swiftly flowing stream now a 

 ceaseless stream of fallen forest giants jostled 

 each other as they hurried down to the lake. 



While the company was on the top wave of 

 its prosperity the end began. While the saws 

 in dozens of mills were tearing through mil- 



lions of logs the woodsmen went farther and 

 farther up the river for the timber, leaving a 

 trail of stumps in which were thousand. of 

 feet of lumber that should have been used. 

 The waste was enormous. Boundless and 

 seemingly inexhaustable as the supply of tim- 

 ber was it could not stand against the ruthless 

 hand of the woodsmen and slowly it began to 

 yield. The lumbermen did not take warning 

 and continued their wasteful methods. After 

 the drives had readied the maximum of about 

 700,000.000 feet, which was in the early '80s, 

 the decline began and continued not so rapidly 

 as might be expected until now when nothing 

 but a few sorry deadheads, "shaky" timber that 

 will float, will be picked up and brought down 

 to the lake, a sad little procession where once 

 millions of giants logs hurried along in a noble 

 stream to the log carriages and the saws. 



What perhaps more than anything else made 

 Muskegon River one of the greatest timber 

 bearing arteries of the American continent. 

 was the appropriation by the legislature of 

 $50,000 for the improvement of Muskegon 

 River. The money was used in the cutting of 

 a channel through the "flats," the marshy 

 place at the head of Muskegon Lake. The 

 river which oozed out into Muskegon Lake 

 through the marsh was confined to a single 

 deep channel and the coupling grounds was 

 reached ard the link which bound Muskegon 

 to one of the richest timber countries in the 

 world was complete. The work was started 

 in 1858 and completed in a year, a remarkable 

 performance considering the facilities of the 

 contractors. 



Since 1901 the record of logs handled by the 

 Log Owners Booming company is as follows, 

 showing the rapid decline in recent years: 



]901 28,612,327 



1903 18,122,600 



903 16,371,617 



1904 16,303,057 



]9 03 17,311.517 



1906 7,i.o:.>. 13:; 



That the drive was possible was due to the 

 business acumen of the hardy pioneers who 

 first cast their lot here and who were willing 

 in those days of small fortunes to risk their all 

 in an enterprise so vast that man could not 

 see the end and the other men who with roth- 

 ing but their hands and the hope and courage 

 ir their hearts took nature's wealth and turned 

 it into commercial value. And in the hearts 

 of everyone who has watched the growth of 

 Muskegon from a little lumbering city to one 

 of the most hustling manufacturing localities 

 in western Michigan there is genuine sorrow 

 and regret at the passing of the drive 



TIMBER CONSUMPTION 



Timber consumption in the United States now 

 amounts to about 400 feet board measure per 

 capita, while in Europe the average is but 60 

 feet. The best managed German forest grows 

 on an average about 50 cubic feet of wood per 

 acre annually. If American forests grew as well, 

 which they do not, they would barely furnish by 

 their annual growth the amount of wood now 

 used. 



These figures were given by Mr. R. S. Kel- 

 logg, of the United States forest service, in a 

 recent paper before the Western Society of En- 

 gineers, which was presented for the purpose of 

 calling attention to the necessity of economy in 

 the use of timber. Mr. Kellogg pointed out that 

 in Europe the amount of timber required for 

 many structures is very much less than it is in 

 the United States, masonry of one form or an- 

 other generally taking its place. In his opinion 

 the time will come very soon in this country, 

 when the relative cost of masonry and wood will 

 be much different from what it is now and in 

 consequence the use of timber will be restricted 

 far below the limit of the present time. He is 

 of opinion that methods of preserving timber 

 will be employed far more extensively than today 

 for many purposes where untreated wood is now 

 used. 



PROPERTY VALUES OF NEW MEXICO 

 AND NEVADA. 



A census report just issued gives the esti- 

 mated true value of the property in New 

 Mexico in the years 1900 and 1904 as follows: 



1904 $332,262,650 



268,285,425 



Increase in four years ........... $ 63,977,225 



The state of Nevada has a larger property 

 value than is commonly realized, even in these 

 days of revived Nevada mining excitement and 

 railroad building and projection. A census, 

 bulletin just out gives us the data of the esti- 

 mated true value of the property in Nevada 

 in the years 1904 and 1900. The figures follow: 

 1904 ............................. $220,734,507 



............................. 190,626,987 



Increase in four years ........... $ 30,107,320 



NEW MEXICO. 



Name of Reserve.. Acres. 



Gila . . .............................. 2,823,900 



Jemez .............................. 1,460,645 



Lincoln ............................. 545,25ft 



Manzano ............................ 45!).T:.'r> 



Pecos River .......................... 430,880 



San Mateo ........................... 424,663 



Taos ............................... 233,209 



Peloncillo ........................... 178,977 



Portales ............................ 172,680 



Magdalena .......................... 146,240 



Mount Taylor ........................ 110,525 



Gallinas ............................. 38,212 



Total New Mexico reserves, acres. .7,024,504 



The timber sold from the reserves during; 

 the year realized $3,761 and consisted of: 



Feet, board measure 1,024,356- 



Cords 8,321 



Linear feet 38,921 



Posts and poles 7,11 



As in Arizona, the timber was mostly sold 

 in small lots to mines and mills. 



At the request of the secretary of war an 

 examination was made of the timber on the 

 Fort Wingate military reservation in New 

 Mexico. The examination showed the 

 amount of merchantable timber, chiefly west- 

 ern yellow pine on the reservation, and the 

 amount which should be cut, and recommend- 

 ed rules for the sale and logging of the ma- 

 ture and overmature timber on more than 23,- 

 000 acres. That immense amount of timber 

 may come in handy in Los Angeles eventually. 

 It is practically a reserve for the future. 



Speaking of the Gila reserve, the United 

 States Forester says: "The' half acre of seed 

 beds sown in July, 1905, produced about 385,- 

 000 seedlings, 300,000 of which were trans- 

 planted to nursery rows. The beds were re- 

 sown this spring with fifteen species, to give a 

 thorough test of native trees and of southern 

 California conifers." 



For Arizona and New Mexico, as well as 

 for California and other states, our well di- 

 rected and active forest service is doing good 

 work. 



The Kingdom of Wurtcmberg, in a consid- 

 erable part, consists of the same sort of soil 

 that our Michigan waste lands consist of. In 

 this particular kingdom they have 487,000 acres- 

 in forest culture. The profits in the last fiscal 

 year amounted to $2,450,000. What can be clone 

 there, can be done here. If they made a profit 

 of approximately two and a half million 

 on 500,000 acres, we could make twelve times 

 as much with twelve times as many acres. To- 

 accomplish such results it is only necessary for 

 us to abandon our present policy and adopt 

 one which agrees reasonably with our present 

 and future needs. 



As the problem of reforesting has long been 

 solved in the older European countries, it is 

 unnecessary for us in this country or state to 

 make time-robbing and costly experiments. 

 All that is necessary is for us to study and 

 follow the methods now used in. Europe and 

 success is assured. 



