(VTOM the Forest Service, U. S. Ttepfti'tnent of Agr icultur e. ) 



:.LU:Y us:-:~- ?oi-; 



3IRCH ARE RECORDED 



7rom furnishing material for a canoe in v/hich to hunt 

 whales so roe hundred odd years ago to supplying New England factor- 

 ies of today with 11,000 cords of wood annually for shoe pegs and 

 shanks is, according to the department of agriculture, only part 

 of the services the birch tree has rendered and is rendering the 

 people of America. 



Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the department tells us in a 

 bulletin just issued on the uses of birch, hunted whale E in a 

 birch bark canoe. The animals were found at the mouth of the 

 Mackenzie River. He failed to strike the game, and concluded 

 that it was probably for the best. TVhile the canoes are frail, 

 it is pointed out that the bark of v/hich ,they are made resists 

 decay longer than any other part of the tree* 



It would be difficult, the department goes on to say, 

 to estimate the value of the service of the birch bark canoe in 

 the discovery, exploration, development, and settlement of the 

 northern part of this continent. ITrora the Arctic Circle to the 

 Great Lakes , and southward, for a century and a half, that light 

 but exceedingly strong and serviceable vessel threaded the lakes 

 and rivers, bearing trade and carrying civilization where no other 

 boat could go. The French explorers and missionaries made journeys 

 of hundreds of miles in these canoes, often carrying cargoes which 



would see-m bevonrt the Ct,pa<vi ty of such frail vestals. 



66 1? 



