THE STATE REVIEW. 



work develops to a million or two million a 

 year if necessary to secure such grand results. 



Mr. Hubbell declared that if this system of 

 reforestation was pursued the value of lands 

 in Michigan would increase one-third, the 

 water supply would be conserved, the climate 

 ameliorated and a fuel and timber supply 

 would be furnished forever. It is the hope of 

 the Forestry Association to have a definite 

 forestry policy incorporated in the new state 

 constitution. In closing he said: 



"I have said that private individuals cannot 

 engage in reforestation with profit m dollars, 

 but is the dollar view the only one that can 

 move us to act in this matter? Are we so 

 selfish that we are willing to live and make 

 just as many dollars as possible and not care 

 what the effect is upon others or the state? 

 Do we want it to go on record that the state 

 of Michigan is poorer and worse off for our 

 having lived and done business in it, or that 

 we had a grand opportunity to assist in con- 

 ferring great and lasting benefit upon our 

 state and future people and neglected to act? 



"Xo man lives upon himself. One genera- 

 tion profits by the institutions founded by a 

 predecessor. \Ve are enjoying the results of 

 the lives of wise and unselfish forefathers, and 

 \ve owe a duty to our state and the coming 

 generations in this matter of growing trees. 

 If you agree with me, lend a hand." 



FOREST FIRE DAMAGE. 



According to the annual report of State Fire 

 Warden H. H. Ryerse, of Allenville, Mackinac 

 county, forest fires in Michigan during the past 

 season destroyed timber and other property of 

 the estimated value of $460,482. There were 368 

 separate and distinct fires of which report was 

 made to him, and of these 48 occurred in Mar- 

 iquette county, the greatest number in any county 

 in the state. Mackinac had 32, Emmet 31, Meno- 

 minee 26, Ontonagon 24, Schoolcraft 22, and 

 'Cheboygan 19. There was expended by the de- 

 partment in fighting fires the sum of $2,330, and 

 in addition $687 was expended in posting notice-;. 

 The greatest havoc was done in Luce county, 

 where there were nine forest fires which caused 

 a loss of $101,380. The value of the property de- 

 stroyed in Presque Isle county, where 12 fires 

 occurred, was $75.575: in Menominee, $69,700; in 

 Delta, with 15 fires, $59.640; in Dickinson, with 

 four fires, $50,000; in Marquette, $42,0755; in 

 Mackinac, $19.265 ; in Emmet, $12,275, and in 

 tnOonagon, $10,995. The remainder of the loss 

 $19,477 was sustained in Antrim, Alger, Alcona, 

 Alpena, Baraga, Benzie, Charltvoix, Cheboygan, 

 Chippewa, Gogebic. losco, Iron, Kalkaska, Kewee- 

 naw, Leelanau, Manistee. Missaukee, Montmor- 

 ency, Oscoda, Ogemaw, Roscornmon, Otsego and 

 Wexford counties. 



A scrutiny of the estimated losses leads to the 

 conclusion that the return's made to the state 

 warden have been very conservative. The value 

 of the property wiped out in Chippewa county is 

 given as $2,805, when in the Trout Lake district 

 alone forest fires raged for several weeks at a 

 stretch and on more than one occasion threatened 

 small towns and settlements. No losses are re- 

 corded for Houghton county, which had a num- 

 ber of destructive fires during the summer, and 

 the damage in Iron county, given as $1.525, 

 appears much too low. The same may be said of 

 the destruction in Algcr, recorded at only $3,'! r . 

 when a considerable greater loss is said to have 

 been occasioned by one fire alone this in the 

 vicinity of Grand Marais. The estimate for 

 Gogebic $300 likewise appears very conserva- 

 tive, and the loss of but $1,410 in Schoolcraft 

 is certainly not too high. 



extensive lumbering and used the lake as the only 

 means of transportation. In those days the com- I 

 panics hauled the logs to the lake shore, collected 

 them in rafts and had them towed to the points 

 nearest the mines, from which points they were 

 transported by teams in the early days and later 

 by train. The greatest profit to the tugmen was 

 found in the logs which broke loose from the ' 

 rafts and were picked up along the shore by the 

 tugmen, who were paid salvage for bringing them 

 in. This added greatly to the first cost of the 

 logs, and the mining companies, which are, of 

 course, the greatest users of timber in this sec- 

 tion, began transporting logs exclusively by rail, 

 which is more expensive than towing except that 

 there is no loss, no danger of destructive storms. 

 The tugmen regret that this business has been 

 taken from them, but they know that the mining 

 companies have had to adopt the all-rail plan as a 

 measure of self-protection. 



CULTIVATES ITS LANDS. 



The New York farm, owned by the Menominee 

 River Lumber Company, is located two miles 

 south of Vulcan, on the state road, Dickinson 

 county, and consists of 700 acres of land with 500 

 acres under cultivation. The buildings on the 

 farm are so arranged that they resemble :i sn.'ll 

 village. There is a large farm house with ac- 

 commodations to fifty men, besides the guest 

 room, the apartments for the superintendent and 

 family. There are also three cottsges, wh'ch are 

 used by some of the fdrm hands wb ) have fam- 

 ilies. Of the other buildings there are two horse 

 barns, two cow barns, two hay barns, a toolhouse, 

 blacksmith shop, pump house, two water tanks, 

 two silos, a creamery and a large roothouse. For 

 fire protection there is a system of water pipes 

 with fifteen hydrants. Formerly the farm was 

 used for dairy purpose and from 100 to :50 

 milch cows were kept, but the company decided 

 to discontinue the dairy business and the cows 

 were all sold except what were needed on the 

 farm. 



DECLINE OF LOG RAFTING. 



The season for rafting logs through Portage 

 lake and the adjacent waters is at an end, ac- 

 cording to -a Houghton tug captain. This an- 

 nouncement is of little importance now as com- 

 pared with a few years ago. In fact,_ the log 

 towing business through Portage lake is prL -ti- 

 cally a thing of the past. 



Time was when it was a most profitable busi- 

 ness for tugmen, when the mining companies did 



MUST USE OTHER WOODS. 



W. B. Mershon, of Mershon, Schuctte, Parker 

 & Co., more familiarly known as the "Big Four," 

 .ays that the box trade in the Saginaw valley 

 is in a strong position. "There are more box 

 orders going around seeking box manufacturers 

 than ever has been known before," he says. 

 "Cheap woods have gone out of existence in so 

 many localities that a general readjustment of 

 the sources of supply, methods of manufacture 1 

 and kinds of lumber has been necesasry and a 

 good many box users find that their old source 

 of supply is gone and they do not know where 

 to duplicate it. Thinner and coarser boxes are 

 being used and something besides white pine is 

 going to be the box wood of the country. Indi- 

 cations point towards gum as b?ing the cheapest 

 wood and in the largest quantity and the most 

 available for the purpose. Box prices have ad- 

 vanced similarly with the advance in raw ma- 

 terial. The box manufacturer, however, has not 

 realized that he is using a good deal more money 

 in his business than formerly and the old way of 

 way of adding 50 cents to $1 per thousand is not 

 nearly as good a rule to go by as that used by 

 the clothing dealer who adds a percentage. Ten 

 per cent when the lumber was $10 per thousand 

 or $1 per thousand profit on $10 lumber were one 

 and the same thing. To-day lumber is $20 per 

 thousand and it takes twice as much money to 

 do business with and therefore 10 per cent 

 means $2 per thousand. This is something that 

 the box maker and the retail lumberman might 

 wisely figure over." 



CULTIVATES ITS LANDS. 



The New York farm, owned by the Menom- 

 inee River Lumber Company, is located two 

 miles south of V'llcan on the state road, Dick- 

 inson county, and consists of 7oo acres of land 

 with 5oo acres under cultivation. The build- 

 ings on the farm are so arranged that they 

 resemble a small village. There is a large 

 farm house with accommodations for fifty 

 men, besides the guest room, the apartments 



for the superintendent and family. There are 

 also three cottages, which arc used by some 

 of the farm hands who have families. Of the 

 other buildings there are two horse barns, two 

 cow barns, two hay barns, a toolhouse, black- 

 smith shop, pump house, two water tanks, two 

 silos, a creamery -and a large roothouse. For 

 fire protection there is a system of water pipes 

 with fifteen hydrants. Formerly the farm was 

 used for dairy purpose and from loo to 15o 

 milch cows were kept, but the company de- 

 cided to discontinue the dairy business and 

 the cows were all sold except what were 

 needed on the farm. 



i 

 SAGINAW MILLS OUTPUT. 



E. D. Cowles, lumber statistician of the Sagi- 

 naw valley, says: 



"I came to Bay City in 1809, and the first 

 distinctive lumber reporting I did was to write 

 up the big industry of H. W. Sage & Co. In 

 1873, I removed to Saginaw, and almost the 

 first lumberman I became acquainted with was 

 the late A. H. Mershon. At that time he was 

 inspector-general. Mr. Mershon was possessed 

 of a vast fund of information. He was, per- 

 haps, the first man in the Saginaw valley to 

 forsee the vast possibilities in manipulating 

 lumber in factories and handling it by rail, and 

 his predictions at that time long since became 

 lecting lumber information. 



"In 1873, lumber was lumber, and there 

 wasn't so much money in it as now. Mill culls 

 could not be given to a mill owner for his saw 

 bill, and for years they sold at $2.50 to $6.00 per 

 M. A Bay City mill man, who is operating in 

 Canada, told me the other day he sold mill 

 culls that would cost $19 per M. in the yards in 

 the valley at this time. And the mill cull of '73 

 would not recognize the vintage of the twen- 

 tieth century if met face to face on the street. 

 And so it is with other grades. 



"But, with the evolution of the trade, the 

 white pine of Michigan has disappeared. Here 

 and there a stricken few remain, but how un- 

 like their majestic brethren of by-gone days. 

 The monarchs of the dark woods have been 

 swept away, reminding us how futile they 

 were when the axe and saw of the lumberman 

 were upon their necks. And, alas, many of 

 the pioneer lumbermen have gone. The men 

 who marked the impress of their personality, 

 their indefatigable industry upon the Saginaw 

 valley, have laid down their burdens of the 

 years, but they left those to come after them 

 who are well and nobly fulfilling their tasks. 



"But conditions have also changed, and hem- 

 lock and hardwood have a call to a large, extent 

 here. It is not so long ago that a lumberman 

 despised hemlock, and did not think it was fit 

 to associate with pine, but I note ,that even L. 

 C. Slade, who was brought up as an orthodox 

 pine man, has backslid and now handles hem- 

 lock. 



"What a lot of lumber has been produced. 

 From the statistics in my possession it is 

 shown that from 1851 to 1905 inclusive, there 

 has been manufactured by the saw mills on 

 the Saginaw river the enormous total of 4,241,- 

 362,262 feet of lumber, figures that almost put 

 calculations astray." 



MARQUETTE FORGING AHEAD. 



Fully 80 dwelling houses have been built in 

 Marquette during the past two years, and yet 

 flic demand for residences shows no sign of fall- 

 ing off. 



Not only in the residence .portion of the city is 

 Marquette forging rapidly ahead, but the down- 

 town business portion is also greatly improved, 

 and the city will next season experience the great- 

 est building boom of the past decade. The boom 

 will not be confined wholly to the erection of 

 dwellings, but at least three business blocks will 

 be constructed, each of them a credit to a city 

 which can boast, as Marquette justly can, of many 

 fine building blocks. 



Marquette's growth is of enduring character, 

 with none of the mushroom characteristics. 



