MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



13 



THERE 15 NEED 



FOR REFORESTATION 



Every person in the United States is using 

 six times as much wood as be would use if lie 

 were in Europe. The country as a whole con- 

 sume? every year between three and four times 

 more wood than all of the forests of' the Unitec 

 States grow in the meantime. The average 

 acre of forest lays up a store of only 10 cubic, 

 feet annually, whereas it ought to be laying up 

 at least 3Q cubic feet in order to furnish the 

 products taken out of it. Since 1880 more than 

 700,000,000.000 leet of timber have been cut for 

 lumber alone, including 80,000,000,000 feet of 

 coni''T'<:is timber in excess of the total conii 

 erotis stumpage estimate of the census in 1880. 

 These arc sonic ol the remarkable statements 

 made in Circular 97 of the Forest Service, 

 which deals with the timber supply of the 

 United States and reviews the stmnpage esti- 

 mates made by all the important authorities. 

 A study of the circular must lead directly to 

 the conclusion that the rate at which forest 

 products in' the United States have been and 

 are being consumed is far too lavish, and that 

 only one result can follow unless steps are 

 promptly taken to prevent waste in use and to 

 increase the growth rate of every acre of for- 

 est in the United States. The result is a tim- 

 ber famine. The country is today in the same 

 position with regard to forest resources as was 

 Germany 150 years ago. During this period of 

 150 years such German states as Saxony and 

 Prussia, particularly the latter, have applied a 

 policy of government control and regulation 

 which has immensely increased the productiv- 

 ity of their forests. The same policy will 

 achieve even better results in the United States, 

 because we have the advantage of all the les- 

 sons which Europe has learned and paid for in 

 the course of a century of theory and practice. 

 Lest it might be assumed that the rapid and 

 gaining depletion of American forest resources 

 is sufficiently accounted for by the increase of 

 population, it is pointed out in the circular that 

 the increase in population since 1880 is barely 

 more than half the increase in lumber cut in 

 the same period. Two areas supplying timber 

 have already reached and passed their maxi- 

 mum production the Northeastern States in 

 1870 and the Lake States in 1890. Today the 

 Southern States, which cut yellow pine amount- 

 ing to one-third the total annual lumber cut 

 of the country, are undoubtedly near their max- 

 imum. The Pacific States will soon take the 

 ascendency. The State of Washington within 

 a few years has come to the front and now 

 ranks first of all individual states in volume of 

 cut. 



At present but one-fifth of the total forest 

 area of the United States is embraced in na- 

 tional forests. The remaining four-fifths have 

 already passed or are most likely to pass into 

 private hands. The average age of the trees 

 felled for lumber this year is not less than 150 

 years. In other words, if he is to secure a 

 second crop of trees of the same size, the lum- 

 berman or private forest owner must wait, say, 

 at least one hundred years for the second crop 

 to grow. As a rule, such long-time invest- 

 ments as this waiting would involve do not 

 commend themselves to business men who are 

 accustomed to quick returns. But the states 

 and the nation can look much farther, ahead. 

 The larger, then, the area of national and state 

 control over woodlands, the greater the likeli- 

 hood that the forests of the country will be 

 kept permanently productive. 



Affects Water Supply. 



Two reports have just been issued 1>y the 

 United States geological survey on flowing 

 wells and municipal water supplies in the 

 lower peninsula of Michigan. The work has 

 been performed under the direction of Prof. 

 Frank Leverett, of the University of Michi- 

 gan, assisted by various other prominent in- 

 * vestigators. 



Although the number of flowing well dis- 



tricts greatly exceeds 300, the wells already in 

 operation have been put to comparatively 

 little use. and there seems to be a general 

 lack of appreciation of the application that 

 can be made of these fountains. 



An important statement is made concerning 

 the water supply in the lower Huron river 

 region. With the exception of the narrow belt 

 along the border of Detroit river, where the 

 supply .is largely governed by the hight of the 

 river, the loss of supply has everywhere in 

 this region been felt, especially in the Swan 

 creek and Rockwood regions, where the short- 

 age has been excessive. A large proportion 

 of the wells have failed, entailing much loss 

 and inconvenience. 



It appears that the recent observations made 

 do not mark the beginning" of the decline of 

 water supply, but rather its culmination. The 

 shrinkage has been in progress for many 

 years. The opening of new wells has been 

 found to affect the flow of others in the neigh- 

 borhood, and the area over which artesian 

 wells could formerly be secured has been 

 found to be constantly contracting. Not only 

 have the artesian wells ceased to flow, but the 

 water in the non-flowing wells is lower than 

 formerly. The general decline is probably due 

 to gradual and far-reaching change of con- 

 dition, such as deforesting of the land and 

 improvement of surface drainage, etc. 



The reports contain detailed statements of 

 the conditions governing the ' occurrence of 

 ground water in the counties of the lower pen- 

 insula, and the facts are set forth in such a 

 way that the resident of any county or dis- 

 trict can determine whether or not ground 

 water is available beneath the property in 

 which he is particularly interested, and how 

 far it will be necessary for him to sink wells 

 in order to secure water. 



According to the Department of the Interioi 

 of the United States, Gladwin county, Mich., 

 is traversed nearly centrally from southwest to 

 northeast by the shore line which marked the 

 upper limits of the Glacial Lake Saginaw. 

 There is a rapid rise from about 800 feet at the 

 shore line to 1,100 feet or more in the north- 

 west corner of the county. East from the 

 shore line is a gradual descent to Tittabawas- 

 see river, followed by a slight rise to a water- 

 laid moraine that lies east of the river. 



Flowing wells have been obtained at several 

 places along or near the old lake shore, and 

 there is a possibility of much more extensive 

 development not only in the vicinity of this 

 shore line but in valleys and lowlands between 

 morainic ridges to the west. Flows may per- 

 haps be obtained along Tittabawassee river, 

 but that portion of the county is still largely 

 unsettled. 



The catchment areas which supply the flow- 

 ing wells are to be found, in all probability, in 

 other well was sunk to the depth of only 165 

 feet. The first well flows about 100 gallons a 

 minute. 



Recently a flowing well was struck on the 

 Cann farm in Butman, Gladwin county, on the 

 Little Sugar. A 3-inch stream was thrown 21 

 :eet high. The well discharges enough water 

 to supply a small sized city. 



the more elevated country west and north of 

 the wells, as in the neighboring larger flowing- 

 well district in Isabella county, of which this 

 chain of flowing-well districts may be regarded 

 as the continuation. 



This includes not only flowing wells in Glad- 

 win, but scattered flows to the south, between 

 Gladwin and Beaverton, and a flow at the 

 county infirmary north of Gladwin. The strip 

 s nearly ten miles long and along or near 

 X'orth Cedar river. The flow in Gladwin and 

 at the infirmary are in the valley, but some of 

 those south are on the bordering lake plain, 

 not far below the old shore. 



At the Gladwin water works, in the west part 



f the village, on ground about 15 feet lower 



than the railroad station, or 764 feet above tide, 



are two wells which flow with a head about 25 



r eet above the surface. One well was sunk to 



a depth of 465 feet, but found a bitter water 

 in the lower part, so that it is shut out and the 

 supply is obtained from 160 to 180 feet, in rock 

 which immediately underlies the drift. 



The forestry statistics of Germany provide 

 plenty of food for reflection on the part of the 

 people of Michigan. About 44 per cent of the 

 total forest area of that country figures in the 

 latest statistics. Altogether the area, cut, and 

 financial result of 15,600,000 acres of .managed 

 forest land are reported,, of which 10,800,000 

 acres are state land. The wood production 

 per acre was between 13.9 cubic feet in the 

 Hanover communal forests (12,000 acres), and 

 111.5 cubic feet in the state forests (only 

 16,000 acres) of Saxe-Altenburg. This leaves 

 out the unusual cut in several cases, where 

 windfall and insects had disturbed the usual 

 rate. On large areas, over 50,000 acres, the 

 cut is usually above 40 and below 100 cubic 

 feet. In the larger state administrations Wur- 

 temburg and Baden lead with 94 cubic feet. 

 In the communal forests, Baden, where state 

 management exists, stands first with 103 cubic 

 feet, to be sure on only a 10,000-acre area. 

 To all appearances the private owners do not 

 cut much more than the State administrations. 

 The per cent of sawed timber varies in still 

 greater range, namely, between 19 and 84 per 

 cent, but usually it lies between 45 and 65 to 

 70 per cent for the larger administrations. The 

 handsome revenue of over $45,000,000, or near- 

 ly $3.50 per acre, results from these woodlands. 

 The state forests average a little less than 

 $2.40, but the best of the larger ones, Wurtem- 

 burg nets $5.90, Bavaria only $2.50. The 560,- 

 000 acres of crown forest and 445,009 acres of 

 private forest bring less than $3.00, while the 

 91,000 acres of municipal forest earn $5.50. 



The forest service of the United States have 

 compiled very complete statistics of the quan- 

 tity and value of pulpwoocl used in that coun- 

 try in the year 1905. The total quantity was 

 3,192,223 cords, made up as follows Spruce, 

 1,650,709 cords; poplar, 222,058 cords; hemlock, 

 375,422 cords; pine, 57,399 cords; balsam, 56,- 

 744 cords; cottonwood, 10,507 cords; all other 

 cords were used in making mechanical pulp, 

 woods, 96,739 cords. Spruce comprised 71.2 

 per cent of the total. 



Of the total amount of wood used, 1,096,794 

 1,630,396 cords in making sulphite pulp, and 

 464,936 cords in making soda fibre. 



In the last six years the pulpwood imports 

 from Canada increased about 75 per cent. Im- 

 portations of spruce alone increased 83 per 

 cent. In 1905 the imports from Canada were 

 622,545 cords of spruce and 22,883 cords of 

 poplar. 



The average price per cord ranged from 

 $3.83 in the state of Minnesota to $6.26 in 

 New York, the average being $5.01. 



The reports as to the estimated length, of 

 the timber supply ranged from 13 years in the 

 state of Wisconsin to 28 years in New Hamp- 

 shire, the average being 21 years. 



CUTOVER LANDS VALUABLE. 



Cut-over timber lands are being eagerly 

 sought for in these, days, especially where the 

 lands abandoned by the lumbermen contain 

 any kind oftimber. At the recent tax sale in 

 Ontonago'n county there were more than 1,000 

 descriptions offered for sale. Practically every 

 one of them was snapped up, the sale lasting 

 only two or three hours. In many cases for- 

 mer owners paid up the back taxes and re- 

 deemed their lands. 



Ross & Wentworth, of Bay City, have just sold 

 heir interest in 10,000,000 feet of mixed standing 

 timber located in Ogemaw county to S. L. East- 

 man, of Saginaw. It consists of hemlock, maple, 

 beech and other hardwoods and is a fine piece of 

 timber. Mr. Eastman will put a portable band 

 mill on the timber and convert into Krnbcr. The 

 manufactured product will then be brought out 

 by rail. 



