MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



PASSING OF THE 



LUHBER INDUSTRY 



The last chapter in the book that would 

 record the passing of the Muskegon valley 

 lumber industry has been written a few miles 

 north of Muskegon in the cutting down of the 

 big lumber tract known as the "the Beech- 

 woods." It is the last big tract of timber 

 in that section of Michigan. Here where the 

 giants of the forest held supreme for years 

 until the busy lumberjacks cut them low there 

 is nothing now but second growth trees, 

 dwarfs in size, and barren stumps to mark 

 the acres and acres of forests that made Mus- 

 kegon known the world over as the greatest 

 lumbering mart that has ever been known. 



1-t was sawlogs that gave Muskegon the 

 nickname of the "Sawdust City." Now the 

 sawdust days have. gone. There are only two 

 mills and there has been for the last fifteen 

 years a transition period in the city's history, 

 a drifting from the lumber industry to some- 

 thing more stable and substantial, for instance 

 to the woodworking industry and other lines 

 of commerce. With the felling of the trees 

 the timber industry died out there. 



Many other Michigan cities testify to the 

 same periods in their commercial existence. 

 Many others have felt the pangs of hard times 

 a few years after the timber was gone and 

 the merry hum of the sawmill was no more. 

 It took years for Michigan -cities to recover, 

 hut Muskegon as a sample has recovered in 

 grand shape and its innumerable industries 

 today are a fine testimonial to the statement. 



The Beechwoods was for years the last big 

 tract of timber in that section of Michigan. 

 Its acres contained the same big giants that 

 once lined the Muskegon river for miles and 

 miles. For years C. E. and M. E. Covell, of 

 Whitehall, Muskegon county, did not touch 

 the forest of oak, pine and beech because lum- 

 how western Michigan looked forty years ago. 



The forest was used as picnic grounds. It 

 was a pleasure to roam among the giant trees 

 of the Beechwoods. But last winter C. L. 

 Houseman, of Muskegon, a lumberman, 

 bought the tract and began cutting the fine 

 specimens of timber. Camps were established, 

 roads were cut, hundreds of men were placed 

 at work, the sound of'the woodsmen's ax once 

 more rang clear through the air, the loud 

 shouts of the teamsters driving big-necked 

 horses to and from the camps once more fell 

 upon sympathetic ears and three times a day 

 the well-known cook's bell sounded through 

 the woods. Lumber was once more king. 



What a contrast. Not fiftten miles away 

 busy Muskegon, that had thrown off the man- 

 tle of its reputation gained from the lumber 

 industry, was engaged in its new occupations. 

 The log camp generation was suceeded by 

 manufacturers, bankers and skilled artisans. 



Although the Beechwoods camp was a small 

 one compared to the big lumber camps that 

 once sheltered hondreds of lumber jacks the 

 forests was slushed into until 3,000,000 feet of 

 oak and pine was cut last winter and a few 

 hundred thousand feet of beech while here 

 and there a few oak and pine were left 

 standing. 



Instead of poling the logs 'into the Mus- 

 kegon river the logs were skidded as if old 

 and damped into Lake Michigan. They were 

 then rafted and towed down to the Muskegon 

 harbor channel and up Muskegon lake to the 

 F. Alberts & Sons' booms, where they will be 

 cut this season. Lumber jacks laughed at 

 rafting logs on Lake Michigan. That hasn't 

 happened many times. There was no log 

 jam on Lake Michigan coming down the few 

 miles and there was at all times enough water 

 to float the rafts. 



There were no contests between the lumber 

 jacks. The last big cut took many of the old 

 customs ^away. 



The few remaining oaks and pine and what 

 beech theer is in the Houseman tract or the 



Beechwoods is being cut now by the Nufer 

 Cedar company, of Whitehall, Mich., and will 

 be made into boxes. 



BUILDING INTO FORESTS. 



The report of the intention of the C.. M. & 

 St. P. railroad to invade the Norway and 

 Vulcan districts of the Menominee iron range 

 is receiving emphatic confirmation in the fact 

 that construction work is already under way. 

 The road is to be extended from Iron Moun- 

 tain to a connection with the Wisconsin & 

 Michigan line at Quinnesec. Grading is in 

 progress under the direction of John Marsch, 

 railroad builder, of Iron Mountain, who has 

 the contract. From Quinnesec to- Norway the 

 'C., M. & St. P. will use the tracks of the Wis- 

 consin & Michigan. Heretofore the C. & N. 

 W. has had a monopoly on the ore business 

 of the mines of the Steel Corporation and 

 Cambria Steel Company at Norway and Vul- 

 can. Now this traffic will be shared by the 

 C., M. & St. P. There is little doubt that 

 eventually, possibly by next season, the C., 

 M. & St. P. will have its own line to North 

 Escanaba, where its ore docks are located. At 

 present its traffic from both the Iron county 

 and Dickinson county iron properties is for- 

 warded from Channing Junction, north of 

 Iron Mountain, over the tracks of Senator 

 Isaac Stephenson Lumber Company's Esca- 

 naba & Lake Superior railroad. With a direct 

 line from Norway to Escanaba, the distance 

 would not only be cut nearly in half,, but 

 trains more than double the size those now 

 hauled would be handled with ease. The 

 C., M. & St. P. is at present preparing to ex- 

 tend its tracks to a number of new mines in 

 the Iron River district that promise to be- 

 come heavy producers. The company has been 

 decidedly aggressive on the Menominee iron 

 range the past two or three years, and it is 

 increasing its ore tonnage right along. Up 

 in Ontonagon county it is after a tremendously 

 big timber traffic. An important extension is 

 in progress there, running from the village of 

 Ontonagon, Lake Superior, to an unknown 

 destination. Presumably the goal is some 

 point on the Wisconsin Valley division, or 

 possibly it may be on the Gogebic iron range, 

 itself, but in any event the line will open the 

 greatest stretch of virgin timber on the south 

 shore of Lake Superior, a territory that will 

 furnish a big traffic in saw logs for many 

 years to come. 



is to be constructed near Denver the biggest 

 dam in the world. It will not be as long as 

 the Nile dam at Assouan, nor will it be as 

 high as some others, but it will excel all con- 

 structed or under construction in area pre- 

 sented to the water. It is intended to irri- 

 gate more than 100,000 acres of land. 



The dam will be known as the Standlcy 

 dam, taking its name from Joseph Standley, 

 a Denver banker and one of the earliest pro- 

 jectors of the enterprise. It will be built at 

 a point nine miles west of Denver, and will 

 confine the flow of five years. It will ha\ > 

 a length of a mile and a quarter, a height of 

 150 feet, and 5.000,000 cubic feet of material 

 will, be required for/its construction. Engi- 

 iu ers estimate that it will impound 10,000,000,- 

 000 cubic feet of water. 



The dam will be constructed at an estimated 

 cost of $4,000,000. The work is to be com- 

 pleted in three years. The financing of tile- 

 proposition has already been arranged through 

 the Chicago house of Trowbridge & Niver. 

 A bond issue large enough to warrant comple- 

 tion of the work has been authorized, and, 

 it is said, practically completed. 



The Denver Reservoir Irrigation Company 

 is the organization which will carry on the 

 work. The company was incorporated some- 

 time ago, and took over eight or ten irriga- 

 tion companies in the territory to be supplied 

 by the new dam. With these companies it 

 secured water rights on 200,000 acres of land. 

 A large area of land is owned outright. 



WEALTH IN CLAY BEDS. 



A field of wealth such as is seldom dis- 

 covered in the counties of lower Michigan has 

 been unearthed in Green township, Alpena 

 County, by W. T. Jones and J. C. Walker, of 

 Alpena, woh for the past two years have been 

 carrying on experiments which have satisfied 

 them and many others beyond any doubt that 

 the richest find in the history of Alpena county 

 has resulted. 



They control 1,800 acres of clay land, the 

 clay beds averaging 34 feet in depth. 



An expert in the brick and pottery busi- 

 ness, H. Wood, was secured from England to 

 carry on the test work. Kilns were erected in 

 Alpena, and Mr. Wood has been secretly carry- 

 ing on his investigations for the past few 

 months with marked results. He has burned 

 the clay in every conceivable form and has yet 

 been unable to destroy it by fire. A fire of 

 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit has been used in test- 

 ing most of the material and thus far the clay 

 has stood up without showing the slightest 

 effect of the terrific heat. 



The clay will not only make pottery, tile, 

 fire brick and glazed brick, but may be used 

 in the construction of all sanitary articles such 

 as bath tubs, sanitary bowls, sinks, etc. 



A company will be organized to manufacture 

 these products. 



BIGGEST DAM IN THE WORLD. 



According to plans perfected by the New- 

 York contracting firm of J. G. White & Com- 

 pany, and Chicago and Denver financiers, there 



LOGGERS ENJOIN FARMERS. 

 Temporarily enjoined by Circuit Judge 

 Stone, the farmers along the Whitefish river, 

 Delta county, have been forbidden from in 

 any way interfering with the men at work 

 on the log drives of the Garth and Jerry 

 Madden companies. This is another phase of 

 a strenuous fight between the settlers and 

 the lumbermen. Some weeks ago when the 

 drives were started the companies strung 

 their booms across the river. When the logs 

 came down and formed a jam the water was 

 backed up and flooded the fields of the farm- 

 ers for a mile above the bridge. The logs 

 were carried out on the fields and the water 

 has destroyed crops in consequence of wmcii 

 suits for $5,000 damages have been institued. 

 The farmers forbade the log drivers from 

 even walking along the banks of the river 

 where it passes through their farms. They 

 were prepared to use force if necessary, 

 whereupon the injunction was applied for and 

 granted. Interesting points of law are in- 

 i volved. It is not denied that the farmers 

 i can keep the men off their fields, but it is 

 i questioned that they can prevent the drivers 

 from walking along the banks of the river 

 while the men are at work on the drive. The 

 temporary injunction which has been granted 

 will probably answer all practical purposes of 

 ! the lumber companies, for prior to the final 

 hearing they will have their logs all out of 

 1 the river. 



FARNSWORTH IS OPTIMISTIC. 

 In the opinion of George J. Farnsworth, 

 1 vice-president and general manager of the 

 Bay de Noquct Lumber Co., with big mills at 

 Nahma, Delta county, the statement of an 

 eastern statistician to the effect that the lum- 

 ber supply of the United States, including 

 that of the immense forests on the Pacific 

 slope, would be exhausted within twenty 

 years, is an absurdity. "I doubt that the tim- 

 ber supply will ever disappear," said Mr. 

 Farnsworth. "The company with which I am 

 connected has enough standing timber to run 

 mills at their full capacity for twenty years 

 to come. By that time a new forest will have 

 replaced the one that has been converted into 

 lumber. 



Cowin & Conants' new lath mill, located three 

 miles south of Cadillac, has begun operations. 

 A fine grade of hemlock lath is being sawed. 

 This year's output has been sold to a Cadillac 

 firm. There is an abundance of hemlock m 

 the neighborhood of the mill. 



