14 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



BIG LOSSES 



/=7?OM FOREST FIRES 



It has been officially estimated that forest 

 fires in the United States destroy annually 

 about $50,000,000 of standing timber and burn 

 over an area of at least 15,000,000 acres. 



Many of the forest tires are of accidental 

 origin, such as sparks from locomotives or 

 other engines, fires of hunting or camping 

 parties, or from burning brush piles. But, 

 according to Country Life in America, it is 

 estimated that at least two-thirds of these 

 fires are of intentional origin, in the majority 

 of such cases the object that is expected to 

 be gained in starting the fires being the im- 

 provement of the pasturage. 



In some cases the result of the burning 

 may be a temporary improvement in that di- 

 rection, but it must be borne in mind that 

 these fires also destroy much of the grass, 

 annual and perennial herbs and shrubs, and 

 by burning both the seeds and the. plants, in 

 the long run even the pasturage in the forest 

 is injured rather than improved by these re- 

 peated fires. 



In one year, 1903, the Forest, Fish and 

 Game Commission of New York reported the 

 causes of fires in that state as follows: Rail- 

 road locomotives, 121; burning fallows, 88; 

 from other fires by wind, 61; fishermen, 47; 

 incendiaries, 6; campfires, 6; tobacco smokers, 

 23; hunters, 7; miscellaneous, 18. In this case, 

 therefore, the locomotive sparks caused a 

 greater number of fires than the burning of 

 fallows of pasture land. 



In Pennsylvania a similar proportion is 

 shown, and in the estimate of the twenty- 

 eight states previously mentioned, it was found 

 that sparks from locomotives started the fires 

 which devastated over a million acres, or over 

 one-eighth of the entire acreage burned c v^er 

 annually, with a loss of about $3,200,000 from 

 this cause alone. This cause is now likely to 

 be reduced through the invention of an effi- 

 cient and unobjectionable spark arrester. 



To locate a fire in the woods is often by 

 no means an easy matter. The trained forest 

 ranger is no more likely to estimate the dis- 

 tance to a forest fire within ten miles of 

 correctness than is the most unsophisticated 

 in woodcraft. It may seem incredible, but 

 I have known competent men to pass three 

 clays in locating a fire. The smoke was visible, 

 but the particular slope or gully from which 

 it emanated was as evasive from a distance, 

 even after days of effort, as the most decep- 

 tive will-o'-the-wisp. 



If it were not for the accidents of a swamp, 

 a watercourse, a road or a rain, in spite of 

 all the efforts, the annual fire losses, great as 

 they are, would be immensely greater. In 

 thinly settled forest districts during a 

 droughty season fires are springing up in all 

 directions, and the available men are soon 

 occupied. Not only must some fires be left 

 to run their course, but if a fire has once 

 reached certain dimensions no power on earth 

 can stop it. 



The tools for quenching the fire are vari- 

 ous, a great deal depending upon the topo- 

 graphy of the country. Only a densely 

 branched green pine or spruce brush may be 

 necessary, or a large-sized broom with which 

 to whip out the running fire, or to sweep 

 burning embers back; a spade or shovel is 

 needed to cover burning logs or embers with 

 soil, or to dig trenches; a mattock is neces- 

 sary where the soil cover is tough and the 

 soil rooty and hence not easily handled with 

 a spade or shoyel alone; an ax to cut away 

 blazing snags from which brands might be 

 thrown, to get logs out of the way of the 

 trenches, or a saw for the same purpose. 



It is not difficult to determine how much 

 money might be spent for protection under 

 regular forest management. The cost neces- 

 sarily must vary according to the size of the 

 property. 



A small park of 1,000 acres compactly lo- 

 cated may be made safe perhaps under one 



care taker. With increase in the size and 

 the need of help in addition to the regular 

 employes, the cost grows rapidly; but an ex- 

 penditure of ten cents an acre would in most 

 cases insure practical immunity from fire. 



In addition to large amounts spent by 

 private owners for fire fighting, the Adiron- 

 dack and Catskill counties and New York 

 state last year paid out $185,000 on an area 

 of about 3,500,000 acres for fire fighting, when 

 500,000 acres were burnt and five cents per 

 acre was being spent without immunity or 

 improvement. The clause in the constitution 

 of New York state which prevents the cut- 

 ting of timber, dead or alive, on state lands, 

 precludes the state also from making the im- 

 provements that lead to immunity. 



Such neglect increases the danger annually, 

 for the burned areas of this year become the 

 fire traps for next year's fires. It is esti- 

 mated that during the last ten years full-. 

 700,000 acres were burned over in the Adiron- 

 dacks alone, with an estimated damage of 

 over $1,000,000 and nn expenditure by the 

 state, and counties for fire fighting of about 

 $500,000, exclusive of what private owners have 

 spent. 



This shows that the firjs on about three 

 and a half million acres have eost approxi- 

 mately one and a half million dollars directly, 

 in addition to the incalculable indirect damage. 



INGHAM'S LAST TIMBER. 



A deal has been closed by Capt. James H. 

 I'aker, purchasing agent for the Lansing 

 Spoke Company, with the heirs of the late 

 Wm. French, whereby the Spoke Company 

 purchases the timber on a hundred acres of 

 land in section 10, Ontonagon township, Ing- 

 ham county. 



This fine reserve of timber has been held 

 for many years by Mr. French and is the last 

 100-acre tract in one body, of virgin timber 

 left in Ingham county. The price paid is not 

 given out, but* it runs well up into four fig- 

 ures. 



MAINE'S TIMBER OUTPUT. 



The log drives of all the Maine rivers are 

 now in the booms. The drives have been es- 

 pecially clean this year, no logs being left to 

 winter in the streams and brooks. This of 

 course, has been due to the high water which 

 has continued through the summer. 



It is roughly estimated that last winter's 

 cut in Maine was about 800,000,000 feet of 

 spruce and perhaps 100,000,000, feet of pine, 

 most of the latter being in the southwestern 

 part of the state, where a second growth of 

 pine has now developed along the Saco in 

 place of those first great pines which gave 

 Maine the name of the Pine Tree State.- 



The lumbermen are already locating the 

 camps in the woods and making active prep- 

 arations for next year's cut. In the old times 

 lumbering was strictly a winter business, but 

 in these times practically all the cutting is 

 done in the fall and this part of the work is 

 ended by January 1. The indications point to 

 a large cut, though the scarcity of labor is a 

 serious obstacle to be overcome, and there 

 are other factors the weather^and the condi- 

 tion of lumber market. 



Twenty thousand forest fire notices have 

 recently been posted in the State of Maine, 

 some being sent to every town and plantation, 

 and those with large wooded sections being 

 very liberally supplied. Doubtless the warn- 

 ing conveyed by these notices has been a 

 factor, as well as the wet summer, in making 

 the Maine record of forest fires more favor- 

 able than for many years. There were a few 

 fires in June in Somerset and Washington 

 counties, but they were not extensive and did 

 very little damage. June is usually the worst 

 month of the year for these great fires which 

 have worked such havoc in the wild lands of 

 this state. There were no fires in July or 

 thus far in August, and the woods are now so 

 wet and the swamps so full of water that it 

 is very unlikely that Maine will suffer muc 

 from forest fires this year, even if a long dry 

 spell should come on. 



There will be no relaxation, however, in the 

 vigilance of the fire wardens. There are 200 

 of these wardens and though they arc paid 

 by the state only for time actually spent in 

 fighting fires or otherwise serving the Com- 

 missioner, they arc always on the watch. Most 

 of them are men employed in the woods by 

 private concerns or engaged in running sport- 

 ing camps and their own interests keep them 

 very watchful against fires. These wardens 

 posted the fire notices in the unincorporated 

 places, while the notices were sent to the se- 

 lect men of the towns and assessors of the 

 organized plantations. 



TO LOG 1,000,000 FEET. 



E. J. Humphrey, of Ewen, is having the 

 preliminary work done for the erection of a 

 set of logging camps near George LaFond's 

 for handling about a million feet of pine lying 

 between the Firesteel and Flintsteel rivers in 

 Ontonagon county. 



It runs four to live logs to the thousand and 

 s >r:ittered over thirteen forties. It was re- 

 cently purchased by Mr. Humphrey and Ira 

 !'.. Bush, of the Andersons, and is undoubt- 

 dly as fine a lot of big pine as has been cut 

 :n that locality for some time. 



The camp will be in charge of Jake Eisman 

 and about forty men will be employed. L'og- 

 u'ing will be started just as soon as the camps 

 can be built. 



THE GYPSUM INDUSTRY. 



That Grand Rapids is the Furniture City :s 

 well known, but that it is also the center of 

 one of the largest gypsum mining districts in 

 the world is not so well known. Also, gyp- 

 sum, it is not generally known, is one of the 

 most valuable of the country's mineral re- 

 sources. 



Gypsum, alabaster, or plaster rock, as it ;s 

 variously called, which is mined, crushed and 

 made into land plaster, plaster of paris, stucco, 

 wall plaster and other products, is found in 

 spots all over the world. In the United States 

 it is mined and quarried in Michigan, New 

 York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and in 

 small quantities in almost all the states west 

 of the Mississippi. The largest mines, how- 

 ever, are in New York and Michigan, this 

 state ranking second in tonnage output in the 

 United States and possessing what is consid- 

 ered the best quality of gypsum for wall plas- 

 ter produced anywhere. The mines and quar- 

 ries in Michigan are situated in the vicinity of 

 Grand Rapids and Saginaw, the former being 

 by far the largest. 



The production of gypsum was undertaken 

 first in the early 40's. 



The process of mining has not changed mi- 

 terially since the mining of gvpsum was first 

 undertaken. A shaft or slope is sunk to the 

 layer of gypsum, and mining operations are 

 carried on in the same way as in any mine, the 

 rock being carried up to the crusher, thence to 

 the mill stones, where it is ground, and then 

 to the kettles, at least that part of it that is to 

 be made into stucco. Some of the companies 

 employ two hundred or more men, nearly half 

 this number being- used in the mines. 



Where the rock is quarried, it lays about 6 

 or 7 feet below city datum, and about 50 feet 

 below that, or from 70 to 100 feet below the 

 surface of the ground in most places, is the 

 second layer which has to be mined. 



The uses to which gypsum and the finished 

 products made from gypsum are put are many. 



N. B. Bradley & Sons, of Bay City, have 

 just closed a deal for the purchase of the entire 

 holdings of the Pelton-Armstrong Company, 

 at Cathlamet. The consideration was $400,000 

 and the property bought includes 6,000 acrei 

 of heavily timbered land, a logging road seven 

 miles long, cars and engines for hauling cars 

 loaded with logs from the timber to Columbia 

 river. It is understood the purchasers will 

 continue operations on a still more extensive 

 -i-ale than has been done by the original 



