14 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



I 



PASSING OF THE LUMBERJACK. 



The timber industr\- which formed the prin- 

 cipal occupation of the residents of Menominee 

 county and city for the past two generations, 

 is still an important factor in the commerce of 

 this section and promises to be so for a num- 

 ber of years to come, says the Menominee 

 Herald. 



The old-time "lumberjack," who, with his 

 "turkey" was a familiar figure on the streets of 

 Menoniince. has passed. The typical figure of 

 the sturdy "Knight of the axe" is seen less fre- 

 quently every year. True, men are yet needed 

 to perform the work in the lumber woods, but 

 instead of the sturdy, big, open-hearted woods- 

 man of American origin, we find the stealthy 

 Slavs, the sons of sunny Italy or the immigrant 

 from the vast Hungarian plains, who have tak- 

 en the place of the old-time timbertnen at 

 least in this region of the United States. 



In the labor question as it confronts the lum- 

 bermen of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin 

 at the present time, lies to a great extent the 

 reason why lumber prices have steadily ad- 

 vanced. The woodsman of twenty years ago 

 performed twice the labor per day than the 

 one of the present. Wages are from 50 to 75 

 per cent higher now than at that time. The 

 bright frontiersman with his quick intelligence 

 and his life-long acquaintance with the forests 

 and timber conditions, was valuable to his em- 

 ployer not only by his strong arms, but also 

 on account of his knowledge and self-reliance. 



The woodsman of today is a different sort 

 of a fellow. Hundreds of years of oppression 

 and knout rule have killed all ambition and re- 

 duced the foreigner to a machine willing to do 

 the bidding of his superior, but unable to use 

 his own judgment, which is so important in 

 timber operations. Another feature with men 

 of this kind is the frequency with which, fol- 

 lowing the migratory habits of their race, they 

 seek different employment, leaving their em- 

 ployer at a time when most needed. The old- 

 time woodsmen took in the drive early in the 

 season. This being over, he came to the city 

 for a few weeks' rest and departed for the 

 camps, not to return until the following spring. 



The generosity of the old-time woodsman 

 knew no bounds. His heart was big enough to 

 feel the sorrows of his comrades and to en- 

 joy their pleasures. Money was no object for 

 this happy-go-lucky specimen of humanity; 

 it was as freely spent as it was earned. An ap- 

 peal to charity always touched the right spot, 

 and was met with unlimited generosity. 



The question has often been asked: Where 

 are the old woodsmen that made the primeval 

 forests ring with the echo of their axe in times 

 gone by? This is difficult to answer. A large 

 number have settled down and married and 

 constitute a prominent part of the pioneers 

 of this and other counties. Many have gone 

 to the great beyond to reap their reward. 

 Others went out west, and there, among the 

 |iant firs of the Cascades, sit around the camp 

 .i.u tell the younger generations tales of 

 privations, work and pleasures of their young 

 days, when working in the pineries of northern 

 Michigan and Wisconsin, putting in timber for 

 MLTncle Ike," his brother, S. M. Stephenson, ex- 

 Governor Schofield and many other men that 

 since have become noted and have helped to 

 make history. With sparkling eyes these vet- 

 erans of the forests will tell their enthusiastic 

 listeners how they bunked together with Fred- 

 erick Weyerhauser, General Alger, Governor 

 Upham, Senator William Alden Smith, and 

 other noted men who, in their younger days, 

 breathed the pure air of the pine forest, steel- 

 ing their constitution and energies for the fu- 

 ture, when popular sentiment called them -to 

 their exalted station in public life. 



While the forests of the United States have 

 produced many notable men whose experience 

 with the whole-souled woodsmen outweighed 

 a college education in the past, they will con- 

 tinue to do so in the future. No one who 

 breathes the invigorating air of the northern 

 forest, felt the stinging frost of the early dawn 

 in the cold winter morning, can ever forget the 

 thrill mixed with a feeling of awe which the 



majestic stillness of nature instills in the 

 minds of the thinking man. It makes the heart 

 beat faster, imbibes the mind with ambition, 

 and lends to the body and muscles that rugged 

 constitution which accompanies and is n 

 sary I" a healthy mind. The closer to nature, 

 the greater be the man. Nothing but noble 

 thoughts arc inspired by nature, and for this 

 reason the woodsman of the forests of the 

 northwest ranks first in generosity and good 

 fellowship. 



As the methods have changed in the facto- 

 ries from those in vogue twenty years ago or 

 more, the logging of today is carried on in a 

 different way. The .slow moving ox is alni"-i 

 a thing of the past, while now the choicest 

 draft horses are performing the work of skid- 

 ding. The long hauls of today necessitates 

 the best of roads, and ice mads are built, 

 avoiding all grades, on which one team of 

 horses will draw as much as thre'e twenty-five 

 years ago. Dynamite is used freely in cutting 

 the roads and blasting out stumps and stones, 

 where in olden times the axe and hoe were the 

 only means when wielded by a strong arm. 



The harmless amusements around the camp 

 fire, mixed with the yarns told by the story- 

 teller of the camp, are also a thing of the past. 

 The foreign woodsmen sit together in group-. 

 of their own nationality and talk about their 

 old homes, their expectations, and perhaps 

 their wives, children or sweethearts in far 

 away Europe. The daily bill of fare of bean? 

 and pork, changed sometimes to pork and 

 beans, is superseded by a table that would do 

 honor to a first-class hotel. It is no longer 

 necessary for the new arrival in camp to take 

 an axe and go out into the forest and cut 

 some spruce or balsam boughs to use in his 

 bed as "strawtick." Hay or straw is furnished 

 now for this purpose, and woe to the operator 

 who neglects one iota in providing for the com- 

 fort of his men, for one fine morning he may 

 find his camj) minus its crew, much to his em- 

 barrassment and financial damage. 



Thousands of foreigners are imported annu- 

 ally from Chicago, Milwaukee and other labor 

 centers, into the forests of the upper peninsula. 

 These men rarely work more than one winter 

 in the woods, and never become experts. The 

 old lumberjack looks upon these men with a 

 feeling of contempt and longs for the time 

 when he. in the heydey of his youth, turned 

 out in the early morning with his comrades 

 whose feelings, sympathy and ambitions were 

 kindred to his, and with the associations of 

 years a friendship had sprung up which the 

 foreigner can never replace. 



He retires from the work as soon as he can, 

 and becomes a pioneer in the forest, surround- 

 ed by a happy family, and with his spirit of 

 self-reliance and independence, and filled with 

 ambition he carries on the work and becomes 

 a factor in the .building of an empire. 



JAPANESE FORESTRY. 



The first Japanese school of forestry was 

 started twenty-three years ago; now Japan lias 

 an organization embracing sixty-two schools 

 for the training of students and the directing 

 of popular attention to the science and prac- 

 tice of forestry. The forests proper apper- 

 tain to the imperial domain, and' are adminis- 

 tered by the department of agriculture. The 

 forest area of Japan, about 00,000,000 acres, 

 is nearly equally divided betVcen the imperial 

 government and the miscellaneous holdings. 

 In the ten years ended 1901 (latest available 

 figures) Japan's lumber exports were of the 

 value of $25,000,000. 



The climate of the Hokaido country, the 

 present principal forest area, like that of Cali- 

 fornia and British Columbia, is favorable to 

 forest growth. In older Japan reforestation 

 finds scope mainly on the rugged slopes of 

 the mountain ranges. Japan has been using 

 timber since a time long antedating the cedars 

 of Lebanon. Many grand old monarchs of 

 the forest are maintained with care in public 

 parks and line great avenues. 



Unfortunately, the Japanese are wasteful of 

 young forest growth. The framework of 



buildings is largely of rough hewn poles, and 

 far too much young timber goes for charcoal, 

 which is so generally used in Japan. 



TREES GROWING IN CHURCHES. 



The parish church of Ross, Herefordshire, 

 possesses .-<>me singular ecclesiastical "orna- 

 ments" in two fine elm trees flourishing one 

 on eaeh side of the pew where once sat the 

 famous "Man of Ross," John Kyrle. They are 

 fabled locally to have sprung up as a token of 

 Divine wrath against a profane rector of Ross 

 who had cut down some trees which Kyrle had 

 planted in the churchyard. 



'frees in or on churches are not uncommon. 

 At Keni|ey, in the adjoining county of Wor- 

 cester, a large horse chestnut tree has grown 

 in the chancel from the tomb of Sir Edmund 

 \Vylde. who died about 10:29. On the tower of 

 I'ishtolt Church, near Boston, grows a lusty 

 beech, and a similar tree may be seen on the 

 tower of Culmstock in Devonshire. Apart from 

 intrinsic beauty the parish church of Crick, in 

 Northamptonshire, is or was recently remark- 

 able for two trees growing out of the masonry 

 about fifty feet from the ground. 



TREE PLANTING IN CALIFORNIA. 



There has developed throughout southern 

 California a renewed interest in the planting 

 of eucalyptus trees for commercial purposes. 

 It is said by those who have kept in close touch 

 with the situation that several million young 

 trees will lie planted during the ensuing year. 



George B. Southard, of Riverside, declares 

 that within a very few years this timber in- 

 dustry will be quite as important as the rais- 

 ing of citrous fruits. Mr. Southard will plant 

 IIID.OOO young trees next spring. These will 

 lie sugar, red and blue gums, varieties suitable 

 for fuel, telegraph poles and railroad ties. 



The Santa Fe has made good progress on 

 its eucalyptus ranch in San Diego county, and 

 the success of the Whiting forests, near F.I 

 Toro, is well known. 



A section of the Rixby ranch, between Los 

 Angeles and Long Beach, has been set to gum 

 trees <luring the last season, and a part of the 

 Alamitos ranch, owned by J. Ross Clark, is 

 being prepared for tree setting, while from 

 many parts of southern California come re- 

 ports oi tlie planting of groves on a more or 

 less extensive scale. 



BIRCH WOOD FOR TIES. 



Experiments conducted by the Duluth & 

 Iron Range and the Great Northern railroads 

 in Minnesota have brought out the fact that 

 birch when subjected to a chemical preserva- 

 tive can be utilized for ties. Before the com- 

 pletion of this chemical test, birch was re- 

 garded as an unfit wood for railroad construc- 

 tion, not proving impervious to the rotting 

 elements of frost and rain. 



The discovery that birch can be made prac- 

 ticable for railroad construction is expected 

 to place a much higher price upon this timber 

 and to increase greatly the demand for its 

 use. Many tracts of birch in the northern 

 woods, that have been abandoned, will in- 

 crease in value with the general use of the 

 timber for ties, and it is suggested that a plant 

 for the preserving treatment of birch timber 

 would not only prove a profitable investment, 

 but would also go a long way in solving the 

 problem of the decreasing lumber supply for 

 railroad use. 



The Kneeland-Bigelow Company, of Bay 

 City, has closed a deal for the purchase of 

 1,880 acres of timber land in Montmorency 

 county of W. H. White & Bro., of Boyne 



ity. This body of timber is adjacent to an- 

 other tract purchased by the same firm and 

 from the same firm some weeks ago. It is 

 estimated to contain approximately 25,000,000 

 Feet of standing timber. The purchases of 

 the Kneeland-Bigelow Company the present 

 year have been between 6,000 and 7,000 acres 

 ind will yield more than 100,000,000 feet of 

 timber, all of which will be shipped to Bay 



ity to be manufactured. 



