ly 



4 RURAL 3IICHIGAN 



the Pere Marquette, were constructed with the defi- 

 nite purpose of removing such portions of the forest 

 as were valued for the lumber market. Ivey esti- 

 mates that from two-thirds to four-fifths of the 

 traffic of the Pere Marquette was at one time com- 

 posed of forest products. This traffic was transitory, 

 and where the character of the soil precluded agri- 

 culture, such lumbered railroads eventually fell on 

 evil days. Thus the Pere j\Iarquette has recently 

 sought permission to abandon its Kalkaska branch 

 because there is no traffic that replaces its erstwhile 

 lumber and log freight. Between 1870 and 1890, it 

 has been estimated that 13,000,000 acres of ]\Iichigan 

 territory was deforested, that is, one-third of the 

 total area of the State ; and while some of this land 

 was converted to the uses of agriculture, numbers 

 of acres remain in a disused cut-over condition. 



Since the prosperous days of the lumber industry 

 of the late eighties and nineties, when Michigan led 

 the country in the magnitude of its output, there 

 has been a progressive decline in the product of its 

 saw-mills. In 1909 this was 1,889,724,000 feet; in 

 1912 it was 1,488,827.000 feet; in 1915, 1,100,000,- 

 OQO; and in 1918, 940,000,000 feet, when its pro- 

 duction was exceeded by tAvelve states, including 

 Minnesota, Florida, Alabama and Wisconsin.^ Of 

 lath the number reported to the Forest Service for 

 1916 was 109,323,000; 1917, 84,352,000; and 1918, 

 48,533,000 pieces. Of shingles, 201,171,000 pieces; 



' U. S. For. Serv. : "Production of Lumber, Lath and 

 Shino-lps." 1918, p. 13. 



