Yesterday and Today 



SINCE THE DAYS OF LEIF ERICSON 



FRED C. SIMMONS 



E'GGING was probably the first 

 commercial activity of white men 

 on this continent. Old Norse accounts 

 tell that Leif Ericson went to the 

 shores of a land across the North Atlan- 

 tic and brought back a cargo of timber 

 some time about A. D. 1000. There 

 are references to other voyagers who 

 also visited that land and brought 

 back timber. There is record of a tim- 

 ber-laden ship, homeward bound from 

 "Markland" to Iceland, that was 

 wrecked in 1347 just before it reached 

 port. 



Later explorers were also greatly 

 impressed by the timber that they saw 

 on the North American shores. In 

 1605 Capt. John Weymouth of the 

 British Royal Navy nosed his ship into 

 one of the harbors of what is now the 

 coast of Maine. His men cut some 

 samples of northern white pine timber 

 and he took these back to England 

 with him. This pine is still known as 

 Weymouth pine in the British Isles. 



When the colonists arrived they 



Above: A drawing after an old photograph 

 of early big-wheel logging in the West. 



found timber growing to the water's 

 edge. They had to cut trees to make 

 room for their homes and for their 

 fields. Houses, barns, stockades, and 

 bridges were built of logs that were 

 everywhere readily available. The 

 small, round timbers were preferred 

 because they could be handled easily. 

 The date of the first sawmill is a mat- 

 ter of debate; some contend that the 

 settlers in Virginia were using one 

 some time between 1608 and 1620. 

 There is an authentic record of a saw- 

 mill that was established in 1634 near 

 the site of South Berwick, in Maine. 



Captain Weymouth's efforts to in- 

 form his countrymen about the qual- 

 ity of the timber in North America 

 were highly successful especially 

 with the Royal Navy. Mast timbers 

 were soon in heavy demand. White 

 pine from the New England shores 

 and yellow pine from the Colonies to 

 the south began to move to England 

 in ships built specially for this trade. 

 Depletion of the supply of tall trees 

 on the Baltic shores made the English 

 apprehensive about the preservation 



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