Maladjustments in Land Use 



27 



localities no longer permit of tlie growing of these 

 species. 



Land Settlement. — Upon the cessation of lumbering, 

 pieces of land here and there were bonght and cleared 

 by former loggers. As a general rule, hardwoods 

 grew on better soils whereas pines covered the more 

 sandy sections. Not imtil the pine stands were 

 depleted, liowever, were the hardwood areas cleared. 

 These latter released large amounts of gooil land for 

 agriculture, and theu' settlement was promoted by 

 lumber companies, State immigration bureaus, and 

 land development companies. Unfortunately, poor 

 lands were sold along with the good. High-pressure 

 salesmanship was used to direct streams of innnigrants, 

 workers Ln niijies and factories, white-collar men from 

 the cities, and farmers from the Corn Belt onto these 

 northern cut-over lands. 



Some of these settlers obtained good land which 

 repaid the labor of clearing, but an equally large num- 

 ber were not so fortunate. Frecjuently they found 

 themselves in possession of outcrops of crystalhne rock, 

 of undrainable peat bogs and marshes, or of stump land 

 covered with granite boulders. Others found them- 

 selves owners of soil so light and sandy that, when 

 cleared, it was blown about by the wind. Even many 

 of those who did secure good land were faced with the 

 handicap of severely dispersed settlement. Patches of 

 good clay loam soil scattered tluough a generally 

 sterile sandj' region are almost worthless unless their 

 area is large enough to support a small community and 

 thereby make possible the attainment of means of 

 transportation, access to market, stores where supplies 

 may be obtained, and the acquisition of ceilain social 

 institutions. 



Agricidture faces many handicaps in this region. 

 Pine stunij)s will persist for a century or more without 

 rotting. To clear sucli land, therefore, is a long and 

 diflTicult process. Soils are of the northern gray podsol 

 type, most of which is better suited for forest growth 

 than for farming. The superior soils can support a 

 potatoe, rye, and limited dairy adjustment, but there 

 are very large areas within which agricultural adjust- 

 ments are out of the question. 



Over much of the region the winters are long and 

 severe. The growhig season is short, anil frosts may 

 occur even during the summer months. Agriculture 

 is cursed also with the lack of a staple crop. Hay and 

 root crops are perhaps best adapted to natural condi- 

 tions, but both are handicapped economically. Hay 

 together with pasture here means dairying, but dairy- 

 ing re(|uires expensive winter housing. Koot crops 

 production sutlers from the lack of nearby markets, as 

 does also the production of fresh milk. Consequently, 

 agricultui-a! crop |)o.ssibilities are decidedly limited in 

 the region. 



144U'.IO— ;iG 3 



In many of the tliiidy settled areas, roads are poor. 

 ^Vhere the land is swanijjy, these consist of rough cor- 

 duroy traces in a bad state of repair, or of rude trails 

 skirting the muskegs and impassable during wet 

 weather. In the pine areas they are usually little more 

 than wheel tracks through sand. Most of the logging 

 railways have been dismantled and on the few which 

 remain, service is both limited in nature and irregular. 



Many of the settleis have been defeated in their 

 attempt to clear and cultivate cut-over land. In the 

 northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan, where 

 the earliest attempt at settlement of such lanfls was 

 matle, nearly 4,000 farms were abandoned between 

 191U and 1920. During the ne.xt decade .30 percent of 

 all farms either were abandoned or changed hands. 

 In 1926 a survey was made of a county in northern 

 Wisconsin. The survey showed that IS peicent of all 

 farms in the county had been abandoned. In 1931 

 county survey's show similar conditions in Michigan 

 and Mmnesota. 



In recent years abandoned farmsteads have been 

 reoccupied in certain localities. In most instances, 

 this represents nothing save famihes fleeing depression 

 conditions m the city and seeking subsistence oppor- 

 tunities in the cut-over sections. The disadvantage of 

 this program, however, is that such families rarely aie 

 able to maintain themselves. Instead, they become 

 relief charges in already overburdened counties. 



General Uneconomic Conditions. — Throughout large 

 parts of the cut-over region agriculture is submarginal 

 and nearly 4,000,000 acres of land in farms should 

 probably be retired from settlement. On the other 

 hand good land does occur in patches large enough to 

 support wdiole townships or at least sizable farni com- 

 munities. It also occurs locally where either mining or 

 recreational developments create markets for farm 

 products, or else render it feasible to carry on part-time 

 farming. Apart from a few such localities, general 

 economic conditions are very unsatisfactory. 



A survey in 1934 of 3,000 isolated famihes in north- 

 ern Wisconsin reports the average family income to be 

 $291.03, of which the farm contributed less than .$100. 

 A similar study of 93 farms in northern Minnesota 

 shows the average receijits from sale of products, 

 labor oft" the farm, and family living contiibutcd from 

 the farm amounted to $568. In either case a low 

 income level is indicated. 



As might be exijccted, many of the farmers are in 

 debt. In 1934, 40 percent of the isolated farms in the 

 northern cut-over areas were mortgaged. In some of 

 the i)oorer counties of Michigan 73 percent of the 

 farms were inuier mortgage. Moreover, the rates of 

 interest to these farmers were higher than in the 

 nearby better agricultural regions. Xeedless to say, 

 many of these farmers are unable to pay their taxes, 



