554 



THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



" ILL Menominee and Delta counties, the southern part of Schoolcraft county, and the extreme southern part 

 of Marquette county are quite large quantities of tamarack and yellow cedar. From most of these lands the 

 merchantable pine has been removed, and where the fires have not destroyed the cedar and tamarack the railroad 

 companies are cutting the timber and shipping it to the prairies for telegraph poles, ties, and posts. It i.s stated 

 by the owners of the lands, who long since cut the pine from them, that the cedar and tamarack trees left upon the 

 land have netted them more than the original pine harvested. What makes this timber so valuable is its close 

 proximity to the railroads and the ease with which it can be shipped by rail or over the waters of Green bay. This 

 shows the necessity of preserving this kind of timber for future use, and of not abandoning it for taxes, as has 

 heretofore been done, or allowing it to be destroyed by fires and windfalls. 



" There are on the Menorninee river some 9,000,000,000 feet of standing pine, one of the largest bodies left in 

 the northwest. More than half of this, however, lies in the state of Wisconsin. About 200,000,000 feet of lumber 

 are manufactured annually upon the Menominee. All the mills upon the river are located at its mouth, in the towns 

 of Marinette and Menomonee, in Wisconsin, and it is considered next to impossible to build more mills at that 

 point. The river is here narrow, and the facilities for holding logs, shipping lumber, dockage, etc., are quite 

 limited in proportion to the amount of timber left in the region tributary to this stream ; and this body of pine 

 may therefore be considered to a certain extent in reserve, and likely to outlast many larger ones. There is 

 little danger from fire on this river ; the pine which is left grows upon the hard- wood ridges, interspersed with 

 broad areas of swamp.'' 



WISCONSIN. 



The great prairies of the central Atlantic region once found their northeastern limits in southern Wisconsin. 

 The forest covering of all the southern part of the state was confined to the bottom lands or open upland groves of 

 stunted oaks of no great extent or of .more than local importance. The central part of the state was covered with 

 a dense forest of hard woods, oaks, ash, maple, cherry, birch, and the other trees of the northern forest, through 

 which, upon gravelly or sandy ridges, great bodies of white pine were scattered. These pine forests gradually 

 change in character and decrease in productiveness as they reach northward. Lakes are more common, and 

 swamps of tamarack, cedar, and spruce occupy in the northern part of the state a considerable proportion of the 

 forest area. The pine trees in these northern forests are smaller and more scattered than those farther south, 

 although generally less intermixed with hard woods, and affording lumber of poorer quality. 



The forest area has somewhat increased in the prairie region of the state since its first settlement and the 

 consequent decrease of destructive prairie fires. The growth of trees has gradually spread from the bottom lands 

 of the streams to the hills, and the oak forests upon the uplands have gradually encroached upon the prairie, losing 

 their open, park-like character by the appearance of a young growth which has sprung up among the old trees. 



The pine has been destroyed along the entire southern borders of the pine belt, along the banks of the 

 principal streams, and from the lines of railroad, while the hard wood has been often greatly injured or destroyed 

 by fire in those parts of the state where pine has been cut. The amount of pine still growing in Wisconsin is 

 nevertheless large, although it should not be forgotten that the best and most easily accessible has already been 

 harvested. What remains is generally remote from actual lines of transportation, and often, especially in the 

 extreme northern part of the state, of comparatively poor quality. 



During the census year 406,298 acres of woodland were reported destroyed by fire, with an estimated loss of 

 $725,010. The largest number of these fires was set by farmers in clearing land, or by sparks from locomotives. 



The manufacturers of cooperage stock report a general deterioration and scarcity of the best varieties of hard 

 woods, and the substitution of beech, elm, and other woods for oak. 



The following estimates of the amount of timber standing in Wisconsin May 31, 1880, were prepared by Mr. 

 .H. C. Putnam : 



WHITE PINE (Pinus Strobvs). 



Regions. 



Feet, board 

 measure. 



Basin of Saint Croix river and tributaries ! 2, 500, 000, 000 



Basin of Chippewa river and tributaries ! 15, 000, 000, 000 



000, 000, 000 

 10, 000, 000, 000 

 600, 000, 000 

 500, 000, 000 



:, 500, ooo, ooo 



6, 400, 000, 000 



Basin of Black river and tributaries : 



Basin of Wisconsin river and tributaries 



Basin of Wolf river and tributaries 



Basin of Oconto river and tributaries 



Basin of Feshtigo river and tributaries 



Basin of Menomouie river and tributaries (in Wisconsin) . 



Shore of lake Superior ! 3, GOO, 000, 000 



Total 41,000,000,000 



Cut for censns year ending May 31, 1880 (including 

 shingles and 348,301.0(10 laths). ' 



1,007,039,000 2, 097, 299, 000 



