332 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



across the untamed continent in '49, paved the way 

 to the conquest of that mighty treeless empire of the 

 middle west. Now, indeed, was there a demand for 

 lumber. For the first time in the history of the country 

 a land was to be settled which possessed no building 

 material of its own. A land which could be settled 

 quickly, for the land did not have to be cleared. A land 

 where more than ever before development was dependent 

 on the lumber industry. "Give us homes in which to 

 live" was the universal cry of the prairies, and the lum- 

 ber industry replied with a maghty effort to the first great 

 cry for help it had ever heard. 



had confined it in New England. It was possible to 

 obtain large tracts of public land by hook or crook, since 

 the government had provided no other means by which 

 a lumberman could legally get title to a large enough 

 tract to support a sawmill, and logging operations as- 

 sumed unheard-of proportions. 



The lumber industry had taken two hundred and fifty 

 years to attain to its majority, but it was a man now, 

 ranking second only to agriculture in economic imp)ortance 

 a giant who would dominate the development of the 

 whole West for years to come. What had gone before 

 was mere child's play ; from now on the industry was to 



STILL WEARING THE CROWN OF SUPREM.'VCY, THE SOUTH SENDS FORTH HER MIGHTY OUTPUT A 

 THIRD OF THE NATION'S "CUT." LONGLEAF PINE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THE YELLOW PINE GROUP 

 FOR HEAVY STRUCTURAL AND BRIDGE TIMBERS. OWING TO ITS STRENGTH AND LASTING PROPER- 

 TIES, IT IS CONSIDERED SUPREME AMONG AMERICAN WOODS AS A STRUCTURAL TIMBER, AND ONLY 

 WITH THE EXPLOITATION OF THE PACIFIC COAST FORESTS IN THE LAST DECADE HAS IT HAD TO SHARE 

 THIS PLACE WITH DOUGLAS FIR 



Lumbermen who had been logging in Michigan for the 

 mere love of logging, because they could not resist the 

 lure of the magnificent timber, the flat country and the 

 tight winters conditions which must have seemed like 

 heaven to them, after the hardships of New England 

 If'Kging logs they could not sell except in far away St. 

 I/)uis and other river towns, responded to the call with 

 ;i shout of hope. 



I he lumber industry suddenly found itself grown to 

 ninn's estate. Here the operations need not be confined 

 to the small tracts of land to which immemorial titles 



do the work of a man. By 1870 the Lake States had 

 grasped the crown of leadership with no uncertain hand 

 and the country east of the Alleghanies would see it no 

 more for at least a century. 



The lumbermen of Wisconsin and Minnesota heard of 

 the prosperity of Michigan and listened to the call of 

 the prairies with foresight and understanding. True 

 captains of industry, they were the future "Lumber 

 Barons" of more or less doubtful reputation. Robber 

 barons, some of them might have been, but robbers most 

 of them certainly were not. They were men with a 



