4 



years ending 1872, when the lumber trade saw its halcyon days, 

 the production of deals and boards in the Ottawa and St. Lawrence 

 valleys alone, amounted to an average annually of 809,000,000 

 feet. The average number of logs annually cut in those valleys, 

 and brought to the banks of the streams to be floated down to the 

 saw mills engaged in the production of this large quantity of deals 

 and boards, was 5,264,000. Whilst of the product of these mills 

 an annual average of 170,000,000 feet went to Great Britain, 93 

 cargoes were, in 1872 alone, shipped to South America, and 

 276,000,000 feet were taken by the Eastern United States ; that 

 part of this large quantity which was shipped by the water routes 

 being embraced in 1,720 cargoes. 



During the same three years the exports of square timber from 

 Quebec averaged 21,558,000 cubic feet annually. The square 

 timber went chiefly to Great Britain, and whilst about three-fifths 

 of it was white pine, there was included no inconsiderable propor- 

 tion of other trees. Nearly one-sixth was composed of oak, one- 

 twelfth of red pine, one-nineteenth each of birch and elm; ash 

 basswood, tamarac, walnut and butternut largely making up the 

 balance. 



But aside from lumber and square timber cut for export, there 

 is an enormous consumption in the Dominion a consumption 

 greatly increased by the progressive spirit of the past thirty years. 

 There are in the Dominion about 6,000 miles of railroads, which 

 originally required in their construction 18,000,000 of sleepers or 

 railway ties, and, taking the life of a tie at five years, the annual 

 requirements of these railways must be towards 3,500,000 ties. 

 Each railway has its telegraph system requiring originally the cut- 

 ting down of 175,000 young trees to supply the requisite poles, and 

 a large annual addition to replace those which become decayed or 

 otherwise unserviceable. On the sides of the railways would be 

 probably 12,000 miles of fencing, necessitating 9,000,000 pickets, 

 and over 60,000,000 feet of sawn timber in its contraction. House- 

 building and pavements alone must annually consume an enormous 

 amount of lumber ; but wood enters very largely even into the 

 manufacture of what we are accustomed to regard as insignificant 



