670 



CONSERVATION 



region of greatest activity in lumber 

 production, and yellow pine the most 

 important wood, forming thirty-three 

 per cent, of the entire cut of the coun- 

 try. The cut of yellow pine reported 

 shows an increase of thirteen per cent, 

 over that of 190(1. In the early part of 

 the year many of the southern mills cut 

 so heavily that, in spite of the curtailed 



this group of states as the most im- 

 portant source of lumber supply. Since 

 southern pine is abundant in all the At- 

 lantic coast states from the Carolinas 

 to Texas, the region as a whole will 

 doubtless maintain its leading position 

 for some years, in spite of the fact that 

 at the present rate the bulk of the tim- 

 ber will be gone in another decade; but 



Table III Production of lumber, by kinds, 1907-1906 



I 

 1'er cent. In- 



iTense IVdlll 



1906 



7 . 2 

 28.8 



Decrease 



output which followed the business dis- 

 turbance later, the total was greater 

 than ever before. But in both the Lake 

 States and the Northwest a smaller cut 

 was reported than for 1906, though the 

 number of mills reporting increased. 



In the Lake States the falling off 

 evidenced the waning supply of white 

 pine. Michigan, which for many years 

 led all the states in lumber production, 

 and then gave way to Wisconsin, sank 

 in 1907 from fourth to seventh place, 

 while \\ isconsin went from third to 

 fifth. Minnesota as late as 1905 held 

 fourth place. Last year it went from 

 seventh to ninth. Tt was not until the 

 latter nineties that the South displaced 



in totals of production by individual 

 states the leadership has since 1905 been 

 "held by Washington. 



The figures of production show that 

 during 1907 Washington fell off very 

 decidedly from its huge cut of 1906, 

 while its sister state Oregon, is cred- 

 ited with a slight increase in its total. 

 In the early part of the year Washing- 

 ton suffered from a car shortage, and 

 at the end the combined effects of busi- 

 ness disturbance and higher freight 

 rates had brought the industry almost 

 to paralysis. Oregon kept up its cut 

 because of its larger proportion of 

 coastwise and foreign trade. These two 

 states together produced more lumber 



