466 



LUMBER RESOURCES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



Lumher rafted out of the Susquehanna boom, at JViUiamsport, Pa., since 1862. 



Comparative production of himher in the Susquehanna Valley in 187G and 1877. 



■Williamsport . 

 Lock Haven .. 

 Son h of Troy 

 Larry's Creek. 

 Kenovo 



Total ... 



179, 298, 191 

 29, 915, 000 

 16, 688, 450 

 2, 332, 906 

 5, 317, 070 



185, 925, 393 

 34,6t<l,000 

 15, 1 2, 200 



2, 477, 985 

 2, 795, 820 



233, 551, 017 



240, 982, ; 



Estimated quantity of standing timber in Pennsylvania (1873). 



A report made to the National Lumberman's Association, at Saginaw, 

 in 1873, by G. W. Lentz, of Williamsport, from a committee previously- 

 appointed, showed the following estimated quantities of standing white- 

 pine timber, in board measure, in the several lumber districts of Penn- 

 sylvania : 



Feet. 

 300, 000, 000 



Pine Creek and its branches 130,000,000 



Young Woman's Creek 75,000,000 



Kettle Creek and its branches 15,000,000 



Cook's Run 7.5,000,000 



' The Susquehanna Boom Company was incorporated by special act March 26, 1846, for constructing 

 Tipon the West Branch of the Susquehanna, between Williamsport and the mouth of Qnineshehocque 

 Creek, such structures as might be necessary for stopping and securing logs, masts, spars, and other 

 floated timber. Various supplements to the original bill have been passed, and much litigation and 

 angry controversy has arisen uetweon the company and those using its privileges, chiefly with refer- 

 emce to the rates of toll that should be charged upon logs secured and sorted by the company. The 

 capital is $750,000 ; shares, $100. The original capital was §10,000. There was no organization effected 

 until November 5, 1849, and no boom finished till 1851. A rival boom company was started at Loyal- 

 stock, below Williamsport, but the two compauies were consolidated in 1858. In 1860 the boom was 

 broken by a flood, and logs amounting to 50,000,000 feet were lost. In September, 1801, the failure of a 

 dam at Lock Uaven occasioned another large loss. The ice in 1868 tore away 24 cribs, and other losses 

 have occurred from time to time. The structure consists of a series of piers, 20 by 40 feet, placed 100 

 feet apart, made of cribs of timber filled with stones, and carried of this size to the level of low water. 

 The side up-stream is then made sloping, so that the cribs are 20 feet square at the top, and 20 feet or 

 more above the usual level of the river. Between these piers timbers are secured, which, rising or fall- 

 ing with the river, hold whatever logs there may bo contained. At the receiving basin the logs are 

 sorted and floated down to the mills. There are'now about 400 cribs and 10 miles of hoom.—iUistory 

 of the Susquehanna Boom Company from 1846 to 1876— pp., 11. 



'' The secretary of the company in reporting these quantities remarks that they simply represent 

 what passed through the hoom,s. In addition to this, there was a large amount each year brought down 

 the caual from Lock Haven, and delivered to mills at Williamsport, of which he had no official report. 

 He estimated that this would increase the amount manufactured at their vaiions mills during the sea- 

 son of 1877 to about 200,000,000 feet. We have not at hand the means for determining whether the 

 preceding amounts require a like modification. 



