522 LUMBER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN. 



LuTDxhei' iraffw on three tcest-sicle railroads of Michigan in 1877. (Carloads.) 



A general revietc of the lumber resources of Michigan. 



In an article prepared bv George S. Frost, and published in the " Com- 

 piled Statement <f the Linnher Trade and Manufacture for 1874" (p. 41,) 

 the following account is given of the pine lands of this region : 



1. The Sagina^v district or valley embraces • the counties of Tuscola, Lapeer, Sas^inaw, 

 Gratior, Isabella, Gladwiu, Clare, and Midlaud, and is draine 1 by tht- following stre. lus, 

 all tributaries to the Sag naw River: the Flint, Caas, Pine, Chippewa, Tobacco, and 

 Tittibawassee. Of these streams the Flin' and Cass have been extensively lumbered, 

 and are now practically exhausted. Th- pine of these streams is of superior quality, 

 not surpassed by any other district of the State. The Chippewa and Pine have also 

 been largely lumbered, and the principal timber of these streams now lies upon the 

 headwaters. There is a ridge of superior t mber running northeast from tlie head- 

 waters of Flat River, in Montcalm County, and covering the headwaters of the Pine, 

 the Chippewa, the Tobacco, the Tittabawassee, and continuing across to the head- 

 waters of An Sable, and into Montmorency County, and along the headwaters of 

 Thunder Bay River, and the Cheboygan and Manistee waters. This is substantially 

 the dividing ridge of the peninsula, and th pine along its course belongs and is tribu- 

 tary to nearly all the principal streams of Lakes Huron and Michigan. Each district 

 which will be de cribed embraces more or less of this timbered ridge. The Saginaw 

 Valley is crossed by several lines of railway : the Flint and Pere Marquette, the Di rroit 

 anil Bay City, the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw and th' Saginaw, and Saint Louis Rail- 

 roads. The Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad, commencing at Flint, passes through 

 a small lumber district between Flint and Saginaw; from thence this road jiassea 

 through the very heart of the timber regiims of the Saginaw, Muskegon, and Pere 

 Marquette Valleys. The imnortant lumb r center of the Saginaw receives the logs as 

 well as the lumber from the Saginaw waters, yet the railroads mention d have induced 

 Eew manufacturing centers at different points along their routes. Midland City. Far- 

 well, and other stations between Saginaw and the Muskegon, crossing at Evart, and 

 Reed City, Baldwin, and other stations on the west, are all centers of manufacture. 

 The facilities thus afforded through an extensive pine-timber district have already 

 brought the whole territory into noiice, and the necessary operations, however small 

 in detail, are surely, if not rapidly, diminishing the products of these forests. 



2. The Saginaw Bay district, drained by the Pine, Rifle, and Au Gres Rivers, and 

 other smaller streams and bordering the Saginaw Bay. It embraces the counties of 

 Bay, Ogemaw, and Iosco, and is op ned by the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Rail- 

 road. This has long been a lumber-region tributary to Saginaw, and the Rifle River 

 particularly has been a source of supjjly of long timber for the low»-r lakes. The ex- 

 tent of lumbering in this district has drained from it a large proportion of the best 

 timber, especi.illy on the lower waters of the streams. The upper pine districts are 

 opened by the railroad, and even along the bay shore the lumber interests are affected 

 and to considerable extent transformed by the influence and advantages of the rail- 

 road. 



3. The Biver An Salle. — This river has a large manufacturing center at its m- nth on 

 Lake Huron, where a large trade is carried on. The counties of Alcona, Iosco, Oscoda, 

 Crawford, Rose mmon, Otsego, and Montmorency are drained in part by this stream, the 

 ma'n stream taking its rise in Montmorency and Otsego Counties, and the south branch 

 in Roscommon County, there reaching and comi)eting for the pine upon the headwaters 

 of the Muskegon, the Manistee, and the Thui der Bay Rivers. The pine of this region 

 is of excellent qualify, embracing at dift'erent points along its waters the largest class 

 of white pine, as well as the best qualities of Norway. As before intimated, this penin- 

 sula is so well watered that the different streams interlock each other so 'hat in the 

 same pine region the timber has a natural outlet in various direc ions ; and what is said 

 of the pine timber of the Au Sable is descriptive of that of the Manistee, the Muske- 

 gon, the Rifle, and the Thunder Bay Rivers. A region of heavy white pme is found 

 in Otsego County, on the headwaters of the Manistee and Au Sable Rivers, and around 



