FORESTRY IN IOWA. 551 



The Isfortliwestern Lumherman, of March 30, 1878, coutaius elaborate 

 statements of the loroduction for 1877, as compared with previous years, 

 but our space will uot allow of their iusertiou. 



The construction of short lines of railway, designed for only tempo- 

 rary use, and chiefly or solely for the bringing of logs to floatable 

 streams, or to mills for sawing, has, in recent years, become quite com- 

 mon in the great lumber regions. About a dozen such roads, averaging 

 six or seven miles in length, and some of them with narrow gauge, are 

 now in use or under construction in Michigan. The extreme disappoint- 

 ment and, in many cases, heavy loss occasioned by the want of sufficient 

 snow for logging in the winter of 1877-'78 will tend to increase a desire 

 for a more certain and controllable means for regulating the supply. It 

 is claimed that in many cases the cost of hauling by steam-power is 

 cheaper than by teams. 



Portable railroads of narrow gauge, easily laid down and taken up, 

 are used in some countries. They are commonly operated by horse- 

 power, and are found economical and eifectual both for drawing fire- 

 wood or long timber. In the latter case two small trucks are used, as 

 far apart as may be convenient.^ 



This is essentially ax>rairie State, its originally timbered portions being 

 chiefly limited to the margins of the smaller streams, and to broader 

 belts along the larger rivers. Wherever there were bottom-lands, with 

 a sufficient amount of moisture assured, by running or standing water, 

 there were trees. 



The native timber flora of this State is mentioned in a comparative 

 table, given in our account of Nebraska, showing how" these States re- 

 semble or diflerin regard to their native timber growths. 



The greatest interest has been taken in Iowa in regard to timber-plant- 

 iifg, through its State and local agricultural and horticultural societies. 

 These, from an early period of their operation, have devoted much at- 

 tention to the subject in their discussions, and have given place to many 

 articles in their published transactions. These proceedings, and to some 

 extent their results, will be stated in the following pages. 



In this State, as in others of the prairie region, the timber question 

 arises in the beginning of settlement, and the want of timber products 

 being among the very first that is felt by the emigrant, his attention is 

 naturally directed at once to the subject of supply. The timber belts 

 along water courses were in very manj^ cases exhausted in the early years 

 of settlement, and supplies of lumber have been brought in later years 

 from regions further east by railroads. But neither of these sources 

 of supply are sure of indefinite continuance, and a prudent foresight 

 has, for many years, led careful land-owners to take measures tending 

 to render themselves independent in regard to wood for fuel and farm 

 purposes, in doing which they at the same time enhance the probabilities 

 of success in agriculture, by acquiring the protection needed by cattle 

 and crops. 



The standing committee on forestry of the Iowa Horticultural Society, 

 in January, 1872,^ referring to the climate as it was when settlements 



' Peihajis the cheapest and simples contrivance in the way of a tram-road for luralier purposes, on 

 hard, level ground, is the one in which the rails are simply spruce on tamarack poles, kept in place by 

 stakes on pins, and without cross-ties. The wheels of the trucks have concave grooves, largo enouL'h 

 to fit upon the poles and keep their places, with sufficient allowance for ditference of size. They are 

 used satisfactorily in some parts of the lumber regions of the Northwest. 



horticultural Report, lb72, p. 133. 



