MICHIGAN EXPERIMENT STATION 5 



A SKETCH OF THE ORIGINAL DISTRIBUTION OP WHITE PINE IN THE 

 LOWER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. 



C. F. Wheelee. 



In the lower peninsula of Michigan, the white pine {Pinus stroius) was 

 originally found scattered throughout the part of the state north of the 

 43rd parallel of north latitude. The actual southern limit of lumbering 

 operations, that is, where the pines grew in numbers sufficient to be lum- 

 bered, is shown in the accompanying map, on page 6, by a dark lin^ 

 extending across the state,, from Port Huron on the east to Covert, in Van 

 Buren county, on the west. South of this line were a few straggling white 

 pines in Oakland, Shiawassee, Livingston and Ingham counties, while 

 along the Lake Michigan shore they were found southward to the Indiana 

 line. The actual distribution of the white pine in this extensive region 

 was due, to a large extent, to the quality and condition of the surface soil. 

 This most valuable tree delights in sandy ridges in the neighborhood of 

 streams, rivers and lakes and seldom grows in large, solid tracts away from 

 these water courses. Where gravels and clays and various mixtures of 

 these soils are found, numerous broad leaved trees struggled for suprem- 

 acy forming tracts of mixed hardwood and pine forest. 



In the counties of Bay, Arenac, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Otsego, 

 Antrim, Kalkaska and all of Leelenau were found fine forests of hardwood 

 containing more or less white pine intermixed. In the counties of Iosco, 

 Oscoda,- Crawford, Boscommon, Missaukee, Clare, Grand Traverse, Lake, 

 Mason and Newaygo, occurred the so-called "barrens" or "plains," where 

 the soil is sterile and more or less covered with Jack pines {Pinus divari- 

 cata) and little white pine is to be found. 



The largest and best pines were scattered among hardwood trees, tower- 

 ing above them, relics, probably, of the time before the hardwood existed. 



The geological conditions of the great northern lobe of the lower penin- 

 sula, north of the Grand-Saginaw valleys, due to the large extent of the 

 very friable Marshall sandstone found there, furnish the sands and gravels 

 that the pine tree delights in. The rainfall of this region, combined with 

 evaporation from the surrounding great lakes was the chief remaining 

 factor in the problem of the orginal distribution of white pine in Michigan. 



Estimates of the total amount of white pine growing in our state have 

 been made at various times. In 1835 the standing white pine was put 

 down as one hundred and fifty billion feet, an estimate probably much too 

 low. The census report for 1880 puts the amount of merchantable timber 

 (white pine) remaining in the lower peninsula at twenty-nine billion feet. 

 The total cut for that census year was estimated at a little over four and 

 one-half billion feet. 



The latest estimates of the amount of standing white pine remain;ng 

 in Michigan were made in the year 1896-97 by Hon. Chas. H. Morse, the 

 State Commissioner of Labor. These estimates appear in the 14th annual 

 report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Schedules were sent to super- 

 visors of townships and from the returns received the figures on the accom- 

 panying map are compiled. It was shown that there were approximately 

 775,208 acres of white pine still standing in the forests of Michigan at that 

 date. The distribution of the pine, hardwood, "Jack pine plains," and 

 swamp lands is shown on the map. The first set of figures in each county 

 denotes the acres of hardwood in that county; the next set of figures the 

 acres of pine; the third the acres of hemlock; the fourth the acres of 

 "plains" land, and fifth the acres of swamp land. 



C. F. WHEELER, 



Consultiup- Bn+anist 



