12 New York State Museum 



northerly and northwesterly winds. On the other hand, 

 the prevailing westerly winds of the warmer months of 

 the year are apparently not greatly influenced by the 

 Great Lakes, which lying north and northwest of the 

 park exert their modifying influence chiefly upon the 

 Ontario lowlands of the State and upon the region east 

 of Lake Ontario. 



LUMBERING 



Elisha Flag is said to have been the first one to lumber 

 this region to any considerable extent. The beginning 

 of his operations is placed at about 1842, and only the 

 best pine was removed from the lower valleys and slopes, 

 particularly in the Quaker run region. His sawmill was 

 located at the present Campbell place on lower Quaker 

 run and the position of the dam and millpond is still 

 visible. The sawn lumber was rafted down the Allegheny 

 river, as the Erie Railroad was not built until 1862-64. 

 In the '80's and later the region was still being lumbered 

 for the best pine and hemlock. Hemlock bark for tanning 

 became an important industry. Most of this bark went 

 to Salamanca where an enormous quantity of the bark 

 still lies under sheds, left when the market for this 

 material suddenly declined. 



The size of the pines is indicated by the fact that an 

 average butt log cut 1200 board feet at the mills and the 

 average for a tree was 2000 board feet. Lumbering was 

 still an active industry here up to 1918. Following the 

 lumbering of white pine, which did not come back in 

 the form of second growth on the cut-over pine land, 

 various lumber companies operated for hemlock and 

 hardwoods as well as for acid wood. The latter opera- 

 tion made use of everything down to sapling size. Some 

 of these companies built railroads into the region, the 

 grades of which are still plainly visible and in some 



