History of tl)e I^amber Indu^^tr^ in 

 tl)€ atate of Rev ^or^. 



Bv WILLIAM F. FOX. 



FROM the time when the pio- 

 neers first swung their axes 

 in the primeval forests of 

 New York, the operations of the 

 lumbermen have been closely con- 

 nected with the industrial progress 

 and development of the State. 

 The first settler was the first lum- 

 berman ; and his work began when 

 he felled the trees preparatory to 

 making the clearing in the forest 

 where he could build his log cabin 

 and raise his food. 



Although the use of the axe 

 alone would hardly constitute lum- 

 bering operations, as the words are 

 understood to-day, still it was not 

 many years until a sawmill made 

 its appearance in each settlement, 

 whereupon the lumber industry in 

 all its principal details was then 

 inaugurated. 



The first colonists, owing to their limited resources and the undeveloped condi- 

 tion of mechanical art, went without sawmills longer than the later settlers. They 

 obtained lumber for their houses, barns and fences by the use of the axe, supple- 

 mented at times by saws, large and small, worked by hand power. In the later 

 settlements, however, which in the beginning of the last century included three- 

 fourths of the State, a sawmill was built in each locality within ten to fifteen years 



237 



