238 REPORT OF THE 



after the first family moved in. In many instances the sawmill preceded the 

 gristmill ; and in a few places the erection of the mill antedates the advent of 

 the first settlers. 



The phrase " lumbering operations," through long usage, is now understood as 

 including all the work of the lumberm,en from the felling of the trees to the sawing 

 of the logs. So, any history of this industry should commence properly with the 

 erection of the first sawmills. Prior to that time trees were cut down by the 

 settlers in clearing land and constructing their cabins. From the logs thus obtained 

 boards and shingles were " rived out by hand," an axe and a wedge being the only 

 tools necessary to the work. The shingles were for the roof ; the boards for the 

 floor, partitions and household furniture. This work was generally confined to the 

 labor of one man, and to the needs of his one house and little farm. But with 

 the erection of a sawmill the work was extended until it embraced substantially, in 

 one form or another, all the different stages of the industry which characterize the 

 work of the modern lumberman. Trees were felled and cut into logs of suitable 

 length. These logs were skidded and hauled to the mill, where they were sawed 

 into lumber of various dimensions, the product being sold to the settlers in the 

 vicinity or floated in rafts down some stream to a greater market. 



Whatever may have been the means used by the first colonists in converting 

 trees into lumber the methods adopted in their logging operations must have been 

 substantially the same as those of to-day. 



.Right here attention is called to the fact that from the days of the first settle- 

 ments down to the present time the lumbermen have never resorted to clearing 

 operations in carrying on their work of tree felling. There is, however, a wide- 

 spread impression to the contrary. People are very apt to think of cleared lands . 

 and farming areas as the result of lumbering operations, and to attribute the 

 absence of forests to the work of the lumbermen. Now, this is an error. The dis- 

 appearance of the forest is due to the farmer; not to the lumberman. The farmer 

 cuts and burns every tree and bush to make his clearing and improve his land ; the 

 lumberman takes only a few scattered trees to the acre, confining his selection to 

 some merchantable species. Then, again, many of the fires which destroyed so 

 much of our forest areas were due largely to the carelessness of the farmers in burn- 

 ing their brush and log heaps ; also, but in a smaller degree, to locomotives, hunt- 

 ers, campers and several minor causes. The lumbermen do not start fires ; for their 

 work — chopping and log hauling — is done mostly in the late fall and winter when 

 the woods will not take fire. Had no one ever landed on our shores but lum- 

 bermen, had no other industry but theirs ever been carried on within our borders, 



