246 REPORT OF THE 



men, after supplying local demands, had to depend on the export business, which 

 was confined largely to the English trade. There was a market for large white pine 

 masts and ship timber, which gave employment to axemen and raftsmen to some 

 extent. But four-fifths of the State was still an unbroken wilderness at the close 

 of the Revolutionary war, and where the large and populous city of Rochester now 

 stands there was not a house or a white man to be seen one hundred years ago. 



By referring to the appendix and map published herewith, it will be seen that, 

 aside from the Hudson and Mohawk counties, the settlement of the various 

 districts of the State, together with the commencement of various lumbering 

 operations, all occurred within the last one hundred and twenty-five years, while 

 throughout a very large area nothing was attempted until a much later date. But 

 it is interesting to notice, as at New Amsterdam, for instance, how soon the sawmill 

 everywhere followed the erection of the first cabin, how quickly the lumber industry 

 was established in connection with each pioneer settlement, and how closely this 

 industry was associated with the development of the country. 



TI)e lyQmber /larl^et a Centar^ ^^o. 



In 1 801, according to notes made by the younger Michaux, the white pine that 

 was cut along the shores of Lake Champlain was carried to Quebec by the Sorel 

 and St. Lawrence rivers. He further states that " What is furnished by the 

 southern part of the lake is sawn at Skenesborough,* transported seventy miles 

 in the winter on sledges to Albany, and, with all the lumber of the North River, 

 brought down in the spring to New York in sloops of 80 or 100 tons, to be after 

 wards exported in great part to Europe, the West Lidies, and the Southern States." 

 The same author, in writing about the lumber market at that time, says : 

 " The white pine is found there in the following forms : In square pieces from 12 

 to 25 ft. long, and of different diameters ; in scantling, or square pieces 6 inches in 

 diameter, for the lighter part of frames ; and in boards, which are divided into 

 niercJiantable or coinnion, and into clear or picked \ boards. The merchantable 

 boards are three-fourths of an inch thick, from 10 to 15 inches wide, from 10 to 15 

 feet long, and frequently deformed with knots ; at New York they are called Albany 

 boards, and are sold at the same price as at Boston. The clear boards, formed from 

 the largest stocks of the Pumpkin Pines, are of the same length and thickness as 



* Whitehall. 



fit may be interesting to note that "pickings" still forms one of the well-known grades made by 

 the lumber inspectors in the Albany market. 



