FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 281 



The business at Tonawanda commenced in 1857. The first cargo of lumber 

 was shipped then from Canada by Brunson & Co. In 1865 it had become an 

 important point in the general lumber business of the country, and its trade 

 increased steadily until 1890, when it attained its maximum volume. In the 

 latter year the receipts of lumber from the Great Lakes at this port amounted to 

 718,650,900 ft., to which may be added 13,039,600 lath and 52,232,300 shingles. 

 Their combined values — lumber, lath and shingles — indicate a business that year 

 of over $16,000,000. The number of persons employed — yardmen, planing mill 

 hands, stevedores, and office men — is estimated at over 3,000, their annual Avages 

 exceeding in the aggregate $1,500,000. But the shipments have declined materially 

 within the last ten years, the receipts in 1900 being reported at 396,429,483 ft. This 

 decrease is due to through shipments from the West of carload lots direct to the 

 retail yards in the Eastern States, and to disadvantages in freight rates. Still, the 

 lumber business at Tonawanda is immense, employing a great many men, distrib- 

 uting a large amount of money annually in wages, and, as a distributing point for 

 New England and the Middle States, contributing materially to the commercial 

 supremacy of New York. 



Oswego Avas also an important distributing point, where a large amount of 

 Canadian lumber was handled and reshipped by canal. In 1870 the receipts of 

 lumber at this port amounted to 289,315,329 ft. 



The city of New York, owing to its export trade and large local demand, is also 

 the centre of an immense lumber trade. In the year 1900 the total receipts of 

 lumber from ocean, canal, river and railroad aggregated 1,246,014,604 ft. 



The lumber industry in this State has been affected to some extent at different 

 times by the tariff laws relating to Caandian imports. New York is not only a 

 border State, but its closer proximity to most of the sawmills in Canada, combined 

 with a larger number of entry ports and greater facilities for shipments, made its 

 lumber markets more susceptible to foreign competition than those of any other 

 State in the Union. Until recently the amount of lumber imported from Canada 

 equaled or exceeded that produced in this State ; and, owing to the number of 

 lake ports, the Champlain route, and railroad transportation at various points on the 

 border, the bulk of the importation found its way to the New York markets. In 

 1854, Hon. William L. Marcy, then Secretary of State at Washington, made a 

 reciprocity treaty with Canada, under which lumber was admitted into the United 

 States free of duty for ten years. Since 1865 the custom duties on sawed lumber 

 have varied at times, and in some years were withdrawn altogether. The present 

 tariff imposes a tax of $2.00 per M. on sawed lumber, which is equivalent, on an 



