5 
Leading industries compared. 
[Data from Census 1890, in round numbers.] 
Capital | Em- . | Raw ma- 
| involved.) ployes. | Wages. | terials. 
| Products. 
| 
| | 
| | 
| Millions. |Thousands, Millions. | Millions. | Millions. 
AXGTAWNN a3 6.66 db bsap o0ae depo dooReooN 15,982 GAD. oc aoap docs calldocsasagoos 2,460 
Forest products, total............ 1,044 
Forest industries, enumera Ao 446 
Forest products, not enumer- 
ated (estimated)................ | | SF SIE ene eee 598 
Manufactures using wood (see | 
ttalbleaboOve) meee ceeceeeecccccee | ole 94 ? 907 
Mineral products, total. | | 610 
Coal receasetnee | 160 
Gold and silver..... ays Sh6 57 | So. Pot take 99 
Tronvan aisilivernsyee ee cee ee j 96 35 479 
Manufactures of iron and steel.. 86 60 382 | 79 131 
ILEENTIGE.5 onorlso nos anonobobosdeac0NRnO 102 48 | 25 | 136 178 
Leather manufactures..............-.) 118 | 186 | 88 153 | 289 
Woolen manufactures..............--| 297 219 | 77 | 203 | 338 
Cotton manufactures. ................ 304 222 70 155 268 
From this table it appears that agriculture, standing first in capital, 
persons employed, and value of products, the industries relying upon 
forest products stand easily second, exceeding in the value of products 
the mining industries by more than 50 percent. ‘The industries relying 
directly or indirectly on forest products employ readily more than 
one million workers (enumeration being imperfect), producing nearly 
two billion dollars of value. The manufactures relying on wood wholly 
or in part more than double the value of the lumber or wood used, 
giving employment to more than half a million men and about equaling 
the combined manufactures of all woolen, cotton, and leather goods in 
persons employed, wages paid, and values produced. 
The loss by fire varies from year to year, but is enormous especially in 
the Western mountains, where it is impossible to ascertain the extent. 
An estimated annual Joss of $25,000,000 in value seems in some years 
to be far exceeded. A recent careful canvass places the loss for Penn- 
sylvania alone at $1,000,000 for the year; an estimate for the fire losses 
in Minnesota during 1894 places them at $12,000,000. 
The principal centers of production of the leading commercial timbers 
of the United States may be briefly described as follows: 
The white pine is distinctively a Northern tree, reaching its best 
development in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, where it is the 
dominant species. It was once the leading commercial species of Penn- 
sylvania, New York and northern New England, but there it has been 
largely exhausted. In the South it is found only on the higher eleva- 
tions of the Alleghenies and in limited quantities. The principal 
sources of supply at present are northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. 
In Michigan there are small tracts of virgin white pine forests, but over 
by far the greater part of the State not even a valuable second growth 
of white pine can be found. 
Red pine, or Norway pine, is found associated with the white pine in 
its more northern habitat and until lately was sold with the latter 
without distinction, although the lumber is very different, resembling 
more nearly the Southern shortleaf pine. 
The bull pine (Pinus ponderosa) of the Rocky Mountains and the 
Pacific Coast forms the main supply of hard pine for local use in the 
