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LOVELL PUINTING AND PUJ3J.1SHIN0 COMPANY 1876. aNADA ^ NATIONAL LIBRARY BIBLlOTHEaUE NATIONALE i s THE TIMBEE SUPPLY QUESTION, OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA. BV JAMES LITTLE. SECOND EDITION WITH ADDITIONS. LOVELL PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1876. , THE TIMBER SUPPLY QUESTION. TO THE PUBLIC. "When, a few years ago, it was rumored that the coal fields of Great Britain would not supply the then rate of consumption for more than two or three generations, a general alarm at the prospect of so terrible a calamity, so soon to fall on the nation, immediately manifested itself. It became the question of the day, the Press was full of it, had daily leaders on it, and it was made a subject of Parliamentary inquiry, and, until it was satisfactorily ascertained, by scientific investigations and surveys, that there was coal enough in the country for many centuries, the question was the one ab- sorbing topic of conversation ami discussion amongst all classes in the British Isles. The question of the timber supply here is of as much importance to us and the people of the neighboring States as that of the coal supply, which so powerfully exercised the minds of the people of Britain, could possibly be to them. Besides the amount of the raw material for our home consumption, which fully equals in value that of the exported, the returns for the last five years show for 1870-1 822,352,211 1871-2 23,685,382 1872-3 28,580,816 1873-4 26,827,715 1874-5 24,781,780 making a total of $126,233,904, and averaging .$25,246,781, which is largely in excess of the amount received for our cereals in the same time, the export of lumber in 1875 amounting to $24,781,780 while that of the field was but 817,246,000— and be- sides the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec have in addition been yearly in receipt of over half a million of dollars each, raised from dues on timber, ground rent, &c., which enable them to give large assistance to the railway projects of the country ; and notwithstand- ing I showed beyond dispute over two years ago that we will not, at the rate of consumption going on, have a foot left this side of the Rocky Mountains of the commercial woods which now yield us the above sums, and supply our home consumption, for the short period of a dozen of years, at the outside, hardly a thought has been given to the subject by those whose business it is to see that this source of wealth to the country is carefully protected from spoliation and waste. On the contrary, the Governments of both Ontario and Quebec, through their Crown Timber offices, which are gener- ally placed under the management of Lawyers, coming in one after another, and totally ignorant of the duties they are appointed to administer, have been doing all in their power to hasten the strip- ping of the country of its invaluable timber resources, which never can be reproduced, so far as the white pine is concerned — the most valuable wood that grows — by throwing them on the market, year after year, without any reference whatever to the requirements of the trade, — their sole object appearing to be to see which of thcJin could raise the largest amount of revenue, and make the best ex- hibit in their budget speeches, out of our yearly decreasing supply no matter at what sacrifice of it, or injury to the country ; and this reprehensible course has been the means of stimulating production to such an extent that the greatest and most shameful waste of this indispensable material has become the order of the day, while our Boards of Trade, our political economists and statesmen, and the leading Journals of the country, totally ignore the subject as not worthy of their slightest notice. The question thus treated AVITH so MUCH INDIFFERENCE AND NEGLECT WILL, HOWEVER, IT IS CERTAIN, BEFORE MANY YEARS ROLL ROUND, FORCE ITSELF ON THE: lie id as ID II& [e: ATTENTION OF THE WHOLE COMMUNITY TO SUCH A DEGREE AS TO DWINDLE ALL OTHER QUESTIONS INTO UTTER INSIGNIFICANCE IN COMPARISON. And now what of our neighbors across the line in this respect ? They are following exactly the same course, but in a yet more wasteful, reckless and unprofitable manner, if we may except our own New Brunswick operators, who appear determined not to hi outdone in their efforts at national suicide. The Census returns of the United States of 1870, showed a pro- duction of sawed lumber alone of 12,755,543,000 feet, and if we add to that enormous amount all the timber made into shingles, all made into hewn, flatted and round timber, used in home consumption and exported, all that is wasted and used for other purposes, (not including firewood and that consumed in clearings) and all the large increase in consumption at the present time, we may estimato the whole amount now at 20,000,000,000 of feet, equal to about 30,000,000 of tons, from which it will be seen that it would rcqm re fifty per cent, more than the shipphuj of the ivhok tvorld, which has a tonnage of but IS, 000,000, ^o ff-ifjht that amount from their Pacific States and Territories to the Atlantic sea hoard, from whence it must then be carried for distribution at an enormous additional cost, to the points of consumption, even as far west ts the States which now furnish their thousands of millions of supply, — and, although that time is within a decade, a less period of time than has elapsed since the close of the strife between the North and the South, which, comparatively speaking-, is but as yesterday ; and when, besides, some ten millions of consumers will be added to the population calling for supplies, to intensify, if possible, the ruin and distress which will be entailed on the inhabitants and every indus- trial pursuit of their country, it is only within a year or two their political economists and their Press, with the exception of a few lumber papers in the West, have deemed it worth their while to give a thought to the subject, and that more with reference to its 6 influence on the rain-fall than to the the question of the extent of the Bupplj to satisfy the future wants of their country. Having now estimates made by their own timber statisticians of the amount of pine and spruce claimed for their principal sources of supply, it will bo seen as we further proceed to investigate tlio subject that the statements made by me at the Lumberman's Con- vention, held at Ottawa, some two years ago, on that question, although disputed at the time, are now fully endorsed by tliemselves. And, beginning with their easternmost State, the State of Maine : — This State, owing to its extensive ])inc forests, was, not many years ago, designated tiio " Pino Tree State " of the Union — it is now all but stripped of that product, and the mills erected for its manu- facture arc now engaged in sawing up the spruce, which they are doing to a large extent, out of logs not more than from six tc eight inches in diameter, which they keep slashing down, glutting their own and assisting New Brunswick to overstock the English market as well, — a waste of this valuable description of wood, which it is surprising so shrewd and calculating a people should not see the folly of, and use every means in their power to preserve to matu- rity. The following was the product of thoir mills in 1873, as funiish- ed by Mr. Ira Sturgis of Augusta, the capital of that state, to the writer, in 1874 : Calais 100,000,000 Macbias 75,000,000 Cherryfield 40,000,000 Ellsworth 60,000.000 Penobscott 250,000,000 Kennebec 155,000,000 Androscoggin 75,000,000 ' Portland 50,000,000 Other scattering mills and timber for home consumption 225,000,000 Making a total of 1,000,000,000 The congrcBsional returns of 1870 for this state give the sawed lumber alone at 639,167,000 feet. The party who furnished those statistics — one of the largest lumbermen in America, and who professed to be fully posted on the subject of supply, in every section of that state, — felt confident that it would not stand the heavy drain on it for ton years from that date, (two years ago) while there are others who believe that five years would exhaust all fit for exportation, and, from all I have been able to gather on the subject, I think it will bo found the latter estimate is the nearest correct. The number of saw mills in that state in 1870 was 1000 against 787 in I860. The other Eastern States, comprising New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, with the Middle States of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsyl- vania, Ohio and Indiana, were, at one time, dense forests, and within a few years most of those lying east of Ohio held large tracts of the finest pine timber. Those states to-day, Pennsylvania excepted, are practically denuded of that wood, and inrleed with the ex- ception of the small amount of spruce yet in the Adirondacks, in the State of New York, have little of any description now loft. They are sawing up all kinds of rubbish, thinning out the patches left by the farmers for firewood of everything that can be sawed, and are, besides, large purchasers of Michigan pine and Canada pine and spruce lumber, to supplement their comparatively valueless home product, which a very few years will totally exhaust. Any one travelling by rail, which generally takes the unclearbi oottom lands on its route, say by the New York and Erie, the New York Cen- tral and those through the other states east, will soon be convinced that not the pine and other commercial wood only are exhausted, but the fire wood as well is almost totally gone. New York State, besides what she got from the West, the South, Maine and Canada, sawed up 1,310,000,000 of feet in 1870. The number of saw mills 8 in that State in lb70 manufacturing lumber was 3,510 against 2,765 in 1860. And here I would remark that, with respect to the Adirondack territory, it would be better for the State of New York to pay many millions of dollars for the preservation of the forests clothing its mountains, than allow them to be stripped of the timber which acts as a reservoir for their great Hudson River. Once this region is denuded of its trees, that river will in each succeeding spring become a torrent, sweeping all before it, while, for the summer seasons,it will show nothing but a comparatively dry bed till it reaches tide water. But this and the influence of the forests on the rain fall throughout the country, I leave to the scientific elucidation of those who have given their minds to such subjects. My business at present is with regard to the question of the timber supply in its relation to the time of its exhaustion, and its effects on the indus- tries and well-being of the people. Pennsylvania, which at one time would compare favorably with the best pine-producing states of the Union, as regards both the extent and quality of its pine, is now within a few years of being entirely stripped of that wood. In a recent publication on the sub- ject, we find the following observations and statistics of the supply and consumption of that state. It says ; " Lumber operators and consumers in this state are awakening to a knowledge of the important fact that the pine tim- ber resources of Pennsylvania are not inexhaustible, as they have apparently been long considered. The State was one of the leading pine producers in the Union. The dense forests bordering the Sus- (juehanna and traversed by its many tributaries ; tlie mountains of the Monongahela Valley, and in fact the tall and majestic trees that covered thickly much of the area of whole counties in the state, were, a few years ago, thought to contain pine enough to amply comply with the law of supply and demand for the present, and to furnish timber for the future, however distant. That impression tl SI H ai rns 3or of double tracks and sidings will probably incrcaso this amount to 8.5,000 miles. Supposing the life of a sleeper is seven years, the 85,000 miles of track consume, annually, 34,000,000 sleepers, or thirty years growth on 68,000 acres of the best natural wood land, or if the sleeper is artificially raised, some 700,000 acres would bo required, planted with trees best adapted to the purpose, regularly cropped and scientifically managed to supply the railroads already con- structed. At least 125,000 miles of fencing are required to inclose the railroads of the country, which could not have cost less on an average than 700 dollars per mile. One half of this would barely represent the wood employed or 43,000,000 of dollars while they must take lumber annually to the value of not less than 10,000,000 of dollars to keep them in repair. By the last returns I have seen (1872), remarks the Professor, there was in operation in the United States 03,000 miles of telegraph, which destroyed in their construction 1,600,000 trees for poles, while the annual repairs must call for 250,000 more. The 20,000,000,000 matches manufactured in the United States annually require, according to Mr. Marsh, 250,000 cubic feet of the best pine lumber (equal to about 3,000,000 feet inch boards). At least 1,450,000 cords of wood, principally pine, wore required to bake 2,898,382,000 brjcks, which the census of 1870 gives of the number made in that year requiring the cutting of the trees from 36,000 acres of land. The manufacture of shoe pegs (a Massachusetts industry, but now carried beyond the limits of that state for want of material), con- sumes annually 100,000 cords of white birch, worth 1,000,000 of dollars. In 1850 the value of the pine packing boxes made in the United States was 11,000,000, in 1870 they were valued at $8,200,000. The value of the material made into wooden ware made in the United States increased from 1430,000 in 1850 to $1,600,000 in 20 1870. The value of the liiniltor converted into agricultural iinple- monts in 1850 was .i58,00O,000 while in 1870 it had reached the enormous sum of l3<7r>,000,000, of which the f()rest must have furnished *20,000,000. From the fore^^oing exhihit of i\\c partial uses of wood and its value can wo with the utmost stretch of imaj^ination conceive what would be theconsenueuces to the welfare, happiness and civili- zation of the community were the Hupplics for those j^reat indus- tries, with their vast yearly increasing retiuirements as above in- dicated, cut off. All the desolation of their war with all the com- mercial convulsions that ever happened to the country, with their aggregated effects confine d to one period, would be as nothing compared to the terriblencss of the calamity that will be experienced from a dearth of timber, and although it is now beyond dispute that a single decade "will make a clean sweep of every foot of commer- cial wood in the United States this side of the Pacific slope, we find the lumbermen keep slasliing away Avith all their might to hasten the time of the total destruction of the material which keeps alive those industries, as if it was some noxious thing which it was the chief business of their lives to extirpate and root out of the country as rapidly as possible. Turning now to the investigation of the (question of our own timber supply and consumption, and commencing on the Pacific side, Brit'sh Columbia has, it is known, a good supply of a description of pine which differs considerably from our "white pine, with other commercial wood, but, whether much or little, it is so far away, as I have already remarked, that it would be much cheaper to freight suppUes from the north of Europe than from that Province. It may be utilized to some extent when there is a railway to move it to the Saskatchewan Valley. Northeast of the Rocky Mountains there is some timber on the rivers of the wild north land which discharge into the Arctic Ocean, and some spruce timber is also found on some of the streams, reaching tho Northwestern shores of 21 I tt \ Hudson 13uy, but tlieso comparatively iusignificiiiit sujiplios are alno too far away to bo of any account to us hero in tlio east, and, if facilities arc over made to make tlicra available, tliey have a ter- ritory to furnish, chiefly prairie, largo cnougli it is said to make a dozen of States as largo as the State of New York, and what will be the great draw-back to the settlement of this great country, as it will also be to the prairie States of the American Union, will bo the want of timber. Next comes tho Province of Manitoba, without any supply of timber except what little may bo found on tha Canadian portion of the Red River, around the Lake of tho Woods, and other patches (»!" but small account in a country almost all prairie. Next we come to the rocky, barren district north of Lake Supe- rior and bounding the Province of Ontario on its northwest extre- mity. This Province, the Province of Ontario, was not long since a magnificent forest country, probably unsurpassed on the face of the Globe in its wealth of timber and especially that of the best description of white pine, in "which it abounded. That seotion drained by the streams which empty into Lakes Huron, St. Clair and Erie was exceedingly rich in the commercial woods of pine, oak, walnut, ash, elm, and white wood. They arc now all but gone, hardly any can now be seen west of the Northern Railway, which runs from Toronto to CoUingwood on Georgian La/. The Muskoka country on Georgian Pay, which was only a few years ago opened up to settlement, is undergoing tho same rapid process of denudation incident to all new tim])er settlements. Tho hardwood is being burnt up to make way for the plough, and the pine is fast disappearing under the stroke of the axe for the insa- tiable saw mill. That section, with all the streams emptying in Georgian Bay up to the Sault St. Marie, does not hold as much pine as is got out In a single season In Michigan alone. In fact it would be a wise measure, if It could be enforced, to compel tho '>'> whole Province west of the watershed of the Ottawa to preserve the little timber now remaining for its own use. We now reach the Valley of the Ottawa, which is the only pine timber region wc have, worth giving a moment's consideration to, in discussing the (juestion of supply, and yet from the information I have obtained on the subject, from those whose lives have been mostly spent in the territory, I have every reason to conclude that, at the rate of consumption going on, a single decade will be sufficient time to totally exhaust its resources. And as wc will be called on to supply the deficiency shortly to arise in the States the time will be correspondingly shortened. The volley of the St. Lawrence from Montreal to the gulf never had a great amount of pine timber on it. Tlic St. Maurice held more than the whole territory beside, and that llivcr has been undergoing a course of depiction for so many years that I feel safe iu saying it would not now afford enougli to supply the whole con- sumption of the State of New York for a single year. I would now offer a few remarks regarding our spruce timber supply, a very valuable wood which ranks next to that of pine in the amount of consumption, and enters into competition with the lower grades of that prod'ict to a very considerable extent. The supply of this timber this side of British Columbia available to us is con- fined chiefly to the valley of the St. Lawrence below Montreal, the Eastern Townships, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The East- ern Townships have been run over to a large extent for both local consumption and foreign demand. Every stream in it has been ransacked for the saw mills in the interior, on the River, and at Quebec, and there is not now much left convenient to the floating streams, and especially in the St. Francis district, outside the lands held in fee by private parties. On the North shore of the St. Lawrence the spruce is exhausted for many miles back, and what remains is all now held under license from the Government of the Province, as is also the whole region below Quebec, hardly 23 a stream of which but has oxtcuslx'e mills uu it, and from ail ap- pearance this description of timber will be as short lived in this Province as the white pine. Nova Scotia is also making rapid progress in ridding her soil of its wood incumbrance, and with regard to New Brunswick, which J manufiictures more spruce deals than are shipped at Quebec of both * pine and spruce, and appears determined to got rid of her timber at any sacrifice, cannot, if the Press of that Province correctly informs us on the subject, have any great supply now left. The St. John Telegraph, the leading paper of the Province, gives us an idea of the state of matters there. It says : " That the increasing scarcity of timber adjacent to the sea and the navigable rivers has within a few years become a subject of great moment to the inhabitants of the Province. Until recently some of our people have been accustomed to look upon our pine and spruce trees as an incumbrance to the land and unworthy the cost of protection. The public, however, think differently now, since they find that one-half of the hcst timhcrcd hands havchccn destroyed^ while nine-tenths of the remainder have hcen ivorhed on so much that tltcy have heen largely deprived of their most valnahle soft ivcodsy and yet we find that in the fiice of this condition of the timber resources of tho Province, after having stripped it of its immense amount of most valuable pine tim- ber, they are slaughtering away at what is loft of tlicir spruce, much of it not thicker than one's arm, and throwing it on the English markets at auction to such an extent as not to realize for it more than it should now bo worth standing in the foi't'st:. And thus, while utterly ruining the trade in all descriptions of wood which competes with them on both sides of the Atlantic, doing incalculable injury to that Province in entailing on its inhabitants one of the direst calamities that could bcfal them, — a want of timber. An article in a recent issue of tho London Timber Trades Jour- nal mentions a sale of 300 acres of timber, grown by the Earl of Cawdor on the mountains of Scotland, wliich brought 1G,000 24 |)oiui(ls, sterling, about 80,000 Jollars, uml that al'tor it had umler- ^onc repeated thinuitig.s which realized largo additional sums ; and 1 will venture to say that there are nut oOO acres of the timber which the lumbermen of New Brunswick arc now recklessly throw- ing away but what would be worth as much in a few years time if left untouched. In five years neither pine timber, nor pine or spruce deals, i^xccpt it may be some of the best clear pine, which is indispensable for many purposes to the people of Britain and for which tliev will have to pay excessive prices, will be shipped from the Port of (Quebec. In five years lumber will be jhigher on this side the Atlantic, with the above exception, than it is now or Avill then be in Great Britain, inasmuch as the latter country will be nearer the sources of supplies in Northern Europe. In five years I look for lumber to bo shipped from the Ottawa to supply Michigan and the Prairie States of the west, and in a ihrnm of years from now the commercial woods of the United States and Canada this side of the Facifc Slope will have toUdhj vanished^ and instead of our running abroad to find markets on which to force and sacrifice the products of our forests we will be running abroad to see where wo can purchase supplies for our home con- sumption, and the shipping which is now engaged in carrying away our timber and lumber Avill be required to freight supplies to us from wherever they can bo found. The question will no doubt be asked if I have any remedy to suggest for this ruhious state of things ? I would reply, our Govern- ment having wastefully sacrificed the timber of the country by throw- ing it on the market, by auction and making presents of it to favorites, there is none now left except a few blocks of but little timber value, which this Province took back from the Railway projectors who instead received money consideration as assistance to build their roads, and it is now too late to think of its preservation to any 25 appreciable extent. One thing, however, Ontario at once and Quebec in two years can do, and that is put a stop to the getting out of square timber in the woods, which not only occasions the loss of one quarter of the most valuable portion of the tree, but the greater destruction arising from cutting down trees to make into timber, but which from some imperfection is found to be unsuited for the purpose and is consequently left to rot in the woods although much of it would be found valuable for saw logs. But there is yet a far greater destruction of the forest by fire, which follows the getting out of square timber. The square tirabcrman goes into the woods, ransacks them, select- ing here and there the best timber, as it brings the most profit, and the scoreblocks and hewings he leaves after him a few warm or dry days turn into kindling wood, which a spark will set ablaze, and this, running along the whole length of the tree, commu- nicates with other waste from other trees and those around which arc rejected, until the whole forest is swept by the devouring element, and in this way more timb ir is destroyed than is marketed. It is very rare to find fire running through a forest where timber is cut down and burnt to prepare the land for the plough, as the above means of conveying and disseminating it are wanting. A stop there- fore should be put to the making of square timber for exportation, and the Crown Lands Commissioner who neglects to do so commits a crime for which he should, above everything else pertaining to his office, be held responsible. As respects the question of tree- planting it has often been remarked that " where you cut down one tree you should plant another," but this procedure in the woods would only be a waste of time and labor, as a spark reaching the debris of the trees felled would burn up those planted in their stead, and this would, sooner or later, be their fate. The only suitable place to plant is on cleared farm lands, or on the prairies, but the latter would require to be planted with trees whose roots penetrate deep in the soil, as they would be without shelter |from the winds il, 26 \yliich sweep over the plains, the force of which would prevent any other description from taking root. It would also be necessary to guard those planted in every stage of their growth from the ravages of the yearly recurring prairie fires which have hitherto kept the coun- try in its treeless state. No provision, however, of the kind indicated, for the supply of our future wants, appears to be yet thought of, and, even if it was at once commenced, the country would be totally stripped of its present stock of timber long before those plantations would be able to afford any appreciable supply of even the softest and most valueless description of wood. And now if, in addition to the course I have pointed out, of saving even to that extent our scanty stock, any information given in this exposition of the supply question, should have the effect of inducing oui license holders and lumbermen to husband their resources and not throw them away, as has hitherto been too much the case, I shall feel that my labor in that respect has been of some service to them and the country. I have now given the only course left us for eking out the time of the total exhaustion of our forest, and when that time is reached — when, instead of our receiving twenty-five millions of dollars annually from our forest, we will be required to send double that amount out of the country for supplies,! will not venture to express an opinion of its effects on our industries but will merely remark that it would be well for every business man to be prepared to, as our neighbors across the line expressively phrase it, " stand from under." JAMES LITTLE. Montreal, July 1st, 1876. Note.— White pine in Canada is known in Great Britain as yellow pine. Since the first edition was publislicd I have had several communications from Michigan and Wisconsin, in which it is stated that I have largely over-cstimalc:l the amount of supply in those States ; I have not, however, made any alteration in the figures. \ ^0