USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 37
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The progress made in the methods of mining during the mining his- tory of the Upper Peninsula, have not been confined alone to the object of cheapening the cost of prodnetion, though wonders have been aecom- plished in that direction, but they have followed also the lines of safety to and comfort of the mining employees; and in this direction are no- tieed improved safety appliances upon mining machinery, wherever the same is possible, and the use of steel shafts and cement buildings. in the place of the wood formerly used, tending largely to reduce the danger from fire; and besides these the numerous club-houses, libraries. and other quarters provided and maintained by the progressive mining cor- porations for the comfort, entertainment and enlightenment of their em- ployces, attest a spirit that speaks volumes for the future prosperity of the mining localities, and that harmony between employer and em- ployce so essential to their mutnal welfare,
Vol. 1-19
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CHAPTER XVI THE LUMBER INDUSTRY
RUTHLESS DESTRUCTION OF TIMBER-INDUSTRY FOUNDED IN 1850-IM- PORTANCE OF MENOMINEE DISTRICT-IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION FA- CILITIES-NOW AND THEN-EARLY BUYING OF PINE LANDS-PIONEER LOGGING CAMPS-LOG DRIVING-FIRST AND MODERN MILLS-PIONEER AND GREAT LUMBER COMPANIES-MENOMINEE RIVER BOOM COMPANY -THE PINE LUMBER BUSINESS-ESTIMATE OF PENINSULA PRODUCT.
Michigan has been notoriously a lumber-producing state, and the Upper Peninsula, notwithstanding its buried treasures of copper and iron (the richest in the world for the territorial area), presented possi- bilities to the early lumbermen equal to the most favorable of lumbering locations. A very large proportion of the territory was heavily timbered, and it is safe to say that if the timber that has been cut in this Penin- sula was today preserved in live-timber growth it would be worth more than all the wealth of all the farm, city and town property, including factories of every kind, but not including mines.
RUTHLESS DESTRUCTION OF TIMBER
To the eye of the first lumberman the stately white pine was about the only kind of lumber worthy of consideration, and, as to that, there are men in the Peninsula now, who commenced lumbering here in the fifties, who vouch that in those days the white pine was so abundant,- the area so large and the growth so heavy and tall-that no one thought it could ever be cut. It was a short step from that seeming unlimited supply of one of the most valuable of forest productions to this time, when white pine trees are few in this land of their nativity. The uni- versal idea that the supply was unlimited, the liberality of the govern- cent, to the degree of laxness, in allowing this natural resource to pass in unlimited quantities into private ownership for the mere pittance of $1.25 per acre, and the coming of the period of rapid world-development, creating a vast demand for lumber, just as this valuable timber became obtainable, were responsible for a wasteful extravagance almost if not quite inexcusable.
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A Lake Lumber Camp When the Logs Come Down
[By courtesy of Nettie Steffensen.Thorborg]
The Dump
Giants of the Forest Great Water Power
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True, vast fortunes were made by a few men, who were in at the opportune time and appreciated the opportunity; and prosperous com- munities have developed largely as the result of the activities initiated and carried on by them, but, had there then been exercised even a small degree of the care and conservatism of the lumberman of today, as much or more could have been realized as has been, and at least half the stand- ing pine could have been preserved, and, standing, it would now have a value of twenty-five to fifty times its original cost. Large tracts of pine timber would cut an average of 250,000 feet per 40 acres, and the government price was $50 per 40, which would be 20 cents per thousand. Good white pine on the stump today is almost priceless, varying accord- ing to quality and convenience of access at from $10 to $25 per thou- sand.
The opening of the mines opened also a field for smelting furnaces, which, in turn, created a demand for charcoal. A number of furnaces were construeted in various parts of the Peninsula, and, as a result, large areas of hard-wood lands were stripped of their timber contents, and the beautiful maple, birch, beach and other hard woods were ruth- lessly piled into kilns and burned to coal. A stumpage price of 25 cents per thousand bought many, many a large- tract of beautiful hard woods for charcoal purposes, as late as the seventies, which, if standing today, would be worth at least fifteen times that amount. But the era of char- coal blast furnaces was short, for the owners of timber land soon learned that the methods adopted by the lumbermen would make quick work of the white pine, and that then other woods must take its place. The Pen- insula contained a very large variety of woods, many of which have proved valuable for lumber, shingles, etc. As already mentioned, pine was the timber to which value was first given, and it is true that, as to most sections of this Peninsula, other timber standing on the land with pine was not reckoned in fixing the value of the land. In fact, for years after government lands eame on the market at $50 per forty, few forties were purchased except for the pine that grew thereon, and, in the min- ing countries, except for the prospects of mineral.
It was many years after the mills of the Peninsula began active op- erations, before hemlock, now a valuable lumber product, was given any recognition in the making of transfer values, and it is only within the last thirty years that cedar lands came into good demand, though they have been now, in large part, cut over.
INDUSTRY FOUNDED IN 1850
Prior to 1850 very little was done in the way of lumbering in the Upper Peninsula, and for very good reasons, either of several of which is sufficient. In the first place, settlement of the adjacent states was so little advanced that they made slight demand for lumber, and, next, transportation facilities were inadequate, but, perhaps the best reason is found in the fact that until the government land surveys had been completed and the lands put upon the market there was no way to ob-
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tain title to the timber lands. This last mentioned obstacle being removed close to the half century mark. the decade from 1850 to 1860 saw large purchases of timbered lands, and the construction of numerous mills.
Prior thereto there had been small mills constructed at various places, principally to accommodate local demand, but furnishing some surplus to be sent to such market as could be obtained. For those mills the timber, of course, had to come from the publie lands. In those days the river and harbor improvements and the magnificent freighting ves- sels of today were not even dreamed of, and such lumber as was shipped was, as a rule, loaded twice, first on a lighter that transported it to and delivered it upon the sailing eraft anchored in deep water to receive it.
Of those early mills mention will be made in the histories of their various localities, and it should be considered that lumbering in this peninsula, in a commercial sense, had its beginning about the year 1850 to 1855.
IMPORTANCE OF MENOMINEE DISTRICT
At the present time, and for years past the lumbering business is and has been distributed all through the Peninsula, on railroads and rivers as well as at lake ports, but in the beginning of the industry it was almost wholly confined to points along the lake at the out-let of drivable streams. Menominee has at all times in the history of lum- bering in the Upper Peninsula, been and still is the most important point in this industry, and the south and southeast shore of the Penin- sula has been the scene of a very large percentage of all the lumbering that has been done. This has been the natural result of the physical construction of the country, which, as has already been described, drains the territory from the water shed within a few miles of Lake Superior, sonth to the waters of Green bay. So, too, Menominee has been the principal lumbering point because, from its location at the month of the Menominee river it has, jointly with Marinette, on the Wisconsin side, had the supply of timber from the vast area drained by the Menominee and its numerous large tributaries, among which are the Brule, continuing on the state boundary, the Sturgeon, Paint, Iron and Little Cedar on the Michigan side, and the Wausaukee, Pike and Pembine on the Wisconsin side. Nearly all this large territory was natural pine country, but in a considerable part of it. the pine of most excellent quality was interspersed among a fine growth of hard woods. There were many large tracts of solid pine growths, and, throughout the swampy portions, solid bodies of cedar and tamarack. Cedar of fine quality was also found growing among the hard woods in many parts of the country. The Escanaba is the next river of importance in this connection, and this, too, with its numerous tributaries, has contributed vast quantities of lumber to the commerce of the world. Other rivers of importance that have served as nature's highways for the transportation of her products to points on the Green bay shore are Ford, Manistique and Cedar rivers. The lumber industries of each receives specific men-
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tion in the history of the respective counties. The Ontonagon is prob- ably the most prominent from a lumbering standpoint, of the rivers flowing north.
IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES
At first only the timber that was close to the streams was considered desirable, but as operations proceeded, transportation facilities improved, and the demand for Inmber increased, longer hauls of logs to the river were made, and interior mills were constructed at convenient junction points of rail and water, or on railroads in himber distriets distant from rivers. Logging railways were also constructed on which to haul the timber growing in considerable tracts distant from the river, which last method has been very generally adopted by the large mills in the inte- rior to hanl logs direct to the mills, as well as by river lumbermen to put into the river such logs as are so far from a waterway that rail hauling is les e pen ive then that by teams.
NOW AND THEN
A very recent innovation in log-hanling is the use of monster trac- tion engines, by means of which vast sleigh trains of logs are hauled from forest to mill on ordinary logging roads without the use of either tram or rail. This enables the operator to ent a road into the heart of a tim- ber body of any kind or kinds of timber, cut the land clear of every marketable variety, and hanl the entire produet to his mill or market. A number of these powerful engines are in nse now in the Peninsula, and their use is nicely illustrated in the accompanying cuts showing the tram hauling the logs from the forest to the roll-ways near the mill at Cedar river, in Menominee county.
This method is quite in contrast with the ox team and travois with which early hauling was done, and even with the later methods of heavy team hauling on iced roads, and has its advantages over the logging rail- way in that it gets more readily into the source of supply. The en- gine is of great weight and propels its train by means of an endless chain which is run under its heavily weighted wheels.
EARLY BUYING OF PINE LANDS
In lumbering the log must be secured from the forest before it can be put to the saw, and so, in the history of lumbering, by our great lum- ber companies, the title to the timber had to be first seenred before the log could be cut, at least proverbially so, though it is common in lumber cireles to say that in those palmy days, before the value of the timber was appreciated by the officers of the government, there were lumber- men who would buy a forty and ent a section. No doubt the practice of trespassing upon the government lands was indulged in to quite a large extent; still the practice can hardly be charged against the luni- bermen as a whole, but rather against unscrupulous individuals, some of whom were later brought to the bar of justice and made to ac.
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count for such misdeeds as the government could establish against them by proofs.
As to the purchase of the lands from the government there was much strife between the early lumbermen, not because of there not being pine enough for all comers, but to secure the nicest timber adja- cent to drivable streams; and, in the very early days, near the mouth of those streams, so that it could almost be said the timber was fallen from the stump into the mouth of the mill.
A good illustration of the methods then in vogue is found in a story of actual experience written by John J. Sherman, now deceased, late of Marinette, Wisconsin, while seeking pine on the Michigan side of the Menominee, and only about five miles from the river's mouth. The story is as follows :
"My first interview with the grand old river was at Chappie Rapids early in November, 1853, when I came over from Peshtigo, where I had landed from an old lumber brig sailed from Chicago by Captain Murphy, a most excellent sailor of those early days. We left Chicago under full sail with a brisk south wind, and early the second night out were at Port De Morts, or Death's Door. In the act of coming up to the wind to enter the Door we were met by a gale of wind from the northwest ; the old brig failed to come in stays, and the captain was obliged to wear ship, and, in doing so, we passed out within twenty-five feet of the Door bluff's, reaching the open lake where we scudded under bare poles until we were abreast of Milwaukee, when the wind abated sufficiently to enable the captain to again make sail and again bead ber for Green Bay. The wind was very light and always ahead, so that we were nearly six days in reaching Peshtigo anchorage. The passengers were my three uncles, brothers of Henry Bentley, and myself. We landed safely and pro- ceeded to walk up to the Peshtigo mill. Met Henry Bentley a mile or two below the mill where be said be was out looking for the oxen. thinking he might find one fit for beef. There were no regular supplies of fresh meat in those days; an occasional fat ox, and in the season quite a plentiful supply of good fat vension which the Indians killed in abundance.
"Shortly after landing at Peshtigo, together with a party of five or six men, I came over to the Menominee river to examine and locate pine timber lands at the Chappie Rapids. We met Dr. J. C. Hall who then was living in a small house on the high ground about forty rods below the present catch-marking gap of the Boom Company, which is the Menominee end of the second, or old dam. The doctor had gone up the river from his place in a canoe, or dugout, of fairly good size, and had assumed the commissariat of the party. Now, while the doctor was a most bounti- ful provider in his own house, or generally in camps, he was the hardest man to go on a tramp with that I ever met. On this occasion he had provided a chunk of salt pork, about fifteen pounds, a couple of pounds of tea, a tin kettle to boil water in, and intended a fairly good supply of bard-tack for a company of six men for a week, but inadvertently the bag of hard tack had been left behind. The doctor had his fowling piece with him, and we found in the canoe a bag such as shot usually comes in, holding fourteen pounds of shot, nearly full of hard bread which had been carried in a pack until it was reduced to a powder; so the doctor thought we could get along. We would only need two meals a day and that would be a fairly good slice of the salt pork, one pinch of the powdered bard tack and a cup of tea, upon which we would start out in the morning and tramp and estimate pine timber all day. At night we bad a supper similar to the breakfast. The second morning Mr. Bentley said to me, 'Jobn, I shall have to go back to Peshtigo as I left things there pretty slack and it won't do for me to be away, the other boys will stay and you will get through in a day or two.' I said ' All right I can stand it, if the rest can.' That night Sands Baker, a cousin of mine and one of the party, suddenly remem- bered that he had left some work unfinished at Peshtigo and he would have to leave the next day, and Terry Fox and Tom MeCarthy left at noon without any excuse. I began to see a grim humor in the situation and set my jaws together and said to myself, 'Old man I will stay as long as you do, or die in the attempt,' and I did. Saturday morning we ate the last morsel except two small slices of pork, and started
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out for our day's work. I had to buckle my belt up two or three holes, but we put in the day, and as we came into camp that night the doctor shot a partridge, the first game we had been able to get. We dressed that partridge; the doctor divided it in the middle, gave me one half, and we proceeded to broil it on the coals, sea- woning it with the small slices of pork, and it was the sweetest morsel I ever ate. After our supper the doctor said we would go down the river to Pete Lemeres and write up the minutes of the lands we had examined, supposing they would have candles for light; we found they bad not one in the house, but Mrs. Lemere said she had some fat pork Pete had brought up from the mouth that day, and that a slice of that would burn and give us a light. So she proceeded to cut some long narrow strips of fat pork which we lighted the end of, one at a time, and the doctor proceeded to write up his minutes occupying the time until about half past eleven o'clock when he remarked that those minutes ought to go to Peshtigo that night, as the mail boat would pass sometime the next day and that unless they were gotten to the land-office at the Sault Ste. Marie soon, the Soo Canal Company, who had a crew of men examining the same lands, would get ahead of us and we should loose our hard work. I said . All right, I can carry them over to Peshtigo right away.' Pete Lemere set me across the river in a canoe and showed me the trail which I could only see with my feet, as it was one of the darkest nights I ever experienced. I could feel the bushes on either side with my hands and feel the path with my feet. As it was a pony trail and some several inches deep, I succeeded in getting over to the Peshtigo river at Place's Rapids. From there it was four miles down to the Mills, where I arrived about four o'clock in the morning, and was soon in bed and fast asleep. I was awake at breakfast time, which was not quite as early on Sun- day morning ns on other days of the week. I bunted up Uncle Bentley and gave him the minutes, when he said Si Brooks would be along in the 'Scott' that afternoon with the mail for Green Bay and that I would have to get ready and take the minutes and the land warrants: go down to Levi Hales, who kept a fishing station at or near the mouth of the Peshtigo; keep a sharp lookout for the 'Scott' and when she came along get Hale to send me out to her with a seine boat. The 'Scott' came along with a light breeze about four o'clock in the afternoon, and Mr. Hale very kindly get me aboard of her, whereupon I found the Soo Canal Company cruis- ers already on board of her having finished their work and on their way home with their minutes of examinations. I discreetly kept quiet about my business, learning from their conversation that they would go to Chicago, thence to Detroit, and thence by steamer to the Soo. I decided that I would go to Milwaukee and take my chances of getting a steamer to the Soo direct. It took two days' time to go from Green Bay to Milwaukee. We made rather a quick trip and arrived in Milwaukee same afternoon on the second day. I went direct to the steamboat office and was de- lighted to learn that the steamer 'Garden City' was expected along that afternoon for the Soo direct. She came about four o'clock, whereupon I took passage and in due season I arrived at the land-office. I proceeded at once to make application for my lands. There I first met Isaac Stephenson, who informed me that he was there to enter lands upon the Menominee for the Ludingtons, and that he had no doubt they would be glad to have him bid on any lands i might wish to enter. I said of course that was his privilege, but immediately began to improvise a list of lands of which I knew nothing, and which did not include the list which I had come to enter. In a short time, however, Isaac informed me that he would not interfere with my lands. I then went on and made my application and secured the entire list. We remained over night at the Soo and in the morning there were six inches of snow on the decks of the steamer They put out, however, and we run down to the Beaver islands which were then inhabited by Mormons. There was a hurricane of wind and we remained there several hours, but the captain fancied there was something wrong with the inhabitants, and started on our course notwithstanding the storm. Mr. Stephenson has since told me there was a plot to seize the steamer and her cargo. I knew nothing of it at the time. I went some three miles out on a logging road with an acquaintance I had made on the boat, and was not molested. That winter I went to Lake Noqueray and worked in a logging camp there, the first on that lake where many million feet of lumber have since been taken out."
PIONEER LOGGING CAMPS
The methods of early lumbering divided the work to accord with the seasons. The lumbermen entered the woods to cut and haul to the
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river during the winter the logs that should be sawed the following summer. Throughout the long winter months the men lived in the warm but rudely constructed logging camps, usually built of logs and covered with bark, and from this method of living they were called "Shanty Boys," and "Lumber Jacks." Their hours of work were con- trolled by the amount of daylight, and teamsters had to have their teams fed and cared for, and every one had to be "on the job" as early as daylight.
In many of the early logging camps the table fare was very plain and monotonous, consisting largely of beans, salt meats and bread, but as times progressed and competition entered largely into the field, so that in order to keep men they must be well fed, the table fare was greatly improved by the furnishing of fresh meats, and a variety of vegetables, sauces, pastry, etc. ; so that for many years the majority of the "Lumber Jacks" have set down to more sumptuous meals during their eamp life than during that portion in which they live at home with their own families.
As methods of logging improved and oxen largely gave way to horses for the hauling of logs, strife and competition between teamsters and even between camps, gave zest to the work; between teamsters in the appearance of their teams and the size of loads they could haul, and be- tween camps as to which could put in the largest amount of logs during the season. Notwithstanding the fact that the camp life meant a steady drive of hard work during every minute of daylight, and notwithstand- ing that work was often impeded by snow that fell to the depth of four or five feet, and the weather sometimes fell to twenty degrees be- low zero, and even at times to thirty degrees or more, there was much in the camp life of those early days that clings in pleasurable memories to the boys who have now become old men and are scattered throughout the world. The evenings were necessarily short, for, in order to meet the requirements of early rising. the bunks built in tiers upon the sides of the sleeping camp must be early occupied; but there was much of song and story in those evenings that endears eamp life to those who experienced it, and many warm friendships were established that will endure as long as life lasts.
LOG DRIVING
While the "boys" were in camp the lumber villages were usually quiet ; they existed as best they could during the winter, but became the scenes of activity when "the boys eame down" in the spring. The spring "drive" was at first not a matter of great importance, as the logs were banked so near the month of the streams; but as operations extended "up river" and onto the branches and small ereeks, it became all-important, for the operation of the mills depended on the coming down of the logs, and, to accomplish this, river improvements were made, including the construction of dams with sluiceways and gates for the control of the water. The "drivers" had to be on hand at the breaking
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LUMBER SCENES OF TODAY
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