USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol II > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
Reference has been made from time to time to the lumber raft which was used until 1880. According to Defebaugh, "the pine and
609
LUMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS
hemlock were laid from twenty-four to thirty courses deep, several courses projecting above the surface of the water. Each course was laid at right angles to the preceding one, and this served to hold the lumber together. As most of the lumber was in sixteen foot lengths [this certainly was not true of the Glens Falls area] the lumber squares thus formed measured sixteen feet on each edge. These were made into a raft. The customary size of a raft was 148 feet in width and 160 feet in length. A raft of this size, containing twenty-five courses, would include 180,000 feet of lumber or more. In addition, a deck load of shingles or dressed lumber was often taken along for sale at some market en route. The rafting crew lived on the raft, in rough shanties erected for the purpose. Three oars on each side of the raft permitted it to be handled in the river. The crew included twelve or eighteen men. When there was good water a raft would make from forty to fifty miles a day, tying up at the bank at night." Early lumber- men claimed that the marketing of their product by raft was superior to carrying it overland because immersion in water tended to remove the sap. These rafts accumulated considerable dirt as a rule, however, and it is doubtful whether the owners of the planing mills that finished the lumber always agreed that rafting was the better method of transporta- tion.
The nature of the lumber industry made some regulations essen- tial. In New York State the first legislation inspired by lumbermen and intended for their relief was an act passed in 1804 to prevent the stopping of timber, and embezzlement, on the Hudson. However, if a raft owner permitted a raft to remain too long on private property, the owner of the land could take the timber for his own use. In 1831 the use of log marks on the Hudson was made compulsory. The first act providing punishment for persons cutting timber on State lands was passed in 1826. Rivers were the main highways of logs and timber and it was essential that they should not be obstructed. The Salmon River was made a public highway in 1806, the Schroon in 1819, the Saranac in 1846, the Chateaugay in 1851, and the Sacandaga in 1869. From time to time rivers were improved by appropriations for that purpose, in addition. Sale of State lands was prohibited in 1883 in the counties of Clinton, Essex, Saratoga and Warren. Regulations con- cerned with the State's forest preserves concern lumbering only from a
C & G-39
610
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
negative angle and more properly belong to our discussion of con- servation.
There were various methods of estimating and measuring standing timber, which were employed by experts called "timber cruisers." They were necessarily experts in their field or they would not remain long in this profession. As a rule they understood lumbering from beginning to end. Previous experience in the woods felling trees, cut- ting them up into logs, skidding them, scaling them, and finally haul- ing them to the mill had taught the cruisers how many logs were needed to manufacture a given quantity of lumber, and other experi- ence around mills while working as sawyers, pilers, or jack loggers was also of considerable assistance. After many long years of prac- tice they became experts in judging the amount of timber standing on a given area. As Knechtel pointed out in the 1900 report of the For- est, Fish and Game Commission the disadvantages under which each cruiser worked were great. "There was the density of timber, never the same on different tracts. The average volume of individual trees troubled him as the trees were taller on some tracts than on others. In the matter of estimating defective material he had to largely 'go it blind,' while his judgement of area was likely to be greatly at fault." In spite of these disadvantages, however, these vague estimates were satisfactory in the day when timber was abundant and lumber was cheap. As time went on expert guessing was replaced by a number of more or less scientific methods which are more or less complicated as well.
Even after the opening of the nineteenth century, tools and labor- saving appliances were few and crude. The double-bitted ax had not been invented and so the woodsmen used a single bit. Even this was home-made, the curved hickory handle being made by hand, and the bit itself being fashioned by the nearest blacksmith. As a rule tree trunks were chopped, instead of sawed, into logs because cross- cut saws had to be imported from England and were therefore scarce and costly. At first logs were seldom skidded. They were cut so close to the mills that they were hauled directly to the saw, skidways being made only for a surplus supply. The lumberman was generally also a farmer and thus was able to make use of his oxen during most of the year. Fox claims that "in those days the oxen did not wait for the teamster to swear at them before starting a load. It was not
611
LUMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS
until later years that the oxen got that idea." Rather than skid logs and transport them any great distance the tendency was for the early lumberman to move his mill into a new tract of timber. Not until about 1813 was the idea conceived of driving logs down rivers to mills instead of moving mills to the logs.
Log driving originated with the Fox brothers, Warren County lumbermen, who sent the first log drive down the Schroon and Hud- son to their mill at Glens Falls. Their example was swiftly followed by others, and for seventy-five years the large sawmills at Glens Falls, Hudson Falls and Fort Edward obtained their stock this way.
Log driving on rivers made the marking of logs essential. This was done by a hammer which stamped an impression on the ends of the logs before they were shoved into the water. This was not only a protection against stealing, but also enabled each lumberman to dis- tinguish his own logs from those of his neighbors. On the upper Hudson in particular there were many firms engaged in logging, and it is said that their ingenuity was taxed to devise new and distinctive marks. The stamping of logs was just as essential to the early lum- berman in this area as the branding of cattle was to the westerner of a later era. But for these marks, the huge log traffic on the Hudson and its tributaries would have been in utter confusion and chaos. Because of their use, the sorting of the enormous quantities of logs at the big boom above Glens Falls was a possibility.
Lumbering was a dangerous occupation. In the words of Wil- liam Fox: "The causes are various; a heavy limb falls, broken by the wind; a tree 'lodges,' and, springing back at the stump, kills the axeman; a load of logs 'shoves' the team down some grade in the road, and the driver is thrown underneath or dashed against a road- side tree ; a tier of logs starts suddenly, and a man is crushed to death; a jam on the log drive breaks without warning, and a man is lost; another while fighting a forest fire, finds his retreat cut off and is burned; another disappears in the current of the spring flood; while in the mills there is the gruesome sight of men killed by falling on the saws."
For some reason or other, the lumbermen of the Adirondack area cut practically all their logs thirteen feet long, although everywhere else in the United States, including Vermont, the standard length was sixteen feet or some other even number. The reason for adopting
612
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
this odd length may never be established beyond all doubt. Perhaps the original lumbermen of the Adirondacks were liberal-minded and considered their logs twelve feet long, throwing in an extra foot for good measure, as a baker might add an extra doughnut to his dozen. Whether or not this is the true explanation, in modern times logs have been figured as thirteen, not twelve, feet.
In the buying and selling of logs it was important to scale saw logs scientifically : that is, to measure them according to some stand- ard unit of quantity. In the United States as a whole, about two hun- dred of such rules have been used at one time or another. The idea of buying and selling logs by count, using a specified size as a stand- ard unit, originated with Norman Fox, a pioneer lumberman of War- ren County, who represented that district in the State Legislature. Naturally, since it was the practice in the upper Hudson to cut thir- teen-foot logs, the Glens Falls or Adirondack standard used in that area was based on that length of timber. One such log, nineteen inches in diameter inside the bark at the small end of the log consti- tuted one "market" and would make two hundred board feet. Five markets thus would make a thousand board feet. In all the eastern section of the Adirondacks from Glens Falls to Peru, and in the Lake Placid area as well, this standard was unchallenged. Logs are apt not only to be irregular in cross-section, but to vary in length by inches, as well as feet. To determine the diameter of a log, the average was used. That is, if it measured sixteen inches one way and fourteen the other, it was recorded as a fifteen-inch log. If the aver- age was fourteen and three-fourths it was called a fifteen-inch log, but if it was fourteen and a half or fourteen and a quarter it was recorded as a fourteen. As to length, it was customary to allow at least three inches for trimming allowance. If a log was thirteen feet, three inches or more it was called thirteen, but if it measured just thirteen feet it was recorded at the next lower standard length. Along the Saranac River, a twenty-two-inch log constituted a market. Around Saratoga Springs the International Log Rule, based on a twelve-foot log, is now favored, and in 1930 the State Legislature gave it preferred status in contracts in cases where no log rule was mentioned. Other well- known standards are the Doyle, which favors buyers of timber because it underscales logs that are less than twenty inches in diam- eter; and the Scribner, which is the best for measuring hardwood logs.
613
LUMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS
Most of the paragraphs dealing with methods and practices in the logging industry have described primarily the past and, sometimes, the fairly distant past; but the truth is that changes in this field have not been radical. Improvements have been made in tools and mechan- ical appliances, and transportation by land has been perfected, but the general principles remain the same in this area. Trees have to be felled, and logs skidded, scaled and loaded or floated. An expert at these tasks in 1800 would be considered an expert today. The great- est changes in the lumber industry tended to take place in the manu- facture of logs into the finished product, rather than in logging meth- ods. Today the slaughter of the forests in both Vermont and New York, so far as lumber is concerned, has nearly ceased, and this indus- try which was so predominant in the past has taken a place of com- parative unimportance; but the tremendous effect it had in the devel- opment of both states has clearly entitled it to a position of honor in the history of this region.
The lumber barons were not alone, however, in the slaughter of the virgin forests. They received plenty of help from others, includ- ing tanners. Hemlock timber existed on both sides of the Champlain Valley and in the upper Hudson. In most parts of Vermont it was found in abundance. In the Adirondacks it was of inferior dimension and poor quality when compared with hemlock found farther south in the Catskills, but it nevertheless assumed increasing importance when white pine became scarce. At first, hemlock timbers were allowed to rot in the woods after the bark had been peeled off for the tanneries.
Of our entire eleven counties Warren was most influenced by the tanning industry. What happened here was repeated on a lesser scale elsewhere. Its development was more recent than lumbering. As late as 1830 there was no record of any products of Warren County's tanneries being sent over the Champlain Canal. By 1864, however, $1,000,000 worth was shipped by this method alone. Some communities, such as North Creek, date their birth to the establish- ment of tanneries. In 1855, Warren County's leather products were valued at $1,042,340; while by 1865 this had increased to $1,775,971. On both occasions this county produced almost double the amount contributed by the other four New York counties combined. Sara- toga County was second in each case with $341,000 and $463, 100. In 1855 there were fourteen tanneries in operation in Warren County,
614
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
thirteen in Clinton and Washington, ten in Essex and nine in Sara- toga. Later, as hemlock became scarce, tanneries were compelled to give up business because of the lack of supply of bark. The State Forest Commission's report for 1885 stated that there were six tan- neries in Warren County, using 15,000 cords of bark altogether, from 45,000 trees. The census of 1900 indicated that only 32,048 cords of hemlock bark were produced in the entire State of New York, and only 1,937 cords in all Vermont. Like lumbering, tanning is today quite definitely an industry of the past.
Bark peeling begins in the early summer because it is only from about May twentieth to August twentieth that it will peel easily. As described by William Fox: "The best axemen are detailed for the felling of the large hemlocks. Others with their axes girdle the fallen tree trunks at intervals of four feet, and these are followed by men with 'spuds,' an iron tool with which they peel or pry loose the bark. The first 'ring,' the one at the base of the tree, is taken off before the tree is felled; otherwise, the cutting at the stump would spoil this piece of bark. Another gang works as 'swampers,' or in piling or ranking the bark ready for hauling. With the approach of autumn the sap ceases to flow; the bark consequently sticks to the tree, and the work of peeling is ended for that year."
Charcoal burning exhausted the forests more completely than either the lumber or tanning industries in those areas where it was carried on. This business was confined largely to the northern section of the Adirondacks, including Clinton and Essex counties, where it was subservient to the iron industry. In 1885, the Chateaugay Ore and Iron Company alone had one hundred and twenty-six charcoal kilns with an average capacity of from thirty-five to forty cords of wood. At the same time, the J. & J. Rogers Iron Company of Ausable Forks had fifty kilns scattered over the Essex County town- ships of Jay, Keene, and Wilmington, and eight in Black Brook, Clin- ton County. These eight alone produced 1,000 bushels of charcoal daily. In 1900, a total of 900,348 bushels was produced in New York State as a whole, and 100,000 bushels in Vermont. Later charcoal was largely supplanted by coke; but while this era lasted large areas of forests were completely cleaned out as all trees, large and small, were taken to the kilns.
Of the major industries whose activity meant the destruction of our forests, the most recent was that of wood-pulp production. This
615
LUMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS
began in the United States in 1867, when print paper was first made of wood-pulp instead of rags. By 1870 there were eight ground- wood mills in the country, and by 1880 there were more than forty. At first the New York mills used poplar only, but soon turned to spruce, and finally to hemlock, pine, basswood, white birch and bal- sam as well. What the lumber industry had done to the white pine, and the tanneries had done to the hemlock, the pulp mills now did to poplars and spruce. Most trees were cut, both large and small. The largest spruce tree ever known in the Adirondacks, which was forty- one inches in diameter on the stump, was cut for pulp, while pieces as small as four inches across were also saved and utilized for the mak- ing of paper. The standard length of pulpwood was four feet, and the timber was peeled before shipment in order to save freight. This was dangerous because the bark when dried out became a common source of forest fires. As a rule the pulp was hauled to the railroad directly or driven downstream to mills or some place where it could be loaded on trains. One novel method of moving pulp was by water slides. These consisted of long troughs built down the mountain side, streams of water being diverted into them at the top to reënforce the law of gravity. Rogers Pulp Company of Ausable Forks had a water slide seven and one-half miles long, emptying into the Ausable River.
In the early days of the pulp industry, New York and the New England States constituted the main manufacturing center in this field. By 1885, a mill at Ticonderoga consumed 6,000 cords of wood, one at Luzerne used the equivalent of 5,000 market logs, another at Jes- sup's Landing (Corinth) used 15,000 markets, and yet another, at Ballston Spa, used 20,000 markets. In 1897, the largest manufac- turer was the Rogers Company of Ausable Forks, using 32,931 cords of pulp. In 1898, when the total cut of logs in the Adirondacks amounted to 544,234,207 feet, 229,581,918 of this was consumed in pulp mills. Of 293 mills located in the United States in 1900, 102 were located in New York. The primacy of this one State was best indicated by the fact that the State next in importance (Wisconsin) had but thirty-seven. The high peak of pulp consumption in the Empire State was reached in 1905, when 1,302,000 cords were used. Even now it remains an important industry, 574,900 cords being con- sumed in 1936, only four states outranking New York. Vermont's con- sumption reached a peak of 116,800 cords in 1920, but by 1936 had
616
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
declined to 14,400 cords. In 1930 spruce was the only kind consumed in either State in important quantities. At that time all Vermont's pulp was supplied by the domestic market, while nearly half of New York's was imported.
There are some mills in Vermont, but they are very much over- shadowed by those in New York. In fact the Empire State has more wood-pulp mills than any other in the Union (fifty-three out of two hundred and fifty-five), whereas Vermont has but three. New York also leads all States in paper-mills with a total of one hundred and twenty-seven, compared with ten in Vermont. The New York prod- ucts in this field that are of great importance are newsprint, tissue- paper, and wrapping-paper. The 1914 "Report on Manufactures" rated wood-pulp and paper as the second most important industry, not only in Glens Falls, but also in Plattsburgh. The latter has also been important in connection with the importation of wood-pulp, and 21,986 tons were brought in through that city back in 1905.
Of all the companies in this section of the United States, the most important is the International Paper Company. This is said to be the largest newsprint concern in the world, although two others produce more in the United States alone. In the period from 1924 to 1929, it had fifteen paper-mills operating in our country, as compared with nineteen it originally had when it was incorporated in 1898. Of these, one was located in Vermont and seven in New York. From 1926 to 1928 the International Paper Company's production in America decreased from 349,241 to 165,405 tons. At the same time it increased its foreign activities, stepping up production at Three Rivers, Canada, and building new plants in both Canada and Newfoundland.
On October 29, 1928, an event of great importance shook the entire pulp and paper business when the International made an agree- ment with the Newspaper & Magazine Paper Corporation, purchasing agent for the Hearst papers, to furnish a large quantity of paper at a price from seven to ten dollars per ton less than the regular rate. It was the general practice of other paper producers to follow the lead of International in setting prices, and when this company prepared to offer its other customers the same rates as it did Hearst, the situation looked bad to the rest of the industry. The prime ministers of the two Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario intervened, however, in behalf of the newsprint manufacturers of their country and finally
617
LUMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS
by threats of disciplinary action forced an increase of five dollars per ton in the contract between International and the Hearst organiza- tion. The Newsprint Institute of Canada, which controlled about 70 per cent of the paper produced in Canada, was formed during that controversy to control prices in the future. The International did not join, however.
This company's activities were not confined to the production of pulp and paper, but occupied a much wider field. The Federal Trade Commission reported in 1930 that the International was the only manufacturer of newsprint that financed newspaper publications to any considerable extent. This assistance was rendered in return for long-term contracts for paper. The International had seventy such customers, including the "Albany Evening News" and the "Albany Knickerbocker Press." During the progress of the investigation, how- ever, it disposed of practically all its stock and securities in the pub- lishing business. The International Paper Company was also very much interested in the public utility field, to the extent of $500,000,- 000. The investigation of the Federal Trade Commission, however, paved the way for the passage, in 1935, of the Public Utility Holding Company Act with its so-called "death sentence" for holding com- panies. Since then the International has come to terms with the Securities Exchange Commission, and on January 31, 1939, the direc- tors, meeting in Boston, voted to confine their activities to paper and other non-utility interests.
Another major newsprint paper manufacturer in this area is the firm of Finch, Pruyn & Company, at Glens Falls. It was created about 1865, but did not begin paper production until 1905. Origi- nally it was primarily concerned with the manufacture of lumber, black marble and lime. By 1876 it owned all the sawmills located on the Glens Falls side of the Hudson. In 1900 it produced 16,700,000 feet of lumber, consisting of 13,800,000 spruce, 2,000,000 hemlock, 840,000 pine and 60,000 hardwood. In 1905, however, this industry was forced to move over to make room for a new bedfellow. During the first full year of operation, 13,506 tons of ground wood, and 15,718 tons of paper were produced. Although the company felt the depression in 1932 and 1933, 39,665 tons of wood-pulp and 43,679 tons of paper were made in 1935, and the mills were operating at near capacity. All of its wood comes from the Adirondacks, the spruce from
618
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
this area being superior to the Canadian wood supply. In 1936, Finch, Pruyn & Company supplied all or part of the requirements of fifty-six daily newspapers, and today is a decidedly healthy and vig- orous organization.
Paper-making in Vermont began at Bennington far back in 1784, the product being brought to New York State on horseback. Ten years later Matthew Lyon was manufacturing paper at Fair Haven. By 1810 there were eleven paper-mills in the State. As a rule most of the paper was made from rags. Wood-pulp was first used at Bellows Falls, which today is the principal paper-making center of Vermont. This community, however, is outside the geographical boundaries of this work. In 1930, the production of paper, wood-pulp and fiber remained important to Vermont.
The making of paper is a highly complicated process, requiring technically trained supervisors and highly skilled workers. Salary and labor ratios are therefore comparatively high. Considerable capi- tal is necessary in paper production and this industry is no place for a small business man. Although the present trend in wood-pulp produc- tion is toward the south and west, paper manufacturers have not shown an equal tendency to migrate. This is partly due to the fact that many of them buy their pulp rather than produce it themselves.
There are other products made from the wood of our forests, and the most important of these is furniture. These industries are very much specialized, like the paper-making industry, but as a rule are less concentrated. In the State of Vermont as a whole, in 1930, furni- ture alone was produced worth $3,600,000.
Although maple syrup and maple sugar are listed as agricultural products they come from our forests. They are made in both north- ern New York and Vermont; but it is the latter State that leads all others in production, and which is most closely associated with the making of maple syrup. At the turn of the century most of the sap was converted into solid sugar rather than into syrup. In 1897, Ver- mont produced 14, 123,92 1 pounds of sugar as compared with 993,68 5 gallons of syrup. Since then an astounding change has taken place. In 1935, only seven per cent. was sugar, whereas ninety-three per cent. was syrup. This reversal was due partly to a change in taste, and the substitution of cane and beet sugar, and partly to the increased use of syrup in the manufacture of cigarettes.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.