Real Estate Record

AND   BUILDERS'   GUIDE.





Vol. YII.





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1871.





No. 164.





Published Weekly by

THE REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATIOIV.

TEEMS.

One year, In advance......................§6 00

All communications should bo addressed to

7 AKD 9 Warren Strekt.





Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by

C. W. SWEET,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

■             —■———





No receipt fx money due the EEAL Estate Eecord
vrill be acknowledged unless signed by one of our regular
collectors, Henry D. Smith or Thomas i". Cujimikgs.
All bills for collection will be sent from the office on a regu¬
larly printed form.





PATENT binders for preserving the Eecord can be had
at thc'offloe, or will be sent to any address in the city upon
the receipt of one dollar.





WHITE PINE.

The following summary and re-view of the
White Pine lumber interest, the conditions that
affect it in the present and bear on its future,
have been furnished us by a gentleman of this
cifcy who has given his attention for a number of
years to the study of this question, and who has
had large opportunities for obtaining informa¬
tion from intelligent lumbermen in those sec¬
tions and elsewhere.

The importance of the trade in white pine
lumber, the large amount of capital and in¬
dustry employed in ifc, and the quality of lum¬
ber manufactured in the States of Michigan,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania an¬
nually, to supply fche consumption of the West-
em States and Territories, and in parfc that of
New York and the New England States, and the
question of future supplies for the require¬
ments of increasing population and increasing
wants, and decreasing area of supply, are all
subjects of interest alike to the producer and
consumer.

In 1835 the so-caUed "pine land specula¬
tions " broke out violently in Maine, as a part
of the mania that then prevailed in all
parts of the United States and in aU
kinds of properfcy and merchandise. The
pine foirests of Maine were then considered
and called inexhaustible, and partly with jus¬
tice when estimated by the dimensions of the
trade at that time. But new markets were
sought out, and the pine went to South America,
the West Indies, Europe, Australia,.and Cali¬
fornia.. In twenty years the lumbermen of
Maine were seeking new fields of pine, and found
thein in New York, Pennsylyatiia, Michigan,
and Canada. Maine is now practically exhaust¬
ed in merchantable white pine, and the same
remark applies to all New England. The
amount remaining in. the State of New York
is small—too small to have any influence on
the Albany market. , .New York and New Eng¬
land have to look to Canada, on the north, and
Michigan, on the westj fdr -their supplies.





In Pennsylvania the Dela-vvare, the Lehigh,
the Schuylkill, and the'north branch of the
Susquehanna, are atlcut out "clean," leaving
but one field of pine—^that of the west branch
of the Susquehanna and its tributaries^—now re¬
maining in the ITnited States east of the Alle¬
ghany Mountains. This field has been so large¬
ly cut into that it is reduced to a comparatively
smaU area, and if the annual cuttings are con¬
tinued on the present scale—450 to 500 mU¬
lions of feet—six years would nearly clean that
section; but as the timber lands are now mostly
centred in few hands, pine in decreasing
quantities wiU be cut for a longer period, with
increasing profit as supplies diminish, to meet an
increasing demand. " The AUeghany and its
tributaries continue to produce moderately; but
Michigan is the great producing State at the
present time, and it is highly favored by nature
for lumbering, from its numerous rivers and
from being surrounded on the east, west, and
north by the Great Lakes. The streams
heading in the centre of the State flow to
Lakes Huron and Michigan, on the east and
west sides of the State, bearing the log product
of the pine lands of the northern half of
Michigan to the mUls which manufacture
them for the supply of the Chicago market
oh the one side, and the Lake ports and the
Eastern markets on the other. The lumber of
the Northern Peninsula goes to the same
markets by the Great Lakes; but this field, as
yet, has not been largely cut upon.

Wisconsin possesses large pineries in the
northern half of the State. A large amount is
annuaUy manufactured on the east side of the
State for the Chicago market, which is the
largest in the United States or in the world.
But the bulk of pine in this State naturaUy
determines to the Mississippi River, by the
rivers which drain the lands—the St. Croix, the
Chippewa, Black River, and the Wisconsin,
with other smaU streams.

Minnesota has pineries of considerable ex¬
tent, mainly iu the northeastern part of the
State. The annual cuttings from them go to
the Mississippi River, or by railroad to the
farmers of Iowa and Minnesota. Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, and Iowa, are destitute of pine, but
large consumers in'common with Missouri and
Kansas. The production of white pine in the
United States, estimated by the statistical data
collected, wiU probably not vary very much
from the foUowing.figures :—

I-EET.

Michigan: Average of the years 1868,1860,
and 1870, obtained "from the annual reports,

made mth great care___................. 1,800,000,000

Wisconsin and Minnesota...................1,250,000,000

Pennsylvania: logs and lon.g timber......... jj fi50,000,COO

New York and New England................    200,000,000

Total................................ 3,900,000,000

Add for long timber not included in above,
and cuttings of smaU local miUs..........     250,000,000

And the total would sum up................ 4,150,000,000

The value of this crop, allowing the value as
nlanufactnred.at the miU, withoufcthe addition;
of tmnsportation or profit to dealers, t6 be'
placed at the Tow average of $15 pesr M., add
the total value of shingles, laths, and pickets
manufactured, and long timber, and the total
•wiU aggregate seventy-five millions of doUars
as the minimum valuation at the points of; pro¬
duction; add transportation, yard expenses,
and profit, and it wiU amount to ISO.millions to
the consumer,
■ The statistics of the State of Michigan have





been made up annually, for seven years, from
returns gathered from nearly every miU in the
State and the different Boom Companies, and
they are more complete than those of any other
State. These reports have been compUed -with
great care by Messrs. Lewis & Headly, of East
Saginaw, Mich., and are regarded as a standard
authority. A partial summary gives the fol¬
lowing exhibit:—

FEET.

The lumber manufactured in Michigan was,
in 1868................................... 1,650,708,.538

The lumber manufactured in Michigan was,
in 1869.................:................1,999,804,431

The lumber manufactured in Michigan was,
in_1870..................................1,750,000,000

The amount of lumber manufactured during
1870 in the Saginaw VaUey, on the shore be¬
tween the mouth of the Saginaw and Sheboy¬
gan Rivers—Genesee County, Detroit, Port
Huron, Huron County, and other parts in East¬
ern Michigan, hardly varied in the aggregate
from the amount cut in 1869 1,000 miUions.
The west side differed, as appears by the
tables.

18C9.                  1870.

:   1-EET.                    FEEl".

Muskegon Countv............419.350,555         289,429,673

Ottawa         do. "............225;000,00O         176,000,000

Manistee      do.............170,000,000         115,800,000

Oceana         do.............85,000,000           67,000,000

Mason          do.    ............72,000,000           59,000,000

Grand Traverse..............19,000,000           26,500,900

South Haven, St. Jo., Holland 21,000,000        •  24,600,000

1,011,330,555         758,329,673

Decrease of amount, on the West Side, of
253,000,883; 7,000,000 of logs, averaging 250
feet to the log, were required for lSxe total
manufactured in Michigan in 1870.

The business in the Saginaw VaUey proper,
from the time of its beginning, in 1858, presents
remarkable features of gro-«vfii and importance.

In 1^3 the amount manufactured was___    1,500,000 feet.

" 1863..................................133,500,000   "

" 1864..................................215,000,000   "

"1865..................................250,6.39,340   "

" 1.S66..................................349,767,884   "

"186r..................................423,963,190   •'

"1868..................................457,396,225   "

"1869.................................523,500,830   "

"1870.................................576,726,606   "

showing an increase of over 400 per cent since
1863.

The increase in population and wealth is
equaUy astounding, hi 1860 the population of
six counties tributary to this Vj^ey was less
than 17,000. Now they contain 65,000, with
three cities of 7,000, 9,000, and 13,000 inhabi¬
tants respectively, in the Valley.

■The number of saw-mills in the VaUey was,
in 1868, 89; 1869, 83 ; 1870, 83. Mulay saws,
61; circular, 79 ; gangs, 51—total, 191.

Capital invested in mills......... .v___   $3,991,000

Number of men employed in mille......      -    3,124

The largest cutting by any miUs:

H. W. Sage & Co........'........'...   34,450,000 feet.

W. E. Burt & Co...................   18,047,083    "

Bust, Eaton & Co...................    15,500,000   "

Sears & Hollaad..................-•.    17,214,580    •'

A. W. Wright &.Co.................   16,682,774    "

A large number range between 8 and 13 mU¬
Uons.                                     '.

The amount of capital invested in timber ,
lands, and employed in lumbering and holding
the lumber untU ready for market counts by
miUions. The stock of manufactured lumber
left over on dock, Jan. 1871, was 130,^2,190
feet, of which 47,863,000 were sold, leaving a
balance unsold, of 83,660,190, a large portion