Lumbering and the Land

1
Lumbering and the Land
1869-1929
2
The Gilded Age
3
An Overview of the Lumber Industry 1869-1929
4
Up to about 1860, lumbering dominated all other
industrial and commercial uses of the forest,
with the exception of wood cut for domestic fuel
and the timber lost through agricultural
clearing. Even by 1880, the relative weighting
had not changed much. What did change was the
scale and thoroughness of lumber getting.
5
A more concentrated and purposeful
exploitation of the forest resource under new
industrial techniques and organization became
evident. Throughout the continent the total
amount of lumber cut commercially increased
phenomenally by nearly sixfold, from 8 billion
b.f. in 1860 to over 45 billion b.f. in the peak
year of production, 1906.
Michael Williams, Americans and Their Forests
p. 193
6
Industrialization in the Woods

• The lumber and the forest products industries,
  in general, like industry everywhere in the
  United States, were entering a phase of vigorous
  expansion and what is known as industrial
  capitalism. Williams, p. 194

7
The Steam Engine

• Steam power meant the concentration of
  industrial activity and the beginnings of
  corporations and monopolies. (Williams, p.194)
• Capital investment costs

8
Mechanized Woodworking

• Steel meant better and more efficient tools.
  (Williams, p. 194)
• High speed bandsaw
• Specialization of industrial activity

9
Balloon Framing

• Led to mass production of a standardized
  manufactured end product (Williams, p. 194)
• Commodities

10
Railroads

• The railroad meant reliable, faster, and more
  flexible transport. (Williams, p. 194)
• Transformation from local/regional industries to
  a national industry

11
Capital Costs

• Industry practice - cut in the winter, drive in
  the spring, and mill in the summer
• This tied up business capital for up to a year

12
Lumbering as a Big Business

• Lumber was like other industries of the Gilded
  Age in that it became a big business
• Vertical and horizontal integration

13
Lumbering as a Big Business

• Lumber barons (like Carnegie in steel and
  Rockefeller in oil) had their hands in many
  operations
• Joint ownerships
• Example Albert Ames of Ames Tools and the Union
  Pacific
• Creation of trade associations before the Sherman
  Anti-trust Act

14
Emergence of Two Lumber Industries Occurred in
this Era

• Softwoods
• More migratory than hardwood industry
• Construction
• Production-driven industry

• Hardwoods
• Smaller in size
• Limited geographically
• Focused on secondary products furniture,
  millwork, flooring, specialty items, etc.

15
Forests of the United States
16
U.S. Forest Service Regions
17
Forest Land Area by Region 2007
18
Forests of the United States

• 52 percent of U.S. Forests are in the East
• 48 percent of U.S. forests are in the West,
  including Alaska Hawaii

19
Hardwood Softwood Growing Stock by Region
20
Hardwood Softwood Growing Stock in the East
21
National Production Trends1869-1929
22
U.S. Lumber Production1869-1929
23
U.S. Lumber Production 1799-1929
24
Per Capita Lumber Consumption1869-1929
25
Softwood Hardwood Production1869-1929
Softwoods
Hardwoods
26
The Migratory Nature of 19th Century Lumbering
27
Decline of Lumbering in the Northeast

• The heavy cutting of early days, particularly
  for fuel, produced a shortage of wood as early as
  1840 in many sections of New England.

U.S. Forest Service, Timber Depletion, Prices,
Exports, and Ownership p. 15
28
Lumber Production by Region1869-1929
South
Lake States
West
Northeast
29
although regions rose in prominence and
supremacy of production passed on, the old
regions were never completely eliminated, and
they continued to thrive, albeit at a modified
scale of production.
Michael Williams, Americans and Their Forests
p. 193
30
Lumber Production in New England and the Mid
Atlantic 1869-1929
31

• Industry followed white pine
• By 1850, New York overtook Maine as the nations
  leading lumber producer
• In 1860, Pennsylvania was the leading producer
• By 1876, Michigan was the leading producer

32
Paper Mills Follow Lumbering

• Soon after it became known that wood pulp was a
  cheap substitute for rags in paper making, mills
  were built in northern New England as well as New
  York and the chief development of forest
  industries during the past 30 years 1890-1920
  in paper manufacturing.

U.S. Forest Service, Timber Depletion, Prices,
Exports, and Ownership p. 15
33
Lumber Production in the Lake States1869-1929
34
Growth of the Furniture Industry

• Migrated from the northeast to the Lake States in
  the last quarter of the 19th century
• Centered in Grand Rapids
• Began to migrate south to North Carolina
  beginning in 1900-1905

35
Migration of Industry from theLake States

• As eastern lumbermen led the timbering
  operations into the Lake States, lumbermen from
  the Lake States moved south and west as timber
  supplies in the Lake States were depleted

36
Migration of Industry into the South
37
Migration to the South

• There was lumber and naval stores production in
  the south since the colonial era
• In the 1880s, the South surpassed the Lake States
  in lumber production
• Southern pine dominated production
• The paper industry followed the lumber industry
  into the Lake States and South

38
Lumber Production in the South1869-1929
39
Migration of Industry to the West
40

• Lumber production in the Pacific Northwest
  (Washington and Oregon) began in the 1840s
• Production increased dramatically with completion
  of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1882
• Lumber production in California began to grow
  during the Gold Rush (1849)
• Lumber production in the Rockies was limited
  until the mid-20th century

41
Lumber Production in the West1869-1919
42
Blanket Freight Rates

• Started in 1894
• Uniform rates from certain regions of the west to
  any point in the midwest or east
• Advantageous to both western lumber companies and
  railroads

43
Big Trees and Dominant Species
44
Why Big Trees?

• Quality!
• Thickening of the stem through cell division in
  the cambium
• Ring curvature affects warp
• Concentration of knots near the pith
• Juvenile wood abnormal wood cells
  formed in the innermost 5-20 growth
  rings

45
Oaks the Dominant Hardwoods1869-1929
Hardwoods
Oaks
46
Prices of Hardwood Lumber 1899
47
Prices of Hardwood Lumber 1919
48
White Pine
49
White Pine Production Nationwide 1869-1929
50
The White Pine Nationwide 1869-1929
Total Production
White Pine
51
Southern Pine Forests
52
Southern Pines in Nationwide Production 1869-1929
Total Production
Southern Pines
53
The Douglas-fir Factor in the West1869-1929
Douglas-fir