 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Logging |
Fishing >> Rural Economics >> |
| Hiawatha Forest Logging in Upper Peninsula Civilian Conservation Corps |
~ River Hogs ~
Local forests supported the Nelson’s livelihood
Trees have supported Harry Nelson’s family as they did for his father and the families of most of his brothers.
~ Pages from the "Northwestern Lumberman" - 1982, May 14 ~
Logging was the focus of the family during the winter months when milk production was down
In the early stages of the second generation of Nelson woodsmen, “Logging was pretty much a winter job,” according to Harry. Logs were harvested in the winter when the ground was frozen and the wood was accessible over frozen swamp land. Logging on the farm began by providing firewood to local residents. In addition, they supplied the Ford River sawmill and the Sawyer Stoll Company in Escanaba with pulpwood. Early on, pulpwood was shipped to mills in Menominee, Marinette, and Peshtigo.
As time passed, their father, Alfred, saw horses and bucksaws give way to trucks and chainsaws.
~ Chuck Wagon ~
With the demand for pulpwood from the Mead Corporation,
the Nelsons log nearly year-round
The Nelsons log almost year-round with the exception of mid-March to mid-May, when the forest floor is too soggy to support heavy equipment. Nearly all of their harvests go directly to the Escanaba mill. In 1970, Harry and his son, Steve, hauled in the one-millionth cord to the Mead Corporation.
Harry Nelson still walks proudly, almost gracefully, through the forest he grew up in and which has grown up around him.
Hiawatha Forest > up
White Pine logging began in earnest about 1836
when the first white pine was shipped east from central Michigan
The white pine harvest reached a peak between 1890 and 1910 by which time virtually all of the merchantable pine had been cut or destroyed by fire.
"There are interminable forests of pines, sufficient to supply the wants of the citizens for all time to come..."
Ben Eastman, Congressional Globe, 1851
By the 1930's much of the Upper Peninsula was devoid of timber
Most of the area's pine had been cut in the late 19th century and much of the hardwood was cut during the first decades of the 20th century. Major fires swept over much of the cutover land, especially through the extremely flammable pine slash. In some areas, logging and subsequent burning damaged the soil and natural reforestation was not occurring. Many loggers let their cutover land revert to the Government for back taxes.
~ Sorrel Horses ~
"The area lay ravished and exhausted; great stretches had been logged... Fires in the '20s and early '30s had left extensive barrens over which the wind whistled..."
Malcolm McIver, c. 1940
This situation was common throughout the Great Lakes Area, and contributed to the establishment of the National Forest System.
Congressional Acts passed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were designed to avert future timber shortages through large scale reforestation and scientific forestry. These acts also provided for enhanced wildlife populations, soil and water protection, and recreational opportunities on forested lands. It was these acts that ultimately permitted the establishment of the Hiawatha National Forest in 1931.
The Hiawatha National Forest is established
In 1924, the National Forest Reservation Commission established a purchase unit in Alger, Schoolcraft, and Delta Counties, Michigan in 1928. Much of this area was denuded, burned, and abandoned timberland. By January 16, 1931 enough land had been purchased within this unit to warrant the establishment of a new National Forest and on this date President Hoover proclaimed the Hiawatha National Forest.
The establishment of the CCC's stimulated an increase in purchases for the National Forests. The Bay de Noquet Company attempted to remain financially secure by selling nearly 100,000 acres to the United States for the newly created Hiawatha National Forest.
~ Red Pine ~
The CCC work crews handled the work projects on the newly acquired land—tree planting, blister rust control, fire suppression, road and trail construction, and campground construction. The Forest Service had acquired both the land base and the manpower to rehabilitate the cutover in order to produce a variety of resources. This mission continues into the 21st Century.
Prospects for the Hiawatha National Forest appear favorable
Growth exceeds wood removal, and most forest managers are giving attention to sustained management. New silvicultural approaches are being investigated, and the public is becoming better informed. Our forests are recovering from the destruction visited on them by fire and human need and greed. To continue to do so, they must be managed wisely and conservatively.
Logging in the Upper Peninsula > up
The Upper Peninsula was home to large pines that averaged anywhere from 100 to 150 ft tall and five feet in diameter.
The first lumber mill in Delta County was located a short distance from the present town of Ford River
~ Anna Buske ~
The mill, owned by Silas Billings, George Richards and David Bliss was used until about 1850 when it burned down.
Lumber companies sent out surveyors to assess the land to find profitable logging areas
Once an area was found, a camp, consisting of one or two bunk houses, a barn, an office building and a dinning hall with an attached kitchen, was built.
Logging started in the winter after the yearly tree growth had stopped.
Pine logging usually took place during the winter with the loggers living in camps scattered throughout the forest. Trees were cut with hand axes until the invention of the cross-cut saw, which made timber harvesting easier. Once the trees were cut into lengths, and marked with a company-specific symbol, they were loaded onto horse drawn sleighs and traveled down roads that were watered-coated to create ice for easier transport. Logs were moved from the cut site to riverside storage until the spring runoff allowed the drivers to move logs downstream to the mills.
~ Invoice ~
Logs required transportation to storage sites.
The most common method of moving the logs had been via waterway but the use of railways dramatically changed the lumbering industry. Trains made it possible for the lumber companies to log an area great distances from waterways. Once a harvesting site was chosen, a railway was built which eliminated the need for permanent camps because the loggers used rail cars. Truck transportation of logs only became common after WWII.
Pine forests were the most heavily logged
When the pine forests were over-harvested, companies transitioned into hardwood logging. During the 1890s, there were several companies in Delta County that successfully made the transition into hardwood manufacturing when the pine ran out—I. Stephenson, Wm Bonifas, Bay de Noquette, Ford River, N. Ludington, and Birdseye Veneer.
For some companies, woods operations also changed from large company-owned camps to elimination of all woods operations
Instead, for logs the company would depend upon small independent operators or jobbers. The company usually retained the timberland but contracted with the jobbers to produce a given amount of timber for the mill. The jobber might be told which tracts to cut or he would locate the timber and negotiate a price for the logs in advance, betting on the weather and his crew. The jobber set up his own camps which might be moved every year or two.
~ Escanaba, Ludington St. ~
The most abrupt change in the evolution of the industrial era came in the late 1940’s with the rapid mechanization of logging following WWII
The introduction of the chainsaw and the use of trucks for transporting logs changed not only the woods operation, but even the living arrangements and logger behavior.
Papermaking was closely associated with lumbering
Pulp mills served to utilize the small trees cut during clear cutting of pine and as newer pulping processes developed to utilize the vast acreages of aspen and birch that developed on the cutover and burned lands.
~ Camp Stuben ~
Civilian Conservation Corps > up
During the 1930s, large areas of burned cut-over left behind by the loggers and many abandoned farms became part of state and national forests.
The Civilian Conservation Corps was president Franklin Roosevelt’s personal creation. One of the main tasks of the CCC was to reforest the United States, and for this reason, they were known as ROOSEVELT’S TREE ARMY.
The CCC recruited 250,000 unemployed young men to work on federal and state owned land for "the prevention of forest fires, floods, and soil erosion, plant, pest and disease control."
 ~ Planting Bar Furrows ~ |
On May 2, 1933, two hundred young men from Detroit and Hamtramck arrived at an isolated spot in the Hiawatha National Forest, west of Sault Ste. Marie. They set up tents and dubbed the area Camp Raco. Designated Company 667, the Detroiters had been outfitted, inoculated and briefly oriented at Camp Custer in Battle Creek before being shipped to the Upper Peninsula. Within months there were forty-one similar camps across northern Michigan housing nearly eight thousand young men. |
Since most of the Michigan CCC camps were in national and state forests, enrollees planted seedlings, fought forest fires, eradicated diseases - especially blister rust, which affects white pines - and built roads, trails, towers and firebreaks to aid in the prevention of forest fires. During its first twenty-four months, the Michigan CCC constructed over 3,000 miles of truck trails, spent 54,000 man-days fighting fires, assembled 8 lookout towers, built 275 miles of firebreaks and reduced fire hazards on some 40,000 acres. Reforestation also required the establishment of nurseries. By 1936, one million hardwood seedlings were ready for planting. Rapid smoke detection from new fire towers, and quick action by CCC crews greatly reduced wildfire damage.
With the United States' entry into World War II, the CCC was discontinued.
~ Wetmore Lookout Tower ~
CCC Accomplishments in Michigan
The accomplishments of the Civilian Conservation Corps were astounding. Michigan enrollees planted 484 million trees - more than twice as many as any other state. They spent 140,000 man-days fighting forest fires, planted 156 million fish and constructed 7,000 miles of truck trails, 504 bridges and 222 buildings. They revitalized the Michigan State Park system, established Isle Royale National Park and built campgrounds in Michigan’s national forests. Between 1933 and 1942, the CCC boys planted over 400 million trees in barren areas throughout Michigan. Foresters planned timber harvests and reforestation projects to provide a supply of wood products for both present and future generations.
New conservation practices to preserve ecosystem health and biological diversity now influence how this landscape is being shaped by human use.
Some of the images on this page are from, and some of the text is paraphrased from, Roger Rosentretter's "Michigan Time Capsules, Roosevelt's Tree Army, Michigan's Civilian Conservation Corps.", 1986, Michigan Department of State. (Originally published in Michigan History magazine.
