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About Michigan's History of Logging

When the pioneers settled the interior of the Michigan during the 1830s most of the land was covered with trees. It was said that a squirrel could travel on tree branches across the state without ever touching the ground. Commercial logging began in the 1840s, and from the Civil War until the early twentieth century Michigan led the nation in lumber production. The favorite logs came from white pine, especially the cork pine. These 300-year-old trees grew up to 200 feet tall with five-foot diameters and were generally located in a belt across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula. Commercial logging started when a timber cruiser identified the best trees. After that land was purchased, shanty boys moved in to cut the trees into logs. The work was done in the winter so the logs could be hauled by horse-drawn sleighs across the ice and snow to the banks of frozen creeks and rivers. During the spring thaw the logs were dumped into the rivers and river hogs rode them to sawmills located in cities at the mouths of most Michigan rivers. There, the logs, which had been marked by brands, were cut into lumber.

One of the greatest changes in logging occurred in the late 1870s when Winfield Scott Gerrish introduced narrow-gauge railroads to logging. Using railroads allowed loggers to move logs to sawmills year-round. They also took hardwoods, which had been left behind because the logs did not float. Since loggers did not replant trees, cutting entire forests created problems. Forest fires were fueled by the stumps and branches left behind. The cutover land was sold to settlers, but the sandy soil that was good for pine was not good for farming. Much of this land reverted back to the state and today is part of Michigans extensive state and national forest systems.

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