Next to the fertility of its soil, the great West owes its development and prosperity to the forest abounding near the sources of the grand river by which it is drained, together with those on the tributaries of the Great Lakes, and very much of the soil of Wisconsin would be utterly worthless and incapable of sustaining even the sparsest population, where are flourishing villages, were it not for the advantages derived from the near presence of a vast forest of pine, hemlock, oak, maple and other valuable timber, in the northern and northeastern portions of the State. And although reference has frequently been made to the business of cutting and manufacturing this timber into lumber, in these pages, it is believed that a more extended and detailed account of these operations, particularly of the people engaged therein, modes of life, methods of prosecuting the work, face of the country, etc., would constitute and interesting chapter in this work. A line drawn from the northern extremity of Lake St. Croix to Kilbourne City would describe the general course of the boundary between the prairie, or measurable timberless region, on the southwest, and the unbroken forest extending in the opposite direction to the great inland seas; varied, however, by the occasional projections "of timber into the meadows," as the big woods on the Eau Galle, and the peninsula of pine woods on Robinson's Creek. As we ascend any stream crossing this line, the sold along their banks becomes sandy, the grass and other vegetation stunted, black pine take the place of oak timber, the beds of creeks and sloughs change from the sluggish, muddy appearance of the Western prairies to a clear, crystal sand or gravel, and the water a pure, limpid rivulet. These sandy plains are frequently of considerable extent, but, as before stated, partially covered wit a certain kind of pine called 'Black Jack,' are not the kind of soils on which valuable White or Red 'Norway' pine timber grows, but may be said to mark the boundary between the timbered and prairie region of the Northwest. Bogs and abrupt, sandstone peaks, and ridges and other indications of a characteristic change in soil, and its productions, but the soil best adapted to the growth of sound, white pine timber is a damp, heavy, rocky clay. But the production of pine timber has not been solely dependant on the nature of the soil, although this is an essential element, but upon many concurrent circumstances; for no tree grows in our forest that has so many enemies as the pine. Towering in its best estate high above all other timber, the fury of the winds, pay high carnival with its stately forms. The lightening, too seems to delight in driving its shafts down its tall, spire-like top, and shattering its trunk by the subtle fluid that mock all human control. Many diseases fasten themselves upon this tree during the long centuries required for its maturity, and, like all other trees, suffer much from being too much crowded together, and as the feeble ones die out and fall against their fellows many injuries are inflicted, causing decay that extends to the whole tree, sometimes affecting the 'heart' and eating out the interior, year after year, as successive layers or grains are formed on the outside. Something in the soil, also, seems to favor this center rot, or, as the choppers say, causes the tree to be 'hollow butted,' for it frequently happens over an area of forty acres, almost every tree of suitable size is hallow near the ground. In other localities, great numbers of trees will be found to be afflicted with 'ring rot,' where giant streaks of decay, in alternate and consecutive circles, extend around the tree, indications of which are pretty sure to be discovered on the outside, or bark, in the shape of 'punk knot,' and requiring long experience and mature discrimination to distinguish the sound from the unsound, for, like men, their outside appearance is often deceptive, and hence the pay of a veteran timber hunter, like that of experts in detecting other counterfeits, is very liberal. In many other respects the pine tree is liable to receive injuries that depreciate its value as lumber, where no rot exists. Owing to some peculiar characteristic in the tree itself, or the soil on which it grows, or, as some say, to the force of the winds, the trunk becomes 'shaky,' the grains, or annual formations of wood, being separated, and destroying its value for any purpose as lumber. But the worst of all enemies is fire, and when we consider the great length of time required to grow one of these stately evergreens, the wonder is so many attain a growth so perfect in size, symmetry, and usefulness. Some pine trees are of very rapid growth, while other mature very slowly. Of more than a hundred trees suitable size for logs, the consecutive annual grains or rings, of which I have on different occasion counted, the indications were that a period from one hundred and fifty to sixteen hundred years is required to grow one of these noble plants to full-size treehood. Only think of the tine seed that floated heedlessly down from the lofty bough of some parent stem, when Christ was on earth, and nestling under the falling foliage of deciduous trees, found protection until the genial influence of spring opened the germ and it took root in solid earth, and through summer's heat and winter's cold and all the dangers of its situation, in spite of storms and lightning's subtle shaft, the stem that was once so feeble that a breath would have wilted it, now stands before us a majestic tree, and all to provide the ungrateful children of men with lumber to build their houses. But the men who chop down these giants old trees regard not their age nor the lessons they teach, nor do they, or the men who own the land on which they stand, nor those who manufacture their trunks into lumber, see anything but money in or about them; so much per thousand feet 'stumpage,' so much for hauling, and so much in the raft for sawed timber. Each of these classes of individuals have their peculiarities, but in one respect are very much alike; they all require tools to work with, and the speculator in pine lands generally makes use of a pretty keen set. Their method of communication is sometimes very shrewd, and like the Irish lover's dream, 'always goes by contraries,; so that outside are always in the dark as to their real meaning. The agent and timber hunter, however, is a free and easy fellow, aside from his business, and, unlike his employer, spends hi earnings with the recklessness of a sailor. But the boys who chop, saw, haul, and drive the logs are a jolly, independent set of fellows, the old line veterans especially, whose winters work, but disdain all other kinds of work, spending a few months of each and every summer in prefect idleness. But when the time comes for them to go up the river, in the fall, the highest wages are always given to these experienced woodsmen. Those men plan or lay out the work for the ensuing winter, erect the camps, open the roads, bout up supplies, and make all the necessary arrangements for the winter campaign, and with them everything is reduced to a perfect system; they require no 'bossing,' for every man knows his own business, and every man works without the presence of an overseer. With the march of progress in all the various industries in the country, the logging and lumber interest has kept more that even pace, and as compared with the management of the same kind of business in Mane and the Canada some forty years ago, the improvements are very great; and no particular are they more apparent than in the mode of living, the construction of the camps being more house like, with comfortable cooking and sleeping apartments separate; the tables being always well, even sumptuously, furnished, and the beds well supplied with blankets. In tools, bobsleighs, and all other implements, there are marked improvements which enable operators in this business to perform a greater amount of work in a given time than formerly. And when these are combined with the wonderfully improved machinery and facilities for manufacturing logs into lumber, it is not surprising that the business is overdone, and that our pine forests are slaughtered with a rapidity and recklessness painful to contemplate. Man's destructiveness is so prominent, and his disposition to appropriate what nature has already provided so greedy, that all of its bounteous provisions none are so unsparingly sacrificed as the trees which have required ages to grow, and the time has now come when the people of this valley should consider these things with a view of greater economy in the destruction of timber. In New York and Pennsylvania, in many localities, hemlock has taken the place of pine, -- the latter have long since been cut away - and for many purposes is found to be an excellent substitute. For scantling and all kinds of square lumber, hemlock might be used by our mills, which would save so much pine for future use. Large quantities of this valuable timber are utterly wasted, chopped down and pealed for tanbark, consumed in clearing land, and thrown down in felling pine timber, causing constant waste that our children will have reason to deplore.

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