Folks:
Here is a short excerpt from 1829 that explains one of the cut-overs in the Pine Barrens and how the resultant wood was used.
Extracted from Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania : Devoted to the Preservation of Facts and Documents, and Every Other Kind of Useful Information Respecting the State of Pennsylvania. Vol. IV, No. 4., Whole no. 82, 25 July 1829, page 63.
PINE LANDS OF NEW JERSEY.
Thirty years ago the immense forests which cover so large a portion of this state, were not worth more than six to ten cents an acre. There was no inducement to make them productive, because there were no visible means. No demand existed for the timber, for oak was preferred for household purposes; neither was it an object to clear the land for agricultural purposes, because, when cleared, it was not worth tilling, and that which was, had been farmed long before. By degrees, however, Furnaces were established among the woods; yet, though they made great havoc, no reduction was apparent in the huge wilderness of pines. Next came the Steamboats. For a few years they traversed our waters, propelled by timber from New Jersey, yet without sensibly diminishing the density of the forests. In a few years more, their number was doubled—trebled—quadrupled. Their huge maws, though supplied with thousands of shallop-loads of pine, were yet unsatisfied. The demand for fuel, became immense, and the almost worthless pine lands of New Jersey rose rapidly in value, until they constituted an essential item in the profits of the farmer. Four dollars was not thought too great a price for an acre, and owners even showed a disposition to hold on, rather than sell, wisely foreseeing that, instead of a decrease in the demand, an immeasurable increase must ensue. In this posture of affairs, the inexhaustible depositories of Coal upon the Lehigh were laid open to the astonishment and gratification of the whole country. The bowels of the earth were penetrated for the hidden treasure—more valuable than all the mines of Carolina and Virginia, because they require labor to transmute them into gold—and coal became the universal favorite. But before it could be used, charcoal must be used to ignite it—and here again, a new inroad must be made into the Pine Lands of New Jersey for a supply. This was an entirely new market opened for her formerly useless timber. Nay, there are not less than one thousand furnaces used in this city, for culinary purposes, which, during the summer months, consume nothing else than charcoal. In fact, the mighty march of steam upon her neighboring waters have nearly revolutionized New Jersey. Her pine lands, in place of bringing ten cents an acre, are now worth six dollars—an advance, in thirty years, of nearly six thousand per cent! Yet we have no doubt, but that in a few years hence, there will be no such thing as a pine forest within her borders. The steam engine must be satisfied. It will eat up every tree upon her soil; and as the oak springs up where the pine has flourished, and the pine where the oak has grown, a century at least must pass away before a second forest of pine can be worthy of the axe. What then, shall be done, when all this wilderness shall be burnt away, and the ground left bare and barren, like the prairies of the Mississippi? In place of pine, the bowels of. the earth must be digged to stop the outcry of the steam engine, since that which grows upon its surface has been unable to satisfy its cravings. Coal must be substituted for wood. It has been done already, and will be done still more extensively, it is used to drive our steam ferry boats and it is shipped to the West India Islands, where it is advantageously employed in boiling sugar. How vast the changes which the discoveries of steam and anthracite have made! How mighty the effects which they are yet destined to produce. They have diminished distances to mere pleasure-trips —they swallow up whole forests, leaving nothing in their place, and make the wilderness itself to blossom like the rose.—Saturday Bulletin.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Here is a short excerpt from 1829 that explains one of the cut-overs in the Pine Barrens and how the resultant wood was used.
Extracted from Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania : Devoted to the Preservation of Facts and Documents, and Every Other Kind of Useful Information Respecting the State of Pennsylvania. Vol. IV, No. 4., Whole no. 82, 25 July 1829, page 63.
PINE LANDS OF NEW JERSEY.
Thirty years ago the immense forests which cover so large a portion of this state, were not worth more than six to ten cents an acre. There was no inducement to make them productive, because there were no visible means. No demand existed for the timber, for oak was preferred for household purposes; neither was it an object to clear the land for agricultural purposes, because, when cleared, it was not worth tilling, and that which was, had been farmed long before. By degrees, however, Furnaces were established among the woods; yet, though they made great havoc, no reduction was apparent in the huge wilderness of pines. Next came the Steamboats. For a few years they traversed our waters, propelled by timber from New Jersey, yet without sensibly diminishing the density of the forests. In a few years more, their number was doubled—trebled—quadrupled. Their huge maws, though supplied with thousands of shallop-loads of pine, were yet unsatisfied. The demand for fuel, became immense, and the almost worthless pine lands of New Jersey rose rapidly in value, until they constituted an essential item in the profits of the farmer. Four dollars was not thought too great a price for an acre, and owners even showed a disposition to hold on, rather than sell, wisely foreseeing that, instead of a decrease in the demand, an immeasurable increase must ensue. In this posture of affairs, the inexhaustible depositories of Coal upon the Lehigh were laid open to the astonishment and gratification of the whole country. The bowels of the earth were penetrated for the hidden treasure—more valuable than all the mines of Carolina and Virginia, because they require labor to transmute them into gold—and coal became the universal favorite. But before it could be used, charcoal must be used to ignite it—and here again, a new inroad must be made into the Pine Lands of New Jersey for a supply. This was an entirely new market opened for her formerly useless timber. Nay, there are not less than one thousand furnaces used in this city, for culinary purposes, which, during the summer months, consume nothing else than charcoal. In fact, the mighty march of steam upon her neighboring waters have nearly revolutionized New Jersey. Her pine lands, in place of bringing ten cents an acre, are now worth six dollars—an advance, in thirty years, of nearly six thousand per cent! Yet we have no doubt, but that in a few years hence, there will be no such thing as a pine forest within her borders. The steam engine must be satisfied. It will eat up every tree upon her soil; and as the oak springs up where the pine has flourished, and the pine where the oak has grown, a century at least must pass away before a second forest of pine can be worthy of the axe. What then, shall be done, when all this wilderness shall be burnt away, and the ground left bare and barren, like the prairies of the Mississippi? In place of pine, the bowels of. the earth must be digged to stop the outcry of the steam engine, since that which grows upon its surface has been unable to satisfy its cravings. Coal must be substituted for wood. It has been done already, and will be done still more extensively, it is used to drive our steam ferry boats and it is shipped to the West India Islands, where it is advantageously employed in boiling sugar. How vast the changes which the discoveries of steam and anthracite have made! How mighty the effects which they are yet destined to produce. They have diminished distances to mere pleasure-trips —they swallow up whole forests, leaving nothing in their place, and make the wilderness itself to blossom like the rose.—Saturday Bulletin.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
