When Pine was King

Waiting for the spring river drive.

"A great industrial interest makes its first appearance in the (1855) stature book in the "act to provide for the formation of companies, for the running, booming and rafting, of logs," and in an a"act to provide for the inspection of lumber: These two acts mark the rise of the great lumber industry, presently to grow to gigantic proportions, and for a time to make Michigan the foremost lumbering state in the Union. It proved so profitable and excited the greed for immediate gain to such an extent, that in a single generation (1860-1880) the magnificent and unrivalled pine forests of the state were swept away, leaving a desolation, where should have been the forest reserve of coming gererations? Now that the mischief is done, and irrevocable and irremediable, the people of the state are just waking to the emormity of the folly that has been committed, and are actively planning a system of reforestation."

-Michigan as a Province, Territory, and State