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Nova Scotia was the
first settled of any of the Canadian provinces, a colony being
established at Annapolis, then Port Royal, as early as 1605. At that
time and for long afterward it was noted for the density of its
forests ; and, in fact, it was over two hundred years before roads
were cut through it for any distance into the interior, the
settlements being confined to the coast and the land accessible by
the rivers. One hundred years ago the country was heavily timbered
with spruce, pine, hemlock, fir, poplar, hackmatack and various
hardwoods—white birch, yellow birch, red birch, maple, beech and
oak.
The lumbering
industry was actively pursued in Nova Scotia at a time when the
sister Province of New Brunswick, then included within her limits,
was an unpeopled wilderness. A return of the several townships of
Nova Scotia January 1, 1761, reported among the industries then
extant thirty-one sawmills with an aggregate output of J^271,000
feet.of lumber. The first exports were to the United States on a
very limited scale, and at a later date a large trade in lumber was
built up with the West Indies, under the stimulus of which the
industry rapidly developed. The demand for shipbuilding purposes was
another factor in encouraging the production of timber.
Joseph Bouchette in
his descriptive work, “The British Dominions in North America,”
published in 1832, writes as follows regarding conditions in the
trade during the early part of the century:
“There are sawmills
in every district of the Province, and even as far back as 1785
there were ninety of them in the country. The number has been vastly
increased since that period. The quantity of lumber prepared and
exported is momentous, and it is considered as good here as in any
other part of America. Shipbuilding is carried on to a great extent
in every part of the Province. In the ship yards of the peninsula
alone there were built in the year 1826 131 vessels containing
15,535 tons, and in 1828, ninety-four vessels containing 6,560 tons.
The average quantity of shipbuilding is not less than 10,000 tons
per annum, principally sloops, schooners and vessels for the
fishery.”
Dr. Abraham Gesner,
writing of the “Industrial Resources of Nova Scotia,” in 1849,
deplores the tendency of the timber trade to divert the attention of
the settlers from agriculture, asserting that, owing to the
inducements it held out, thousands of farms had been abandoned or
neglected. “ In drawing away great numbers of the active part of the
population to the backwoods,” he writes, “ agriculture has
languished and the general prosperity of the country has been
retarded.”
During those palmy
days of the trade every river and log driving stream was followed to
its source and the timber cut away after the reckless and
improvident fashion of that time. Until, indeed, a comparatively
recent period the operators in the Province have in the main
followed the policy of making a thorough clearance of all
merchantable timber in sight. In this respect they did not differ
much from operators elsewhere and, under the conditions then
prevailing, had every inducement to realize the resources of their
holdings as rapidly as possible, owing to the frequency and extent
of forest fires, which usually follow lumbering operations and the
progress of settlement, destroying what the ax spares. Later there
was a law covering forest protection, but until recently there had
been no enforcement of the act.
The destruction of
the forests was accelerated by the system of land grants and the
readiness of the Provincial government to part, for a very trifling
consideration, with the fee simple of large areas of the public
domain, the policy in the early history of the country being to get
it settled at any cost. Grants were made of large areas to private
individuals, and a large number was issued to soldiers to take up
wild land. These extensive holdings, secured by the early settlers,
usually ran back from the river front near which the farms were
located, including a large area of timbered land on the higher
ground to the rear, the lots frequently having a depth of several
miles. As the timber remaining increased in value it was utilized by
small portable sawmills moving from one place to another wherever a
cut of a few thousand feet could be secured.
Outside of these
individual holdings was a large tract of timber in the interior
divided by a watershed running east and west. Here, as in other
localities, extensive grants have been made from time to time to
large operators, railway companies, etc., until nearly the whole, of
the timber land has passed out of the hands of the Government.
Nova Scotia offers
an excellent field for forestry operations, as the producing farm
lands lie in the valleys, while the foothills and the interior are
nonagricultural in character and will always be more valuable for
the production of timber than for any other purpose. Forests
naturally reproduce themselves more rapidly in Nova Scotia than in
almost any other section of the country, due to natural conditions
favorable to tree growth.
Owing to the length
of time the country has been settled and to the destructive and
improvident methods of lumbering pursued, the timber resources, once
so great, have been largely exhausted. Cape Breton Island, which
forms a portion of the Province, has practically no spruce timber
that would make deal stock, though it has considerable hardwood. In
the remainder of the Province the area of good timber land is"
estimated at about 2,700,000 acres. In an official statement of some
years ago, the average stumpage* of the timber lands was estimated
at about 2,000 superficial feet an acre of merchantable spruce,
1,500 feet of hemlock and 500 feet of hardwood. This would make
about 5,400,000,000 feet of spruce, 4,050,000,000 feet of hemlock
and 1,350,000,000 feet of hardwood; but as cutting has been going on
steadily in the meantime, it is safe to make a considerable
deduction from these figures. This computation was made as an
average over the whole territory, as some lands yield only spruce,
some hemlock and others hardwood, while in some sections all are to
some extent intermingled.
When cutting first
began it was almost entirely confined to the white pine, which has
now practically disappeared with the exception of some tracts in
western Nova Scotia and a scattered young growth which, if
preserved, may become valuable some day. Spruce is the mainstay of
the Province. The old growth of spruce is confined to the holdings
of large operators and scattered tracts in the remoter sections. The
average timber is straight and of good size and height, usually
produc-j ing three or more logs to each tree. The new growth of the
Province is largely spruce and will grow to cutting size in thirty
to forty years. ' The pulp mills are taking much of the small
spruce, and in addition there is a large export to South America of
spruce one inch by two inches up, and two inches by three inches up,
for which the small trees are cut. Conservative operators cut down
trees twelve to thirteen inches at the butt, or larger, leaving the
others standing. With proper care in sawing the very young trees and
bushes, they are able to go over these lands every seven to ten
years for a new crop, making the yield practically perpetual.
Although there is a supply of extra good spruce for pulpwood, this
industry had not been developed until recently ; now, however, pulp
operators are seeking timber areas in the Province, owing to
reasonable prices for lands, large bodies of timber to be secured
and favorable water conditions for power to operate and develop
mills.
Until a recent
period, hemlock had not been largely manufactured and little use had
been made of the bark. There are now large tracts of hemlock that
command attention and, with the advancing prices of bark, they will
be a valuable asset to the lumberman. Fir has been largely killed by
insects, but is used to some extent for cooperage. There is
practically no cedar. The hardwood as a rule grows mixed and, except
in a few localities, pays only to cut as it runs. Birch of the white
and yellow varieties, maple and beech are abundant. Oak is
scattered, the principal growth being in Queens, Lunenburg and
Shelburne counties. There is a scattered growth of poplar of small
size, which is cut for pulp and staves. There is practically no elm,
and but little ash. Until the present time hardwoods have not been
cut for export, except for the English market in moderate quantity.
But there has been and still is a large annual cut used for
firewood, both locally and for export to the United States, and
hardwood is also extensively used for shipbuilding. In the eastern
end of the Province there are extensive tracts of birch in
Guysborough County, and in the western country hardwood is
distributed all through the green wood, much of it being old growth
of good proportion. The extension of the railways will make these
hardwoods more accessible and will probably lead to a large cutting
within a short time.
As the policy of
Nova Scotia until recently has been to sell the public lands in fee
simple, making no distinction between timber producing and
agricultural lands, there are no government dues payable on the cut
of timber and no returns made to the Provincial government regarding
the annual output. An important change was made in the law in 1899
,by which it was provided that, instead of granting the lands as
theretofore, the Government may issue leases, for the purpose of
cutting and removing timber only for the period of twenty years at
not less than forty cents an acre for the term, subject to renewal.
It was furthermore provided that in case of more than one
application for the same tract the lease may be put up to
competition and go to the highest bidder. The lessee is entitled to
take all timber of not less than ten inches diameter. Leases may be
made at fifty cents an acre for the same term permitting the cutting
of timber not less than five inches in diameter, and the Government
is empowered to lease on other terms where the land is of inferior
quality and the lessee is prepared to expend money in the erection
of pulp mills, etc. The Government is also authorized to repurchase
at not more than twenty-five cents an acre land previously granted
for lumbering purposes.
This legislation
unfortunately comes too late to have much effect in preserving the
government timber resources of the Province, as the area of valuable
timber lands remaining under the control of the Government is
inconsiderable. In 1903 only 1,464,726 acres of land of any
description remained ungranted, of which only five percent was
timbered, most of it being a poor description of wild land.
The receipts from
Crown lands in Nova Scotia in 1904, left an actual surplus of
$13,235.65 after expenses of $10,645.51 had been paid. This $10,000
item includes, as usual, all the cost of surveys, although under a
recent act this cost has to be borne by the applicant. The sum
received from these new sources has been placed in the treasury of
the department. During 1904 no very large leases were issued, there
being none of over 10,000 acres, and nearly all of them were issued
to persons actually engaged in the lumber business.
The timber of Nova
Scotia is now owned by private individuals and corporations. It is
estimated that about one-half the wooded lands is in the possession
of large holders. The other half is owned by settlers and consists
of small holdings of under a thousand acres. The larger holdings are
being added to, and their position has been much strengthened during
the last two or three years. The owners also control valuable water
privileges and shipping facilities. The lands are situated on rivers
where there is an opportunity to drive logs to the mills, and, in
many cases, to tide water, where they are manufactured and shipped.
There is excellent water power all over the Province, sufficient for
lumbering and pulp and paper mills. A logging railway is now under
construction near Bridgewater to be operated by the Davison Lumber
Company, Limited. Many of the rivers furnish water power for
electric light, so that manufacturing is no longer confined to the
hours of daylight.
As has been
mentioned already, there was a law in Nova Scotia regarding the
protection of forests from fire, but it was not enforced. The
lumbermen’s association of western Nova Scotia, with the help of the
boards of trade, has succeeded in having this law amended so that it
can be enforced, and, consequently, there has been decided
improvement in this regard. It is now believed that it is possible
to prevent large forest fires in the future. If this is done there
is no doubt but that the growth of wood in Nova Scotia is going to
increase the available timber within a short time. The amended law
provides for a chief fire ranger in each county who has the
privilege of appointing under him other rangers to assist him in his
duties. These rangers are periodically to go over their timber
district and put out all fires that may occur, and the chief ranger
makes a report of each year’s work to the Government. This special
work is paid by government salary to the head official, and the
municipality pays for the work done. The holders of timber lands in
each county owning 1,000 acres and over each are taxed one-fourth
cent an acre. This is a special tax levied for the purpose of
controlling forest fires, and is paid into the municipality. It is
probable that in ordinary seasons this special tax will cover the
cost of protection. Any balance left over goes to the credit of the
funds ,* but, in case this tax is not sufficient, the municipality
is to pay any deficit £hat may occur. The act regarding forest fires
has been enforced in the municipalities of Annapolis, Digby, Clare,
Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queens, Lunenburg, Colchester and Pictou, where
chief rangers have been appointed.
SOME NOTEWORTHY
LUMBERMEN.
Among lumbermen of
Nova Scotia worthy of especial mention is E. D. Davison. He was the
founder of the firm of E. D. Davison & Sons, Bridgewater, Nova
Scotia, and died in the summer of 1902, in his fifty-seventh year.
He was one of the most extensive operators in the Province of Nova
Scotia, and is said to have built in 1845 the first steam sawmill
erected in the Province. The firm held 200,000 acres of timber lands
on branches of the Lahave, Medway and Nictau rivers, where its
operations were principally carried on. Mr. Davison spent his
lifetime in the trade and was regarded as one of the best
authorities in Nova Scotia on all matters connected with lumber and
forestry. He took a keen interest in public affairs and was mayor of
Bridgewater and representative of Lunenburg County in the Nova
Scotia Legislature. In 1903, the business, then known as E. D.
Davison & Sons, Limited, was purchased by J. M. Hastings and
associates, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Lewis Miller, a
large owner of lumber mills in Scotland and Sweden, finding that his
forests in the latter country were becoming exhausted, turned his
attention toward British America in 1900. He purchased extensive
forests near the center of Newfoundland and at Glenwood and
Red Indian Lake in
that colony he built large mills. Upon the receipt of a tempting
offer from an American syndicate in 1903, he sold out his
Newfoundland interests. In October of the same year he transferred
his operations to Nova Scotia, where he purchased the properties of
the Dominion Lumber Company, comprising a mill at Ingram Docks,
twenty-five miles from Halifax, and 80,000 acres of timber lands. He
began operations in June, 1904, and manufactures extensively for the
British market. Mr. Miller was born in 1848 at Crieff, Perthshire,
Scotland.
The St. Croix
Lumber Company, of Hartville, Nova Scotia, was incorporated in
December, 1903. The concern began operations by purchasing the mills
and limits of T. G. McMullen, of Hartville. The limits comprise
30,000 acres of first class timber lands, heavily covered with pine,
spruce, hemlock and birch. David McPherson, the president of the
company, was born in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, in 1834, of
Scotch parents. On attaining the age of manhood he went to Halifax
and began work as a shipbuilder, soon building up a large trade in
the construction of wooden ships, which he owns and runs to this
day. At the age of thirty-five he became interested in public
affairs, and was shortly afterward elected to the city council of
Halifax. Since then he has twice been elected mayor—1892-8. In 1898
he entered the Provincial House and soon distinguished himself,
being appointed a member of the Cabinet of Nova Scotia in 1900. |
