Michigan Logging Company, Northland Timber

Michigan Logging Company History

B	efore the day of the lumber boom and Michigan logging companies, our state was rich with forest and vast wilderness. In the earlier days of logging the upper Midwest was the arrival place of the first settlers that were the European missionaries.

Lumber production that was of commercial use came around the 1830’s and saw mills were beginning to pop up. The first sawmill was in the Saginaw area. White pine was the choice at that time for logging, there were more than 3 million acres of white pine forests and over 1500 miles of rivers and streams to float the logs down. This was the only way at that time for Michigan logging companies to transport the logs from the forest to the sawmills, and white pine floats!

During that time most of the logging was done during the winter time because it was the easiest and best way to move logs by horse and sled. Logs were left on the banks of the rivers where they were stacked and stored until spring when they could then be floated down the river where they were sorted and sent to the proper sawmills.

Birth of the Circular Saw For Michigan Logging

Around 1850 came the birth of the circular saw, logging had grown rapidly. Michigan was in the forefront of the largest lumber production in the union after the Civil War. Michigan logging companies produced more that 500 million board feet of lumber each year.

In the 1870’s most trees were cut by ax until the crosscut saw was introduce to cut timber. "Big wheels" were also introduced at this time so that logs could be moved by teams of horses instead of by sled, now Michigan's logging companies could work year round.

By 1876, railroads were being built so that logs could be hauled to new areas that we not available prior to that time. By the time 1889 rolled around there were at least 89 narrow gauge railroads that were in operation for Michigan logging companies. And, what do you think was the main fuel for those trains? Steam generated by Michigan's timber.

After Logging Companies, Michigan Land Stripped and Left Barren

Logging Train

By the end of the logging boom over 19 million acres of land was stripped leaving large areas of barren land. Many plots of land were sold to unsuspected farmers that put their life savings into the land only to find that it was not productive for growing corps,

many farmers felt that they had been cheated by this. Most of the land could no longer be sold and people left the land to the state because they no longer wanted to pay taxes on barren land.

Replanting Forests After Michigan's Logging Boom

When the great depression hit, young men out of work joined the Civilian Conservation Corps to repaired damage that was done to the forests by clear cutting during the logging boom. Seeds were planted by the million and most of Michigan’s barren land was renewed into forested land, some areas that were considered to be stump prairies still can be seen even though it has been well over a century since all the trees were stripped from the land.

Logging is still going on today but it is being done in a more sustainable selective way. Michigan has over half of its land covered by forest today. In 1941 tree farming began and now Michigan produces over 15 million board feet of lumber annually and produces 15% of the nations Christmas trees.

Michigan Logging Company Search Terms

Logging methods	Deforestation	Skyline logging
underwater logging	Transporting logs	World Forestry Congress
clearcutting	Log scaler	World Logging Championship
Illegal logging	Logging wheels	Springboards
selection cut	Salvage logging	Cut-to-length logging
selective logging	Shovel logging	Full-tree logging
lumber yard	Sierra Nevada logging	Tree-length logging
sawmill	forestry	timber
forest management	feller buncher	lumberjack
timber logging	trees	timber harvest
logging supplies	logging company	logging history
V8 Chainsaw	pictures of logging

Call us at (877) woods-411 or (877) 966-3741

Print this page

Home Forest Growth Press Contact Us Privacy Policy Site Map Terms of Use