Lumber has been an important part of Michigan since the earliest European settlements in the 1600s. With the founding of Detroit in 1701 by French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, there would be a continuous need for the harvesting of white pine and other trees near settled areas. Jumping ahead a century to the creation of the Michigan Territory and the fire that destroyed Detroit the same year, lumber became an even more necessary industry. Surveys of Michigan Territory and after 1837, the State of Michigan, uncovered the true amount of forests that were contained in our state's boundaries, especially those of the pine forests. With the movement of the American population further west to the new Midwest (formerly the "Old Northwest"), including Michigan and the growing city of Chicago, Illinois, there was an even greater need for logging.

This growth of population coinciding with the Michigan land surveys, the development of more efficient technology in both the forest and the saw mills allowed Michigan to become a leader in the lumber industry shortly after the end of the American Civil War.

Episode Resources:
Ambrose, Stephen E. "Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869." Simon and Schuester, New York, 2000.

Dunbar, Willis and George S. May. "Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State." William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1965 (revised edition 1980).

Hunt, Freeman. "Internal Commerce of the West: Its Conditions and Wants, as Illustrated by the Commerce of Michigan, Present and Prospective." "Hunt's Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review," New York, Volume Nineteen, 1848.

Maybee, Rolland H. "Michigan's White Pine Era 1840-1900. Michigan Historical Commission, Lansing, Michigan, 1960.

In this episode, listeners are introduced to the Eastern White Pine (Pinus Strobus). This tree, once rising upwards of 200 feet or more towered over the forests of eastern North America with trunks of six feet diameter. The European settlers to these shores found this tree to have an excellent quality of lumber that was both lightweight to work with and was buoyant to be moved by water from forest to sawmill. Not only was the white pine a valuable economic product for the residents of the New England colonies, but was also valued greatly by the British Empire's Royal Navy for ships masts. In Maine and New Hampshire, the British government restricted use of white pines larger than 24 inches in diameter for use solely by the Royal Navy. This led to protests and riots that helped spur on the American Revolution.

In the 19th century the large amount of white pine found in the Great Lakes Region would contribute to the growth of the Midwest and create economic wealth and industry in the Great Lakes states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. In Michigan alone, the white pine was valued greater than the gold in California by a two to one margin, thus being nicknamed Michigan's "Green Gold."

Besides the lumber industry, the Eastern White Pine has long been sacred to various indigenous people of eastern North America, has been home to wildlife that were important for the fur trade, and has figured prominently in the topics of environmental history with wildfires, reforestation, and climate change. All of these topics and more will be covered in future episodes of the North Country History with Rob Burg podcast.

Episode Sources:
Ellis, Charles, "Among the Michigan Pines." The Current. Chicago, 1885, Vol. III

Hotchkiss, "History of the Lumber and Forestry Industry of the Northwest." Chicago, 1898.

Hunt, Freeman. "Internal Commerce of the West: Its Condition and Wants, as Illustrated by the Commerce of Michigan, Present and Prospective." Hunt's Merchant's Magazine and Commercial Review. New York, 1848, Volume Nineteen.

Vietze, Andrew. "White Pine: American History and the Tree that Made a Nation." Globe Pequot, Guilford, Connecticut, 2018.

In this premier episode of North Country History with Rob Burg, you will meet me, environmental historian Rob Burg, learn of my love of the forests of the Great Lakes region, and why I think there are important stories to be told about these forests. The forests were home to numerous nations of indigenous North American people for centuries. It was the forests that held the wealth of furs that brought European trappers and traders to the Great Lakes in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. The lumber industry made a giant impact on the Great Lakes forests in the 19th century and this great industry supplied the necessary materials to build a nation. This brought great wealth to the lumber districts in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin in the United States, and also to Ontario, Canada. However with this wealth also came environmental devastation that the region is still recovering from, more than a century later. Following the lumber era, reforestation and conservation have taken root, and this has led to an abundance of forest recreation.