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Though the lumber
industry in the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario in the Dominion of
Canada is, so to speak, a double tree, growing from one root, it may
be well to consider them separately, passing lightly over that part
in each which more fully describes the other. The history of the
industry could not be otherwise than interwoven in these two
Provinces because from the beginning of things1
until 1791, whether under French or British rule, they constituted
one colony, and from 1841 to 1867 they were again united in the
Union of Upper and Lower Canada. In the latter year these two
Provinces, so different in language, religion, thought and habits,
were the basis of that confederation which bound all the scattered
colonies of Great Britain in North America (excepting Newfoundland)
into an independent auxiliary nation, with complete self-government,
with national responsibilities, and national aspirations; as Kipling
sings
Daughter am I in my
mother’s house,
But mistress am I in my own.
That confederation
would have been impossible but for the mutual forbearance—the
give-and-take—between these two great Provinces which now, after a
generation of expansion in greater Canada, still contain about
seven-tenths of the total population of the country, a forbearance
whereby the solid, Protestant, English-speaking Ontarian and the
dashing, Catholic, French-speaking Quebecer have, as in a marriage
contract, agreed to take each other for better or for worse, for all
time; and, having made up their minds to it, find each other not
such bad partners after all—in fact, preferable to any other of whom
they know.
Moving across the
stage of Canada’s history, crowded with commarrying figures, there
is none more picturesque than that of the lumberman beginning with
the cavalier seigniors of New France, continuing with the admiralty
officers of old England, with their retainers singing
French-Canadian boat songs, or fighting and praying as became good
Glengarry covenanters, on through the stirring times of the
rebellion of 1837 to the present time when, in the midst of a world
of timber dues and percentages, the successful lumberman still
builds his palace in the wilderness and becomes known as the King of
the Gatineau or the Prince of Petawawa.
Nothing comes out
more clearly in the early history of colonization in Canada than
that the tree was considered man’s enemy, and only valuable as a
barricade against other enemies, climatic or human.
The idea of those
who colonized New France was to reproduce the conditions of lord and
vassal, which they thought to be eternal but were only accidental
and were passing away in the old France even while they were vainly
striving to reproduce them in the new. By this system the land was
divided into large blocks, as large as a modem township, or small
county, and each block given to a scion of a noble house who
colonized his tract with tenants or retainers. These, in return for
occupancy of the land, not only paid rents but performed many
personal services, while the seignior on his part was invested with
many privileges ; among others, that of hunting over the retainer’s
land and of administering justice.
The place which
timber occupied in this system may be best seen by examining one of
the old seigniorial grants made in 1683 by the governor and
indendant of Quebec, which embodies the usual conditions. No excuse
is made in presenting it because it is a land grant, for from the
beginning to the present time land and timber regulations have gone
hand in hand:
We, in virtue of
the power intrusted to us by His Majesty [the King of France] and in
consideration of the different settlements which the said Sieur de
la Valliere and the Sieur de la Poterie, his father, have long since
made in this country, and in order to afford him the means of
augmenting them, have to the said Sieur de la Valliere given,
granted, and conceded the above described tract of land, to have and
to hold, the same himself, his heirs and assigns forever, under the
title of fief, seignory, high, middle and low justice and also the
right of hunting and fishing throughout the extent of the said tract
of land; subject to the condition of fealty and homage which the
said Sieur de la Valliere, his heirs and assigns shall be held to
perform at the Castle of St. Louis in Quebec, of which he shall hold
under the customary rights and dues agreeably to the Custom of
Paris; and also that he shall keep house and home and cause the same
to be kept by his tenants on the concessions which he may grant
them; that the said Sieur de la Valliere shall preserve and cause to
be preserved by his tenants, within the said tract of land the oak
timber fit for the building of vessels; and that he shall give
immediate notice to the King or to Us of the mines, ores and
minerals, if any be found therein; that he shall leave and cause to
be left all necessary roadways and passages; that he shall cause the
said land to be cleared and inhabited, and furnished with buildings
and cattle, within two years from this date, in default whereof the
present concession shall be null and void.
This extract shows
that the only interest the Crown took in the matter was the securing
of an ample supply of oak for building ships for the royal navy.
Later grants reserved timber for spars and masts, doubtless pine
timber. From time to time, as war vessels were built or repaired at
Quebec, permits were issued to parties to cut the oak timber
reserved as above and regulations were made for rafting it to
Quebec. Again, when new districts were opened in which oak timber
was reported to be abundant, regulations were issued forbidding
anyone cutting it until it had been examined and suitable trees had
been marked for the navy. The penalty for violation of this
regulation was confiscation of the timber and a fine of ten livres
for each tree.
These first
reservations caused trouble between the cultivator and his over-lord
or the Government, as similar arrangements have done ever since in
every part of the continent. If oak trees were numerous the tenant
had either to destroy them or fail to fulfill his obligations to
clear the land in a given time. The usual way of cutting the Gordian
knot appears to have been to bum the timber; but after suits by
seigniors against settlers who made the trees into boards for their
own use, it was ordained by the governor that the tenant should be
unmolested where the timber was cut .in the actual extension of his
clearing; but where the trees were cut for timber without the
intention of clearing the land the party should be fined.
When the land
became a little more cleared, trespass by settlers upon adjoining
lands to cut suitable sticks or easily reached timber became more
common and was punished by confiscation of the trucks and horses
used to transport the wood and by a fine of fifty livres. In the
district about Quebec City, one-half the fine and confiscation went
to the proprietor of the land and the other half to the Hotel Dieu
(hospital) of Quebec City.
At first the Crown
reservation of timber was solely for naval purposes, and timber
taken for military purposes, such as the building of casemates, was
paid for by the Crown; but later the reservation was extended to
include all timber the King might require. While the right of the
King was thus defined, the rights of the seignior were undetermined
and continued to be exercised conformably to Old World custom, with
more or less exactness, according to the strength of mind of the
seignior and the power of resistance of his retainers. These
seigniorial rights lasted long after British occupation and were
extinguished only by compensation, by the Seigniorial Tenures Act,
of 1854. The court which heard the claims decided that the seignior
had no right to timber for firewood for his own use, or to
merchantable timber or timber for churches; as to whether he had the
right to timber for manor house and mills, the court was divided. So
that in the closing years of the French regime the Crown reserved
the timber it required for its own use, and prohibited trespass,
while the seignior reserved what timber he could for himself by the
exercise of his will power over the tenant.
With the beginning
of British occupation, in 1763, the policy of reserving timber for
naval and military purposes inaugurated by the King of France was
continued by the King of England, and somewhat extended. The first
governor under the new regime, John Murray, was instructed to make
townships containing about 20,000 acres, and in each township he was
to reserve land for the erection of fortifications and barracks,
where necessary, and more particularly for the growth and production
of naval timber. He was further instructed to make reserves about
Lake Champlain and between that lake and the St. Lawrence, because
it had been represented to the King that the timber there was
suitable for masting and other purposes of the royal navy and
because it was conveniently situated for water carriage. He was to
prevent waste and punish any persons cutting the timber and to
report whether it would be advisable to prevent any sawmills being
erected in the colony without license from the governor or the
commander-in-chief. The modern school of forestry experts is
inclined to regret that these instructions as to reservations in
each township and permanent pine reserves on lands suited to pine
were not carried out, the reason being that other urgent matters
occupied the governor’s attention and subsequent exploration showed
the so-called illimitable extent of the pine forests.
In 1775 Guy
Carleton, captain general and governor in chief, received like
instructions, and in 1789 fuller regulations for the conduct of the
land office were made, preserving the timber to the Crown, confining
grants to individuals to lands suited to agriculture, and preventing
individuals from monopolizing such spots as contained mines,
minerals, fossils and water powers, or spots fit and useful for
ports and harbors and works of defense. These were to be reserved to
the Crown.
If these
regulations had only been carried out, how much would posterity have
been saved! The seignior, with his plumed hat, his ruffles, his
sword and turned-down top boots, as the sculptor represents him on
the public squares of Montreal, had disappeared and his place was
taken by a less artistic but more active individual, the royal
admiralty contractor. Licenses to cut timber were granted by the
British government to contractors for the royal dockyards, and
these, in addition to getting out timber to complete their own
contracts, took advantage of the opportunity to do a general
business in supplying the British markets. The timber was still
considered of such small value, above the cost of transport, that
these were apparently not felt to be serious abuses by the colonists
of that day.
EFFECT OF BRITISH
IMPORT DUTIES.
A new era dawned
for the Canadian timber industry with the close of the Napoleonic
wars. In 1787, by a consolidation of the duties on timber coming
into Britain, the rate was fixed at six shillings and eight pence
per “load” of fifty cubic feet upon foreign timber imported in
British ships, with an addition of two pence in case the shipment
was made in a foreign ship. With the increased taxation necessary to
carry on the wars to checkmate Napoleon’s ambitious schemes, the
duties rose steadily until, in 1813, they were £3 4s 6d a load, with
3s 2d additional when imported in a ship flying a foreign flag. The
decline in the duties began again in 1821 when they were fixed at £2
15s a load, with 2s 9d additional for importation in a foreign
vessel. Then for the first time a duty of 10s a load was imposed
upon colonial timber, which had been theretofore free. However, as
the colonies still enjoyed a preference of 45s a load, that did not
stop the progress the colonial timber trade was making. This was
shown by a report presented to a British parliamentary committee in
1833, to which was submitted the whole question of timber duties.
This report shows that the earlier duties levied were not
sufficiently large to overcome the prejudice which existed in favor
of Baltic timber. .
The first
noticeable change was in 1803, when the imports from British North
America reached 12,133 loads, compared with 5,143 loads the previous
year. How small was the colonial trade is shown by the fact that the
importations of European timber amounted to 280,550 loads. In 1807
the colonies supplied 26,651 loads as against 213,636 from Europe,
and in 1809, for the first time, the colonial product exceeded that
from Europe, the figures being 90,829, and 54,260 loads
respectively.
The War of 1812 had
a depressing effect upon colonial trade and Baltic timber again took
the lead until 1816, when the colonies supplied twice the quantity
sent by Europe. This was a period of expansion in Britain, so that
the total trade as well as that with Canada shows great growth. In
the five years from 1819 to 1823 the average annual import into
Great Britain was 452,158 loads, of which 166,600 came from Europe
and 335,556 from the colonies. The succeeding five years showed
still further growth to a total yearly average of 602,793 loads, of
which 410,903 came from the colonies, although in 1821 the duties on
foreign timber were reduced and a duty of ten shillings a load
imposed on colonial timber.
This is the first
place where we hear of the United States. In 1819 duties were
imposed by Canada upon goods coming from the United States, but
flour, oak, pine and fir timber for export were allowed to come in
free. The meaning of this was that a good deal of timber was brought
in from the United States and reshipped from Quebec to the British
market in order to obtain advantage of the preferential tariff in
favor of the colonies. The extent of this trade attracted the
attention of the British authorities, who had no intention that
United States producers should avail themselves of a preference
intended to help the colonies.
In 1820 an official
inquiry was instituted by the British House of Commons which showed
that the timber imported into Lower Canada from Lake Champlain from
1800 to 1820 included 10,997,580 feet of red and white pine,
3,935,443 feet of oak timber, 34,573,853 feet of pine plank and
9,213,827 feet of pine boards. As a result of this condition, by an
imperial act duties were imposed upon lumber brought in from the
United States as follows:
This growth in the
use of the colonial product was made in the face of a very strong
prejudice in favor of the Baltic product. The select
committee of the
House of Lords which heard evidence on the subject in 1820 was
furnished with evidence on the part of timber experts as to the
inferiority of timber from British America which today not only
excites wonder and ridicule, but which demonstrates what an
important bearing sentiment has upon trade. One timber merchant and
builder examined by the committee said the timber of the Baltic in
general was of quality very superior to that imported from America,
which latter was inferior in quality, softer, not so durable, and
very liable to dry rot. Its use was not allowed by any professional
man under the Government, nor in the best buildings in London.
Speculators alone used it and that because the price was lower. Two
planks of American timber laid upon one another would show evidence
of dry rot in twelve months, while Christiania deals in like
situation for ten years would not show the like appearance. There
was something in American timber, he thought,, which favored dry rot
unless there was air on all sides.
In spite of this
prejudice2 the lower duty caused colonial
timber to be extensively used and once given a fair trial the
prejudice gradually disappeared. Fifteen years after the
investigation just recorded another was held by a House of Commons
committee, in 1835, which showed the change in opinion. One of the
witnesses here gave as a rea-'. son for the former prejudice against
colonial timber that while low-grades were brought in by “seeking”
ships, the high duty on Baltic timber kept all but the best grades
of that timber out, so that the British builder was acquainted with
the better grades only. A Liverpool ship owner and timber merchant
said that, if duties were equal, he could get from three pence to
four pence a foot more for a particular description of colonial
timber than he could for any Baltic. With this change of opinion
there had gone another, by which red pine, formerly preferred to
white, was dropped to second place, where it has ever since
remained. A Manchester builder declared that white pine in bricks
and mortar was less liable to decay than red pine or Baltic.
Canadian timber,
which thus got a foothold through a preferential tariff, continued
to hold its own in the years when the preference was gradually
reduced and finally abolished altogether in the adoption of free
trade. Nevertheless, while the trade grew, there is no doubt that
Canada felt the withdrawal of the preference not only upon lumber
but upon all her products severely, and it was this, more than
anything else, that caused the feeling of despondency and doubt
which preceded confederation, a depression from which it required
all the genius of Sir John Macdonald and the cooperation of his
associates to arouse the people with the vision of a self-contained
country stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
In 1850 the timber
exports from Canada (Quebec and Ontario) amounted to £971,375 and in
1857 the value had grown to £2,044,178. This had been accompanied by
a growth in exports to the United States. In 1867, the year when
confederation went into force, exports to Britain were $6,889,783
and to the United States $6,831,252.
CANADIAN
LEGISLATION AND LATER HISTORY.
In the preceding
pages has been recounted the effect of the laws of parliaments
outside of Canada upon the timber trade. Now it will be advisable to
consider the effect of the laws and regulations made in the country
itself.
The first enactment
of a Canadian legislature was passed in Lower Canada in 1805 to
prevent accidents in navigating the rapids of the St. Lawrence,
which, owing to the increasing shipments by that river to Montreal,
had become frequent. The act provided for the appointment of an
inspector and measurers of scows and rafts between Chateauguay and
Montreal and for the regulation of pilots. These officials, who were
to reside in the parish of Chateauguay, were from time to time to
take the depth of water of the rapids and determine what water scows
and rafts might draw in order to pass the rapids in safety. They
were, upon application, to measure the draft of each scow and raft
and to cause the former to be lightened to the draft determined as
the limit of safety. Pilots were to be licensed yearly by the
justices of the peace for Montreal, upon recommendation of the
inspector, for which license a fee of two shillings and sixpence was
charged. The pilots’ fees for taking rafts and scows through the
rapids were: Scows, 30 shillings; rafts consisting of two cribs, 12
shillings and 6 pence. Aftet October 1 to the end of navigation
these were increased by one-fifth.
Fines up to forty
shillings were imposed upon measurers or pilots neglecting their
duty and upon unlicensed persons acting as pilots. A pilot who,
without the consent of the owner, left a raft or scow stranded in
the rapids was fined the loss of his fees and 20 shillings. The
pilot was allowed 5 shillings a day while he remained with the wreck
and assisted in saving the property and in clearing the rapids of
the obstruction. The fees for measurements were : Scows, 6 shillings
; crib and rafts 2 shillings and 6 pence, and rafts of firewood 1
shilling 6 pence. These fees, by an act of 1808, were applied to the
improvement of the rapids.
In the same year an
even more important measure affecting the industry was passed. This
provided that no lumber should be exported until it had been culled,
measured and certified as to quality. The governor was authorized to
appoint master cullers at Quebec and Montreal who were to ascertain
the quality and dimensions of the articles submitted to them and to
give a true and faithful account of those found merchantable, which
was to be final and conclusive between buyer and seller. The act
laid down the standards for square oak and pine, planks, board, etc.
It was reenacted in 1811 and 1819 and made more stringent in its
provisions. At the same time in all these acts there were most
contradictory clauses. In some the shipment of unstamped timber (as
having passed the culler) was prohibited, while in others it was
stated that second or inferior grade lumber might be exported. The
cullers were apparently governed by the contract between the buyer
and seller, and the rigid definitions of what constituted
merchantable timber were only to apply where no specific agreement
between the parties existed. After being put beyond question upon a
voluntary basis in 1829, it was finally allowed to expire by lapse
of time, in 1834.
There was no
further legislation on this point until after Quebec and Ontario
were united in 1841 (Ontario having been created a separate
province, called Upper Canada, in 1791). In 1842 an act was passed,
further amended by an act of 1845, which got over the previous
difficulties by creating three grades for timber and deals.
As in Ontario, the
Crown first began to collect timber dues in 1826, and the
regulations in this respect followed those of Ontario until the
union of the two Provinces. As a rule, however, Ontario, by reason
of greater facility in getting lumber to market, has charged dues a
little higher than her sister province. As in Ontario, from the
first the Crown adopted the plan of not selling timber lands but of
granting a license to cut timber upon Crown lands within a certain
specified time, at the end of which the land returned to the Crown
either to be granted to the settler for agricultural purposes or to
be held until the timber grew again. The way in which these wise
provisions were evaded for many years was this:
Since the timber
cost money and the land was free or sold at a very low price on easy
terms to the settler, men who never intended to farm the land, or to
settle farmers upon it, got areas large or small granted to them
and, having stripped them of their timber, allowed them to go back
into the hands of the Government. Where they had made a small first
payment they either let that go as a fine or endeavored to sell out
to a bona fide settler.
Quebec, or Lower
Canada, passed through the same period of wasteful granting away of
Crown lands as did Upper Canada, and this period culminated in a
like rebellion in 1837 and the granting of responsible government,
when the two Provinces were united in 1841. The two Provinces then
for over a quarter of a century, until 1867, enjoyed laws common in
nearly every respect. The timber question was one of the first taken
up and the regulations made at the first session of the united
parliament laid the foundation of all subsequent progress in
forestry.
The orders in
council of 1842 limited the period for which the license was
granted, and introduced the plan of putting the berths up at auction
where there was more than one applicant. The rule had been that the
applicant simply paid the dues; and there had been much Crown land
covered with timber in regard to which lumbermen did not clash or
compete. Now, however, the easily reached limits began to grow
scarcer and the applicant who offered the highest “bonus” or lump
sum for the limit, in addition to the dues, was awarded it. In all
these cases the timber only was sold, the land being reserved on the
general principle that it would be taken up by the settler after the
timber was taken off. The ignoring of the fact that much of the land
was not fit for settlement was the chief fault in these regulations,
because the idea of the time limit seems to have been handled
chiefly in such a way as to insure that the operator would at once
proceed to work his limit. The consequence has been that where the
land is not fit for settlement some firms that got their licenses in
the early days have continued holding and cutting over limits for
many years, whereas, had the lease terminated absolutely on a
certain date, the berths would have gone back into the hands of the
Government, which, after allowing them to rest for a few years,
might have resold them for a greatly increased bonus. As it is the
Government secures only the ground rent of about $3 a mile per annum
and the dues on the timber cut. Later regulations have been more
definite and the worked limits are now year by year falling back
into the possession of the Crown.
Further regulations
made in 1846 restricted the size of the limits to five miles
frontage along the stream and five miles inland, or half way to the
next river. The licensee bound himself to cut 1,000 feet a mile
yearly on his limit.
The season of 1845
was a prosperous one in the trade, and 27,702,000 feet were brought
to Quebec and 24,223,000 feet exported. This good trade caused an
over-production in the next year, and as the British trade fell off
there was a serious depression. This was accentuated by the
provision that the operators must cut 1,000 feet a mile each season
on their limits regardless of the conditions of the trade.
The inevitable
parliamentary committee of inquiry appeared in 1848, before which W.
W. Dawson, a leading By town (Ottawa City) lumberman, stated that in
1847, including the quantity in stock and that brought to market,
there was a total supply of 44,927,000 feet to meet a demand for
19,060,000 feet. The next year the supply was 39,447,000 feet and
the demand 17,402,000 feet. He attributed the decreased demand to
the commercial depression in Europe and the unprecedentedly large
supply thrown upon the European market from the Province of New
Brunswick. As to the over-supply he gave three reasons: The
regulations requiring the manufacturing of a large quantity per
mile; the threatened subdivision of limits, and the difficulties
regarding boundaries.
The threatened
reduction or subdivision of limits in three years to the size of
five by five miles caused operators to endeavor to clear off their
big limits before being compelled to hand them back to the
Government. The lumbermen accused the Government of inaction in
regard to their boundaries, and in consequence, in order to defend
their limits, they had resort to physical force. This meant that the
operator trebled or quadrupled his men to be superior in numbers to
his opponent, and, as the men were on the ground, this meant the
trebling or quadrupling of the output.
The chief remedy
suggested by the lumbermen to the committee was that, instead of
endeavoring to prevent the holding of limits for speculation by
compelling the cutting of a certain amount of timber a year, an
annual ground rent of two shillings six pence a square mile should
be levied, which should be doubled in case of nonoccupation, and the
doubling continued every year the limit remained unoccupied. They
also suggested that the dues be collected upon actual measurement
instead of upon a count of sticks. For instance, red pine was
figured on an arbitrary average of thirty-eight feet a stick,
whereas the sticks ran from twenty-six to sixty feet, and a spar or
mast worth £10 paid only the same duty as a small stick available
for building.
The committee
reported recommending such action, and as a result the"first Crown
timber act was passed in 1849. This cleared up many points in
dispute. Under the regulations accompanying the act the size of
berths permitted was doubled; that is, ten miles along the river by
five miles deep, or fifty square miles, but only half that size was
permitted in surveyed townships. The dues imposed were : White pine,
square timber, }4d a foot; red pine, square timber, Id; basswood and
cedar, J4d; oak, l%d; elm, birch and ash, Id; cordwood, hard, 8d a
cord; soft, 4d; red pine logs, twelve feet long, 7d a log; white
pine logs twelve feet long, 5d; spruce, 2}4d. Each stick was to be
computed as containing cubic feet as follows: White pine, 70 cubic
feet; red pine, 38; oak, elm, ash, birch, cedar and basswood, 34.
Statements under oath were to be made of the kinds and quantities of
timber cut. The ground rent plan was not adopted, but the minimum
quantity to be cut on each mile was reduced to 500 feet a year.
There was one
clause which gave rise to a great deal of trouble in after years.
This provided that squatters were liable to the penalties for
cutting timber without license, but the dues on timber cut on land
purchased but not all paid for were to be collected by the
Government as part payment for the land. The arbitrary regulation as
to the quantity in each stick was made elastic by providing that the
operator could have the timber counted or measured as he chose. The
regulations also gave the limit holder a preferential claim above
all others to a renewal of his license, and thus gave greater
permanence to the lumbering business. .
In the regulations
of 1851 a ground rent of two shillings six pence a mile was
introduced, which rent doubled and increased annually in that
proportion, when the limit was not worked. It was provided also
that, where expenses of surveys made it advisable, licenses might be
disposed of at an upset price fixed by the Commissioner of Crown
Lands; and, in case of competition, awarded to the highest bidder.
Owing to the representations of mill owners and municipalities in
western Ontario, chiefly about London, the dues were doubled when
the logs were destined for export. This was to protect manufacturers
against the practice by American citizens of procuring lands at a
low rate for the purpose of cutting timber to be manufactured in the
United States.
The good effect of
these new regulations was at once seen. The revenue had been £22,270
in 1848; £24,198 in 1849; £24,728 in 1850 and £30,318 in 1851. In
1852, the first year the new regulations went into force, the
receipts rose to £53,013, of which £7,656 was for ground rent, and
this in spite of the fact that dues on red pine had been cut in two.
Up to this time red pine bore a penny a foot, while white pine bore
only a half-penny; but, owing to the decline in the British
preference for red pine, it had gone down in price and white pine
had gone up. This seems to have been a case where prejudice backed
by higher import duty gave red pine a fictitious value for years. A
memorial of manufacturers showed that the price of red pine
decreased from one shilling in 1844 to eight pence in 1851. The duty
was accordingly reduced to one-half pence a foot. The ups and downs
of the trade are shown in the returns of timber measured by the
supervisor of cullers at Quebec during 1845-52:
From 1841 to 1867
Quebec and Ontario constituted one province, and the regulations,
with some exceptions to meet local needs, were the same in both
sections. These are set out at considerable length in the chapters
on Ontario and need not be repeated here. In general it may be said
that the plan of selling the rights to cut timber under license,
allowing the land to remain in the possession of the Crown was
developed, the bonuses paid at the auctions held growing larger and
the dues and ground rent heavier as the timber increased in value.
The original export
trade of Canada in timber looked wholly to Europe as its market, and
of this trade Quebec City was the center. This trade appears to have
reached its zenith about 1864 when 1,350 square rigged ships entered
the St. Lawrence to load lumber, and when 20,032,520 cubic feet of
white pine timber was shipped. The wastefulness of the square timber
trade, the decline of wooden ship building and the rise of the new
export trade with the United States all operated against Quebec’s
preeminence, and the trade declined, much of it going to Montreal.
Of late years, however, new railways, the bringing in of spruce as a
valuable wood, and above all the ambition and energy of the citizens
of the old capital of Canada, have set it on the up grade again.
Since 1867, when Quebec became a province in the Dominion and
separated from Ontario, the provincial revenue derived from the
forests has steadily increased, with slight fluctuations showing the
effects of world-wide depression or prosperity.
The following
table, by fiscal years ending June 30 of each year named, shows the
amounts collected from Crown lands, as timber dues,, ground rent,
timber limits sales, etc.:
As to the
quantities of timber cut in Quebec, this is not easy to ascertain,
since different methods have been adopted at different times and the
products of private lands are not included, except in the decennial
census. This is particularly the case with pulpwood, which has
become an article of great importance in the last few years. The
following tables are of timber cut on Crown lands:
A review of the
area of Crown lands in Quebec under license to cut timber and the
quantity of sawlogs produced from such lands is interesting as
showing the changes in areas so held, the gradual decline in the
pine trade, due to the diminishing supply of pine timber, and the
rapid growth in recent years of the spruce industry. Such a table,
covering the twenty-five years ended with 1903, has been compiled3
from the reports of the Commissioner of Crown Lands. It is as
follows:
It is only within
the last few years that pulpwood has become of consequence, but in
1903 the Government reported a total of 259,231 cords cut on Crown
lands. There were also in that year 94,079 lineal feet of poles,
780,960 railway ties, 9,174 pickets, 2,424,500 shingles, 426 rails,
23 T/t cords of hemlock bark and 11,710 cords of white birch spool
wood.
The most important
point at the present time is the outlook for the future. It may be
said that, whereas ten years ago very pessimistic views were
entertained as to the quantity of timber left standing in Quebec,
today the views are much more hopeful. There are two reasons for
this: First, the development of the use of other woods, particularly
of spruce; and, second, the realization that if fjre is kept out and
the fake settlers stopped, the forests will reproduce themselves
much more rapidly than formerly supposed. Besides, people are realiz-,
ing that much of Quebec is unsuited for agriculture, whereas these
districts are eminently suited for the perpetual growth of timber.
The Government and the lumbermen are cooperating in the preservation
of the forests by a system of fire ranging and by leaving the young
timber to attain its full growth. Senator Edwards, of Ottawa and
Rockland, one of the largest limit holders in Quebec, in speaking
recently on this subject said that his candid opinion was that
Quebec possesses today the best asset in America. Ontario has timber
larger and of better quality, but Quebec has the young and growing
timber. The pine in sight, Mr. Edwards was inclined to think, might
last, with care, fifty years, but if fires (which have destroyed ten
times as much as the ax) are kept out and settlement prohibited on
the small areas of go6d land occurring in the forest regions, the
trade might be continued indefinitely.
As Quebec is the
largest eastern province and also the greatest forested province in
the Dominion, with a land area of 341,756 square miles, and reaches
back into the unexplored north, it is likely that it will continue
to be the great source of timber production in Canada.
During the spring
of 1904 a commission reported to the Quebec government against
indiscriminate settlement, with the result that the Government and
the lumbermen are nearer together and working more in harmony than
ever before. The commission favored an increase in the numbers and
joint control of the fire rangers; and, seeing that a million
dollars a year of the provincial revenue comes out of forests, the
legislators can be relied upon to be anxious to preserve the goose
which lays this golden egg.
Both Quebec and
Ontario have been fortunate in the supply of right kind of labor for
this trade. The cheerful, fun-loving, hardy French-Canadian takes to
lumbering like a duck to water. His skill in handling the ax, in
driving, in walking on floating logs and in jam-breaking, have a
world wide celebrity; while the songs with which he lightens his
labors with the oar or on snowshoes are a national inheritance and
pride. Curiously enough from the other side of the great river, from
the Ontario shore, have gone with him the men of a supposedly
antithetical race, the canny, dour Scots of Glengarry County, men
who knew no language but Gallic and no law but the strong hand.
Although they have fought for their masters over disputed lines and
fought for themselves out of sheer prowess so as to make “ The Man
from Glengarry ” one of the most picturesque of modem novels, yet
these deeds of daring have served only to unite the two sides of the
Ottawa in firmer bonds of respect and admiration. |
