The First Logging Railroads in the Great Lakes Region Author(s): Carl Jay Bajema Source: Forest & Conservation History, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Apr., 1991), pp. 76-83 Published by: Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3983941 Accessed: 25/09/2010 17:00 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=fhs. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Forest & Conservation History. http://www.jstor.org The First Logging in the Railroads Great Lakes Region Carl hasalwaysbeena Transportation major,if not the major,cost that GreatLakeslumbermenfacedin converting"sawlogsinto currency?''1 Duringthe middleof the nineteenth centurylogs were skidded(dragged directlyon the ground),movedon sleighs, and/or truckedon wagons to streamswherethey could be floatedto sawmills.Not only werethese modes of transportationcostly, they werenot alwaysreliable.Warmwinters,called "open' often made sleighingimpossible and truckingthroughthe slush and mud too difficult. Some loggers, facedwith long expensivehauls overlandand unpredictableweather,attemptedto lower their costs by using logging railroadsto transportlogs to streamsor directlyto sawmills.WinfieldScott Gerrish'sLake Georgeand MuskegonRiverRailroad, which began operatingin 1877,has oftenbeenclaimedto be the firstlogging railroadin the GreatLakesregion.2 Gerrishreportedthat he thought of using a railroadto transportlogs after he saw a small Baldwinlocomotiveon exhibit at the CentennialExposition at Philadelphiain 1876.3 The open winter of 1878-79 focussedattentionon Gerrish'slogging railroadand led numerousother Michiganlumbermen to imitatehim. Gerrish'splace in lumberingand railroadhistoryis 76 Jay Ba jema securebecausehis successfuland wellpublicizedexperimenttriggeredthe rapidexpansionof logging railroads in Michiganand other regionsof the country. However,Gerrishwas not the firstto transportlogs by rail, or by steam locomotive,in Michigan. LeslieArndt and othershaveclaimedsince 1973 that the Pinconningand Kaiserville Railroad(laterknown as the Glencoe and Pinconning),which began operating in 1873 in Bay County,was the state'sfirststeamlocomotivelogging railroad.4The geographerRandall Rohe, in his technologicalhistoryof the use of tramwaysand pole railroads in the GreatLakes,has tracedthe history of logging railroadsback to 1855. He reportsthat "Theearliestknown ... wooden railroad[used]for logging in the GreatLakesregionis one built duringthe summerof 1855 at Tawas, Michigan"on the shoreof LakeHuron.5 Considerabledocumentaryevidence shows that lumbermenlogging along the GrandRiverin Michigan'sOttawa County had alreadybuilt and operated threelogging railroadsbefore 1855the yearthe firstpart of the Tawasloggingrailroadwas builton the east sideof the state. The fourthlogging railroad constructedin OttawaCounty began using a steamlocomotiveto haul logs on wooden railsin 1857.The historyof these long-forgottenlogging railroads Forest&Conservation History35 (April1991) is an importantfirstchapterin the use of railroadsto haul logs.6 These lines, some of which ran morethan two decadesbeforeGerrish'soperation, werethus the firstlogging railroadsin Michigan,and possibly in the Great Lakesregionor eventhe United States as a whole. In short, a closer look at the history of logging railroadscontradictsthe "heroiclone innovator"theorythat shapesmost publishedaccountsof W. S. Gerrish's"invention." Log transport by rail insteaddevelopedthrough multipleindependentinventionsactuallya transferof technologiesand gradualevolutionenforcedby economic competition.7 Some historianshaveclassifiedlogging railroadsby basic type into pole roads,tramor stringerroads,and steam railroads.8But Michiganlumbermen employedthese variantsin manydiverse ways. Some ran gearedShaylocomotives on wooden pole roadsin 1880; othersused horsesto drawlogging cars on iron railsas late as 1910.9The history of railroadsused to haul logs as well as other commoditiescan best be understoodby focusingon specific innovationsin technologyand business organization.Duringthe mid-to-late nineteenthcenturyin Michigan,important changesoccurredin: the materials used to constructrails(wooden poles, woodenrails,strapironon wooden rails,ironandsteel);sourcesof power (animal,steam,diesel);typesof locomotives(steam-powered enginesvaried byweight,numberof drivers,conventionaldriversversusgeared,horsepower andspeed);thegaugeof track(narrow, standard,broad);andtherolesof parin broader ticularloggingrailroads railnetworks(free-standing, branch, mainline). TheEarliestHorse-Drawn LoggingRailroads,1850 Thecompletionof theIllinoisand MichiganCanalconnectingChicago withtheMississippiRiverin 1848 openedup a hugeprairiemarketfor pinelumberfromMichigan.Lumbermenin theGrandandMuskegonriver valleyscouldnot getlogsto theirsawmillsfastenoughto supplyChicago merchants withlumberforcustomers in theWest.Thecityshippedoutthirtyninemillionboardfeetof lumberin 1849, almostdouble the previousyear's deliveries.The lumberexportedfrom Chicagoincreasedalmostsevenfold duringthe firsteight yearsthat barges plied the canal, reaching136 million In 1850 two lumboardfeet in 1856PO bermenin the GrandRivervalleytried to speed up the processof movinglogs fromthe skidwaysin the pine foreststo the bankinggroundsnext to the river by havinghorsespull carloadsof logs along wooden rails. One of these railroadspenetrateda few miles into the pineriesof AllendaleTownshipjust downstreamfromEastmanville(see map). This railroad,built underthe directionof Dr. TimothyEastman,was lateroperatedby Chicagolumberman The other railroadwas JabezBarberP1 built about the same time, 1850, from the head of a bayoueast a few miles into the forestYThese firsttwo experimentalhorse-drawnlogging railroads in Michiganmust havebeen at least a partialsuccessbecauseby 16 February 1853 the GrandRiver Timespublished the followingadvertisement: Noticeto Contractors Wewillreceiveproposalstillthefirstday of of March,next,fortheconstruction thetwoandone-halfmilesof railroad Bayou, runningfromthebankof Stearn's on Sec.5, to thecentreof Sec.16,in T 7, and N. R. 15W.Thegroundis favorable is veryconvenient. thematerial with Eachproposalmustbe accompanied person thenameof atleastoneresponsible of contract. as suretyforperformance maybe seenat Plansandspecifications ouroffice. GILBERT& CO. GRAND HAVEN, FEB. 9, I853 This thirdrailroad,built from Stearn'sBayousoutheasttoward Robinsoncenter(see map) was successfulenough to operatefor at least eight years03The standsof pine timber that these firstthreehorse-drawn logging railroadspenetratedwere probablyexhaustedand the railroads abandonedby 1864. None of thesethree railroadsappearon an 1864 plat map of Muskegonand Ottawacounties, Loggingrailroadsin OttawaCounty, beforethe CivilWar Michigan, t - -- t Muskegon Co. O ~~~~~~~~Ottawa _| I Co. Lake Spring (Big Bayou) in A r miles 5 t \ \ > > Eastmanville @~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~Bayaour sRobinson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4 H Map 6 Area LoggingRailroads 77 althoughthe routesof four other railroadsin centraland easternOttawa County are identified4 By 1858 logging railroadswereso numerousin the GrandRivervalley betweenGrandRapidsand Grand Haventhat a Milwaukeecitizentraveling on a GrandRiversteamboatwrote: "Tofacilitatechopping,everyowner has his own railroad,extendingback from the riverto his heavytimber.One man has his regularlocomotive,though the horse is the generalmotivepower.'5 TheBlendonLumber andItsSteam Company LoPinotwveRailroad(1857) The fourthrailroadto be built in OttawaCounty was the firstlogging railroadin the GreatLakesregionto employa steamlocomotive.The white pine forestin BlendonTownshipwas one of the largestin OttawaCounty and stood severalmiles from the Grand River,the neareststreamthat could float logs. John Ball found this tractof white pine duringthe Michiganland rush of 1836, afterleavingNew York with one thousanddollarsin gold and nine thousandin bank draftstucked awayin his saddlebags06 Ball, who was servingas a timber cruiserand land agent for severalinvestors from Troy,New York,traversedthe forestsof Allegan, Ionia, and Ottawa countiesduringthe fall of 1836. Afterspendinga day cruisingtimber from Grandvillein KentCounty to BlendonTownshipin OttawaCounty he recordedfindingonly one smalltract of pine. He and his companioncamped out that night and "sleptas well as the trampingdeer and howlingwolves would let us."The next day they took a morenorthernrouteback and had not gone far beforecoming into a dense forestof pines. They spent the rest of that day and part of the next mapping the pine forestbut had to returnto Grandvillefor suppliesbeforecompleting their survey.A few days latertheyreturnedin the rain and snow to make a thoroughinvestigation of thelands, findingsome2,500 acresof goodpine almostin a body,on a partof which therewassomegoodwhiteoak.Oneoak treewassevenfeetin diameter witha 78 clearbodysayof seventyfeethighanda finespreading top,thelargesttreeI ever sawin Michigan.Itwassawedandsent eastfornavypurposesY7 John Ball purchasedthe twenty-five hundredacresof pine and oak with some of the ten thousanddollarshis New Yorkinvestorshad givenhim to buy land for them. When the financial panic of 1837 depressedlumberprices, Ball opened a law practicein Grand Rapids,wherehe continuedto serve as land agent for the investorsin New York. It took morethan fifteenyearsfor the financialsituationto improveenough to give those investorsan incentiveto begin logging theirtract.Economic conditionshad changedso much by 1855 that a ChicagoJournalcorrespondentwrote: TheLansingburg Co.arenowprepared to carryon theirlumbering operation withgreatfacility.A locomotive with carshavebeenplacedupona necessary trackof somethreemilesin length, backfromtheriver,to an extending extensive tractof pineland,ownedbythe in thetownof Blendon,in this company, county.Withthisarrangement theyare enabledto banka verylargequantityof logsdaily.Theselogsareraftedto the millbeforementioned formanufacture intolumber.22 is a smallplace,celebrated Lansingburg23 andthelarge onlyforitsrailroad, amountof lumberandlogsthatis sent therefrom.24 Thereareno other contemporary news accountsof the operationof the BlendonLumberCompanyrailroad. Fortunately,some of the operationsof this railroadcan be reconstructedfrom letterswrittenby two individualswho Thelumberwealthof Michigan,and thisportionof thestateis inespecially workedfor the company.25 I knowof no moreadmirable calculable. Duringthe winterof 1855/56 the localityfortheactiveandenergetic prose- lumbercompanybuilt a small sawmill cutionof thebusinessthanthis.A frame in the centerof BlendonTownshipand sawmill,a steamboilerandengine,and used that mill primarilyto saw timber oneraftof logson theGrandRiver,confor the railroad.The railroadinitially stitutessufficient capitalto makeany had wooden rails,26but the Blendon ownerrichin a fewyears.18 LumberCompanylaterreplacedthese In responseto this new economic cli- with railsmade of used strapiron.27 mate, Ball'sinvestorshad him arrange The BlendonLumberCompanyrailfor a cash assessmentof theirtimber39 roadwas threemiles in length when it They also instructedhim to beginnego- was firstconstructedand laterattained tiations for acquiringa right-of-wayon a length of eight miles. The railroad which a railroadcould be constructed carriedlogs fromthe forestsin Blendon fromtheir foreststo the GrandRiver. Townshipnorthwestto BlendonLandHenry Hart surveyedthe right-of-way ing just inside GeorgetownTownship duringFebruary1856 and purchasedit on the GrandRiver"wheretherewas a for F.B. Leonard,T. C. Brinsmade,and high bank, down which the logs were J. E. Whipple,the New Yorkinvestors, rolledinto the river."28 who then organizeda lumbercomThe steam locomotivepurchasedby pany.20Newspapersfirstreferredto BlendonLumberCompanyhad four theirfirmas the LansingburgCompany, drivingwheels, operatedon standard but it soon becameknown as the Blengauge trackand was built in 1850 don LumberCompany.21 They purfor the MichiganCentralRailroadby chasedadditionaltimberand employed Locksand HavenLocomotivebuilders Capt. S. R. Noyesof Lansingburg,New of Lowell,Massachusetts.29 Blendon York,as their agent from 1855 to 1865. CompanyemployeeHarleyBement Twonewspaperaccountsdocument described"theold St. Joe [as] a big this company'suse of a steamlocomofreightenginewith a tenderand water tive to haul logs startingin the spring tank?"30 Duringthe springand summer of 1857: monthsthis engine made "fouror five trips a day overthe trackthroughthe WelearnthatCol.Nortonhasleasedthe dense woods of Blendonand Georgesteamsawmillrecentlyerectedbyhim,at town"to BlendonLanding.Bement Nortonville, to theLansingburg Company,fora termof tenyears,fora describedthe operationas follows: consideration thatbidsfairto highly remunerative to theowner. Forest&Conservation History35 (April1991) Eachcarcoupledfarenoughapartto put ontwotier[s]of logs,sixteenfeetlong.She hadfromsix to eightof thesecarsand putfromthreeto eightthousand[board feet]in a car.Thewheelswerethesame heightasthoseof allflatcarsatthattime. Shecarriedanengineerandfiremen whenshesuppliedtheLitchfield mill. About100,000[boardfeet]a dayhadto be putin so youcanreadilyseethiscould notbe doneon a crookedroadanda poortrack.3' The financialtimingof Blendon LumberCompany'stechnologicalinnovation in haulinglogs was horrendous. The panic of 1857 soon made it virtually impossiblefor lumbermento make a profit,and manywest Michigansawmills shut down.32 Fortunatelythe depressionin lumber priceswas short-lived.With its railroad investmentalreadymade, the Blendon LumberCompanyproceededto build one of the largeststeam sawmillson the GrandRiverat BlendonLandingin 1858. The only reasonfor constructing such a largesawmillat this somewhat isolatedlocation would be to take advantageof the logs coming down to the GrandRiveron the company'srailroad.33The loggingrailroadwas usedto haul hardwood-white oak, hickory, ash, cherry,and blackwalnut logs-as well as white pine.34The white oak was used as railroadand car timberand in the buildingof numerousships.35 Anotherprofitablecargo for the logging railroadwas cordwood,which was sold for firewood.36 The slowly improvingfinancialconditions after 1857 wereinterruptedby the secessionof the southernstatesand the Civil War.The war depressedthe Chicago lumbermarketduring 1861, butpricesbeganrisingin 1862, marking the beginningof what one Michigan lumbermancalled "elevenfat years."37 The BlendonLandingSawmilland perhapsthe BlendonLumberCompany did not benefitfrom the boom, however.Duringthe next two years,the mill'sowner joined the Union Army and becamea prisoner-of-war;in May 1864 the mill was sold to a Boston businessman;and finallythe mill burneddown two monthslaterduring a dry summerof manyforestfires, some of which may also havedestroyed partof the timberownedby the Blendon LumberCompany.The 16 August 1864 GrandRapidsDaily Eagle advertised a salvagesale of the sawmill'smachinery.38The mill itselfwas neverrebuilt. The logs still beingdeliveredto Blendon Landingweredumpedinto the Grand Riverand floateddownstreamto one of the sawmillsin the Nortonville/Mill Pointarea.39In 1865 BlendonLumber Companysold the remainingpine and oak on their land, along with the logging railroad,to JohnHaireof Georgetown, Michigan.40 Wasthe BlendonLumber Railroadthe First Company SteamLoggingRailroadto Operatein the UnitedStates? The BlendonLumberCompany's steamrailroadapparentlyceased operation about 1870.41The best estimate of pine and hardwoodlogs and lumber deliveredto Blendon'sLandingon the GrandRiverby this railroadduringits approximatelyfourteenyearsin operation is betweenforty and sixty million boardfeet.42 Overallthe BlendonLumberCompany'sexperimentusing a steamlocomotiveto haul logs severalmiles to the GrandRiver,beginningin 1857,was probablynot much of a financialsuccess becauseof depressedeconomic conditionsduringthe panic of 1857 and the early Civil War.The company also facedexpensivewear and tear on its equipment-the locomotive,car wheels, and wooden rails(laterreplaced by strapiron)- causedby haulingheavy logs.43 Ironically,the BlendonLumber Companysurmountedobstaclesboth economic and technical,only to succumb in the end to historicalaccidents that kept the companyfrom exploiting the newly improvedmarketsor its own improvedtechnology. The BlendonCompanynonetheless deservesrecognitionforrunninga steam logging railroadseventeenyearsbefore the Glencoeand PinconningRailroad used a steamlocomotiveto haul logs to LakeHuron in 1874.44The Blendon experimentalso predatedby two decades W. S. Gerrish'soperationof what was apparentlythe firstconsistently profitablesteamlogging railroad,the LakeGeorgeand MuskegonRiverline, which began in 1877.4S MichaelKoch, in his classic book on the historyof logging railroads,46 contendsthat the firstlogging railroad in the United Stateswas constructed in 1852 in New Yorkstateand used a steamlocomotiveto haul the logs. KochunfortunatelymisquotedWilliam E Fox, who wrote: Thefirstrailroad forhaulinglogswas builtin 1860byFox,Weston& Bronson, in thetownof Lindley, SteubenCounty, NewYork.Itwasconstructed of wooden rails,andwasequipped withplatform carsanda locomotive whichboreon its cabthename"Bullof theWoods"[and hauled]logsto thebankof theTioga River.47 The BlendonLumberCompany's steam locomotivelogging railroadpredatedthis railroadby threeyears.A searchfor documentaryevidenceof the earliestlogging railroadsin a number of statesfound none that employeda steamlocomotiveat an earlierdate (see table). Thus, the BlendonLumber Company's1857 freestandingsteam logging railroadis the oldest documenteduseof steamrailroadtechnology to haul logs in the United States. AdditionalLoggingRailroads in OttawaCounty An 1864 plat map of Muskegonand Ottawacounties,which showsthe Blendon LumberCompanyrailroad,also identifiestwo other lumberrailroadsone operatedby StephenLowingfrom Ohio Dock on the GrandRiverto BlendonTownshipwith Cole'ssawmill at its inlandterminus,and one operated by GeorgeWeatherwaxfrom his river landingin GeorgetownTownshipinto the pineriesof that township.48There are no loggingrailroadsidentifiedon the plat map of OttawaCountypublished in 1876,49althoughthereis fragmentaryhistoricalevidencethat other horse-drawnlogging railroadsran in Blendonand Allendaletownshipsduring the 1870s and early 1880s.50 That a total of six logging railroads werebuiltbetween1850 and 1864 along the GrandRiverin OttawaCounty suggeststhat the two constructedfirst weresuccessful.Only the successof the initialexperimentswould have inducedinvestorsto commit the capital necessaryto build four morelogging railroads,threeof which weremore than two miles in length. LoggingRailroads 79 Firstuse of railroadsto transportlogs priorto 1877 Animalpower Michigan California Illinois New York Maine Pennsylvania Virginia Georgia New Hampshire Florida North Carolina Steamlocomotive 1850 by 1854 (gravity) 1856/57 Free-standing railroad Mainline railroad 1857 1871 1862 1860 December1860 1860 1864 by 1869 1870 1870 by 1873 by late 1877 1867 by 1873 Sources Michigan: Hopkinsoperateda logging railroadin 1850 fromthe headof SpringLake,GrandRivervalley (see advertisementfor someoneto operatethis railroad,GrandRiver Times,6 August1851,plus letter to the editorby Edwin Thayer,"TheFirstLoggingRailroadin Michigan;'AmericanLumberman1449 [28 February1903]: 18). TimothyEastmanoperateda loggingrailroadin 1850 to GrandRiverin Allendale township(see Thayer,"FirstLoggingRailroadin Michigan").The BlendonLumberCompanyoperateda steamlocomotiveloggingrailroadfrom BlendonTownshipin OttawaCountyto GrandRiverin 1857 (GrandRiver Times,6 May 1857,p. 2, plus Thayer,"FirstLoggingRailroadin Michigan").The Detroitand MilwaukeeRailroadoperateddaily log trainswest to HunterSavidge'smill at Mill Point (SpringLake)in the fall of 1860 (see GrandHavenNews, 19 December1860, p. 3). in the RedwoodEmpire;" seeS. T. Borden,"Arcata California: & MadRiver:OneHundredYearsof Railroading Railroader TheWestern 17(June1954):4, andLynwoodCarrancoandHenryL. Sorensen,Steamin the Redwoods(Caldwell,Idaho:CaxtonPrinters,1988). A loggingtramroad at Ullin,Illinoisin 1856/57.A steamlocomoIllinois: usingmulesandoxenwasconstructed tivewasputon thisrailroadin 1862.(JamesBell,who operateda sawmillin Ullin,citedbyM. L. Saley,columnist fortheNorthwestern Lumberman 43 [3 February 1894]:3). andtheGrandTrunkRailroads Maine:BoththeAugustaandKennebec operatedloggingtrainsin 1860according to a newsaccountin theBrunswickTelegraph (citedbyM. Kochin Steamand Thunderin the Timber[Denver, Colorado:WorldPress,1979],p. 102). Pennsylvania: WrightandPieroperateda steamlocomotivein 1864at themouthof CallenRun,a smalltributary F.Kline,Jr.,Dinkies,DamsandSawdust:TheLogging of theClarionRiverin Jefferson county(seeBenjamin Railroadsof Pennsylvania [Lancaster, Pennsylvania: privately printed,1975],p. 1265,citingtheRidgewayAdvocate,7 January1897). in EmanuelCountyduring1867.GeorgeGarbuthuseda Fifield Georgia:MosesWadleyoperateda tramroad steamlocomotivenearOgeechee,EmanuelCounty,beginningin 1870(seeletterto editorin Northwestern Lumberman 11[27 April1878]:4). NewYork:Fox,WestonandBronsonoperateda steamlocomotivein thetownof Lindley,SteubenCounty,beginstates(Steamand Thunderin the Timber,p. 22). Inthe 1976facningin 1860,not in 1852as Kochmistakenly similereprint(Harrison,New York:HarborBooks,1976)of W.Fox's1901Historyof theLumberIndustryin the Stateof New York,thiscitationappearson page52. Thus1852wouldbe aneasyerrorto makewhentranscribing thereference. NewHampshire: WilliamGove,"NewEngland's FirstLoggingRailroad: Brown'sLumberCompany-Whitefield, NorthernLogger21 (no. 10,April1973):18-19,42-45. New Hampshire;' two loggingrailroads remembered thatusedlittleuprightengineson Virginia:Oneanonymous correspondent woodentracksin 1869,buthe didnot givethenamesof the companies.He pointedout thatat leasttwo Virginia railroadhaulcompanieswereusingironrailsin 1878-JacksonandCo. of Suffolk,who operateda fourteen-mile ingbothlogsandlumber,andJohnL. RosserandCo.,who hada six-milerailroadfromtheirmillon theA & C Lumberman 11[20 April1878]:4). canalbackthoughtheirswamp(letterto editorsignedH., Northwestern "HorseRailroadsforHaulingLogs;'(anonymous Florida: recorrespondent, [Jacksonville, Florida]Republican, printedin TheLumberman's Gazette2 [no.10,April1873]:127).Also"Wooden Railways;" (anonymous correspondent,TheLumberman's Gazette3 [no.1,July1873]:23). NorthCarolina: railroadnear Greenleaf, JohnsonandSonwereusingtwo locomotives to haullogson a three-mile Lumberman 11(20 April1878):4. to a letterto theeditorsignedH., in theNorthwestern Edenton,according TheFirstMainlineRailroad to OperateLogTrainsin the GreatLakesRegion Duringthe latterpart of 1860 the firstmainlinerailroadpenetratedthe white pine forestsof Michiganthanks to HunterSavidge,a Mill Pointlumberman,who paid the Detroit and MilwaukeeRailwayto run a train 80 loaded with logs from the banking groundto his mill each day.51This log trainoperatedon the Detroit and Milwaukeemainlinefromthe banking groundswest of Nunica to Mill Point (now SpringLake)adjacentto Grand Riverin OttawaCounty.The daily supplyof logs enabledSavidge'smill to stay open while other mills closed for the winterwhen ice in the riverscut off their supplyof logs. Forest&Conservation History35 (April 1991) Soon, however,the startof the Civil Wardepressedthe Chicagolumber marketand collapsedIllinois banks, probablyproducingthe same economic losses for Savidge'smainlinelogging trainas for the BlendonLumberCompany'slogging railroad.Sawmillshad also been constructedalong the route of the Detroit and MilwaukeeRailway at such locations as Muir and Ionia in Ionia County and Berlin(now Marne), Coopersville,and Nunica in Ottawa County.52Both the railroadand the Chicagolumbermerchantscould make a betterprofittransportingsawn boards from these mills than by transporting whole logs by rail. As a result,Savidge's logging-trainexperimentdid not lead othersto employmainlinerailroadsto transportlogs to their mills.53 This firstexperimentin the operation of logging trainsby a mainlinerailroad precededby ten yearsthe 1870 use of log trainsby the Flint and PereMarquetteRailroad,the earliestsuch use documentedin the previouslypublished Severalother Michigan literature.54 commoncarrierrailroadsbegan operating log trainswithin two yearsafter the Flintand PereMarquettebegan operatingdaily log trains.55 ReplacingMythwith Fat The businessinvestorsand lumbermen who attemptedto haul logs by rail in the GrandRiverValleyof Michigan beforeand duringthe Civil Wardid not take the time to recordtheir successes and failurespublicly.Their attemptswere so completelyforgotten that by 1881 a correspondentof the NorthwesternLumbermanwriting from GrandHavencould stateconfidentlythat the firstlogging railroad on the GrandRiverwas built by Whitney and Stinchfieldin 1878.56At the turn of the centuryEdwin Thayer attemptedto get the historyof the BlendonLumberCompany'srailroad incorporatedinto both the national historyof lumberingand the local history of the GrandRivervalley,57but his effortswereignoredand forgotten locally as well as nationally.The standardhistoryof OttawaCounty mentions none of the six logging railroads that operatedbeforeor duringthe Civil War.58 Numerouslumbermenconstructed and operatedanimal-poweredfreestandinglogging railroadsduringthe 1850s, 1860s and early 1870s in Michigan.59The constructionand operationof steamlocomotiveson logging railroadsnot connectedto any mainlinerailroadwas not attempted again in Michiganuntil 1873 when the Pinconningand KaiservilleRailroad began operating.60 It took the open winter of 1877-78 for WinfieldScott Gerrish'sLake Georgeand MuskegonRiverlogging railroadto make a profitsufficiently obvious to stimulatethe construction of numerouslogging railroadsin Michiganduringthe springand summer of 1878. By the time the last logging branchline was built in Michigan by the LakeSuperiorand Ishpeming Railroadin 1957,61morethan five hundredlogging companieshad constructedseveralthousandmiles of trackinto the forestsof Michigan.62 Conclusion One of the most importanttechnological developmentsin the history of logging in the nineteenthcentury involvedthe use of railroadsto transport logs.63A reviewof the documented historyof logging railroadssupports the conclusionthat America'slogging railroadera began in OttawaCounty, Michigan,with the introductionof horse-drawnlogging railroadsin 1850 and the introductionof a steam locomotiveto transportlogs in 1857.The historyof the numerousexperiments with logging railroadsbetween 1850 and 1877 documentsmultipleindeSelectively,some pendent"inventions." experimentsfailed-for economic or technologicalreasons.The successes multipliedwheneverthey encountered a fortunatecombinationof feasible technologyand economic opportunity. Despitethe well-deservedhistorical reputationof W. S. Gerrishas an early operatorand innovatorin the use of railroadsto transportlogs, he was not A the "heroic"lone inventor. This paperis dedicatedto the memoryof RichardFlanders,professorof anthropology at GrandValleyStateUniversity,who died in 1989.His intellectualcuriosityaboutBlendon Landing,now a ghost town, firststimulated me to beginstudyingthe environmentalhistory of loggingin the GrandRiverValley. I wish to thankForrestMeek, RandallRohe, PaulTrap,RobertVandevusse,and SamBreck who haveprovidedme with assistancevaluable in the writingof this paperand in other projectson the environmentalhistoryof loggingin Michigan. in the 1. WilliamG. Rector,Log Transportation GreatLakesLumberIndustry1840-1918 (Glendale,California:ArthurClark, 1953); BarbaraE. Benson,Logsand Lumber:The Developmentof the LumberIndustryin Michigan'sLowerPeninsula,1837-1870 (MountPleasant:CentralMichiganUniversity Press,1989);Mark E. Neithercut,"The WhitePineIndustryand the Transformation of Nineteenth-Century Michigan"(Ph.D. dissertation,Universityof BritishColumbia, 1984). 2. RollandH. Maybee,Michigan'sWhitePine Era: 1840-1900 (Lansing:MichiganHistorical Commission,1960), pp. 37-41; Willis Dunbar,Michigan:A Historyof the Wolverine State,1sted. (GrandRapids,Michigan: Eerdmans,1965), pp. 473-74; SamBreck, GraydonMeintsand EvanGarrett,eds., One HundredFifty Yearsof MichiganRailroad History(Lansing:MichiganDepartmentof Transportation,n.d. [1987]). FirstSuccessful 3. Hudson Keenan,"America's LoggingRailroad' MichiganHistory44, (September1960):292-302. 4. LeslieE. Arndt,"1973LoggingTrain'Natural' for BayCounty,"TheBay City Times,Sunday edition,3 August1975,p. 3B; LeslieE. Arndt, The Bay CountyStory:Memoirsof the County's125 Years(BayCity,Michigan: HuronNews Service,1982), pp. 122-23; FredC. Olds, "Michigan'sFirstLogging Line:A New Claim' TheInside Track 8 (Nov./Dec. 1977): 19-20; MichaelKoch, Steamand Thunderin the Timber:Sagaof the ForestRailroads(Denver,Colorado: WorldPress,1979), p. 22. S. RandallRohe,"Tramways and PoleRailroads: An Episodein the TechnologicalHistoryof the GreatLakesLumberEra,"UpperMidwest History5 (1985):19. 6. A previouseffortwas madearoundthe turnof the centuryto drawattentionto the attempts of lumbermento userailroadsfortransporting logs to the GrandRiverin OttawaCounty between1850 and 1870. See articleby Edwin Thayer,who workedfor the BlendonLumber Companyas a shippingagent,"FirstLogging Railroad:InterestingReminiscencesof the Old BlendonLumberCompany'sLine;' GrandRapidsHerald,5 September1899, p. 4. See also a letterto the editorfromEdwin Thayerentitled"TheFirstLoggingRailroad in Michigan,"AmericanLumberman1449, 28 February1903, p. 18. 7. Formoreon thesegeneraltheoriesof technologicalchange,see GeorgeBasalla,The Evolutionof Technology(New York:CambridgeUniversityPress,1988);Donald T. Campbell,"EvolutionaryEpistemology,'in PaulSchillp,ed., The Philosophyof Karl Popper,vol. 1 (La Salle,Illinois:Open Court, 1974);J. Hugill and D. BruceDickson,eds., The Transferand Transformation of Ideas and MaterialCulture(UniversityStation: TexasA&M Press,1988);and EverettM. Rogers,Diffusionof Innovations,3rd ed. (New York:FreePress,1983). 8. E. F. Guild, "LoggingRailroads"Michigan Engineer4 (1883):58-61; RalphC. Bryant, Logging:ThePrinciplesand GeneralMethods of Operationin the UnitedStates,1sted. (New York:Wiley& Sons, 1914),pp. 242-48. and PoleRailroads." 9. Rohe,"Tramways 10. GeorgeW. Hotchkiss,IndustrialChicago, vol. 4, LumberInterests(Chicago,Illinois: Goodspeed,1894), p. 193. 11. The only historicaldocumentationfor the existenceof this railroadis Thayer,"First LoggingRailroadin Michigan." 12. Hopkins& Brothers,who operateda sawmill at Mill Pointas the villageof SpringLake was then called, builtthis animal-drawn loggingrailroad.In an advertisementdated 1 August1851and run in the GrandRiver Times,6 August1851,p. 3, Hopkinssought someoneto get in fivemillionfeet of saw logs usingtheirequipment,which included fiveyokeof oxen, one span of horses,and two miles of track.This loggingrailroadis also mentionedin Thayer,"FirstLogging Railroadin Michigan." 13. Anonymous,Historyof Ottawaand Muskegon Counties,with Illustrationsand BiographicalSketchesof Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers(Chicago,Illinois:H. R. Page& Co., 1882), p. 103, statesthat Charles H. Clarkbuiltthe horserailroadfor the Gilbertsin 1853. ThomasGilbertsold the railroadto Ferry& Son when Gilbertdecided to moveto GrandRapidsin 1855/56. That this railroadwas still in operationas late as 1861is documentedby an obituaryfor the wife of one of the railroad'sworkers(Grand HavenNews, 5 June 1861,p. 3). 14. I. Gross,Map of the Countiesof Ottawaand Muskegonand Partof Allegan,Michigan (Philadelphia,Pennsylvania: Geil, 1864; reprinted,Muskegon,Michigan:Muskegon GenealogicalSociety,1986). 15. MilwaukeeDaily Sentinel,4 June 1858, reprintedin GrandRapidsEagle, 11June 1858, p. 3. 16. JohnBall,Autobiographyof JohnBall, compiledby KateBallPowers,FloraBallHopkins, and LucyBall (GrandRapids,Michigan: Dean-Hicks,1925), pp. 133, 140-43. 17. Ibid., p. 143. 18. Correspondenceof the ChicagoJournalon GrandHaven,the lumbertrade,the Detroit and MilwaukeeRailway,etc., as reprintedin theGrandRapidsDaily Herald,29 May 1855,p. 2. 19. LeoC. Lillie,HistoricGrandHavenand Ottawa County(GrandHaven,Michigan, 1931;reprintedGrandHaven,Michigan:TriCitiesHistoricalSociety,1980). LoggingRailroads 81 20. HenryHartto F.B.Leonard et. al.,recorded 5 March1857,Book M, pp.104-105, Register of DeedsOffice,OttawaCounty, GrandHaven,Michigan. 21. Theincorporation records of Michigan includeno recordof eithertheBlendonLumberCompany ortheLansingburg Company (letterto theauthorfromtheCorporation andSecurities Bureau, MichiganDepartment 16October1987). of Commerce, 22. GrandRiver Times(Grand Haven,Michigan),6 May1857,p. 2. 23. Lansingburg, wherethecompany dumpedits logsintotheGrandRiver,becameknownas BlendonLanding. 24. GrandRiverTimes(Eastmanville, Michigan), 14October1857,p. 1. 25. A one-paragraph historyof theBlendon in the Lumber Company railroad published GrandHaven Tribune,16 August1899,p. 4, in theGrandRapidsHerald wasreprinted andledto a seriesof articleson thislogging "First railroad. Oneis Thayer, LoggingRailA secondhand accountof historical road." Comof theBlendonLumber theoperations 'America's writtenbyC.Waffel, panyrailroad FirstLoggingRailroad,GrandHaven so Tribune,3 October1899,p. 4, contained manyerrorsthattwomenwhohadworked wrote fortheBlendonLumber Company lettersto theeditor.Theynotonlycorrected other theerrorsbutwenton to describe of thelumbercompany. See operations EdwinThayer, letterto editor,GrandHaven Tribune,10October1899,p. 4, andHarley C. Bement,letterto editor,GrandHaven Tribune,27 December 1899,p. 4. in his 10October1899letter 26. EdwinThayer, to theeditorof theGrandHaven Tribune, that"thestringers recalled uponwhichthe woodenrailswereplaced,weremadefrom timberadjoining thetrack,treesfromsixteen to twentyinchesin diameter, flattedupon bothsides,laiduponcrossties, likewise in theground,and flattedandimbedded insteadof beingspikedto thetieswithiron werefastened to the spikes,thestringers crossties withstoutoakpins,twoinchesin diameter throughholesboredwitha two inchaugerintothecrossties beneath:' 27. Thayer, "First inMichigan," Logging Railroad p. 18.Piecesof thestrap-iron railhavebeen anddugupbyGrand plowedupbyfarmers ValleyStateUniversity archaeologists investiwhichis nowa gatingBlendonLanding, ghosttown.I havebeenshownsuchpieces andbyProfessor byGerritElzinga,a farmer, Richard anarchaeologist. Flanders, There areno archaeological remains of therailroad land.Thisis gradeabovethesurrounding becausethelandwassubsequently probably plowedbythefarmers whopurchased it fromthelumbercompany. Theonly gradethatstillexistsis a cutjustwestof BlendonLanding. 28. Anonymous, letterto Saginaw columnist, AmericanLumberman1266,26 August 1899,p. 24. 29. Thislocomotive wasknownas "OldSt.Joe" according bothto Thayer("First Logging Railroad" [1899])andthe1882vanitycounty 82 history,Historyof Ottawaand Muskegon Counties. Thecompilers of anothercountry history,the IllustratedHistoricalAtlas of Ottawaand KentCounties,Michigan(Chi- cago,Illinois:Belden& Co.,1876;reprinted GrandRapids,Michigan: GrandRapids PublicMuseum,1975)erroneously stateon page36 thatthislocomotive waspurchased fromtheDetroitandMilwaukee In Railway. 1899EdwinThayerrecalled thatGeorge Pratt,a locomotive engineer whoworkedon theDetroitandMilwaukee claimed Railway, to haverunthelocomotive on theMichigan Centralaround1840whenthethelatterline extended westonlyas faras AnnArbor.This mustalsobeerroneous. Therostersof locomotives ownedbytheMichigan Central in thepossession Railroad of theRailway andLocomotive Historical Society,Westford, Massachusetts, lista locomotive called"St. Joe"in 1855thatwasbuiltbyLocks& Havenin 1850.Thislocomotive doesnot appearon the1858rosterof Michigan Central locomotives. 30. Bement,letterto editor,GrandHavenTribune,27 December 1899,p. 4. 31. Ibid. 32. Benson,LogsandLumber, pp.216-17 33. TheU.S.Censusreported thatthislargesawmill,ownedbyLitchfield & Co.,employed fourcircular saws thirty-five men,operated in additionto uprightsawsandwasproducingfourmillionfeetof pinelumber Thecensusalsoreported thata annually. steamsawmill,builtseveral milesinlandat theendof therailroad byStoresandWyman in 1856,hadtwelveemployees andwasproducing1.3millionfeetof sawedpinelumber SeeUnitedStatesCensus,1860, annually. forSchedule "Manuscript Five:Products of Stateof Michigan," Industry, heldbytheU.S. CensusBureau (Washington, D.C.),entries forOttawaCounty,BlendonTownship, p. 2; andforGeorgetown Township, p. 1. 34. Theeditorof theGrandHavenNewsspoke highlyof thequalityof Blendonoakand EdwinThayercontended thatthewhiteoak takenfromBlendonwasthefinestwhiteoak in Michigan(GrandHavenNews, 16July "First 1862,p. 3; Thayer, LoggingRailroad in Michigan," p. 4). 35. Thefirstship,builtin 1861andnamedin honorof theMajorRobertAnderson who commanded FortSumter, wasloadedwith blackwalnutlumberandsentthroughthe Welland Canalto Liverpool, England.In 1863and1864theUnitedStatesArsenalat Troy,NewYork,contracted forseveral hundredthousand feetof oak,blackwalnut,and hickorytimberto beusedin theconstruction of guncarriages "FirstLogging (Thayer, in Michigan,' Railroad p. 4). 36. GrandRapidsDaily Democrat,25 April 1867,p. 4. 37. H. Brinks,"TheEffectof theCivilWarin 1861on Michigan andMining Lumbering Industries," MichiganHistory44 (March 1960):101-108; Benson,LogsandLumber, p. 219. Forest&Conservation History35 (April 1991) 38. A. C. Litchfield,ownerof the BlendonLanding Sawmill,becamean officerin the Union Armyand was capturedby the Confederate Army(GrandRapidsEagle,28 March1865, p. 2, reportshis release).Bostoncapitalist JamesW. Conversepurchasedthe Blendon sawmillin May 1864 (GrandHavenNews, 4 May 1864,p. 3), but it burnedtwo months lateron 28 June,duringa weekwhen forest fireswereragingoverthousandsof acresin centraland easternOttawaCounty(Grand RapidsEagle,30 June 1864, p. 1). Afterthe fire,the mill equipmentadvertisedfor sale included"threeboilers,24 feet long, four feet in diameter,with two 16 inch Fluesin each; FireFronts,Grates,CastIronSteamand Mud pipes,All in Good Order.Also a SmokeStack, 50 feet long and four feet in diameterwith all the stayirons.... two engines,shafting and othermachineryin a damagedcondition. Also a quantityof brick.The propertywill be sold at a GREATBARGAIN"(Grand RapidsEagle, 16 August1864,p. 3.) 39. See the GrandHavenNews, 10 August1864, p.3. 40. At this time the logs werefloateddown to the old Whitesawmillat Mill Pointownedby EdwardCole andJohnHaireand to the Norton sawmill,then operatedby Fred Ranney(see Thayer,letterto editor,Grand Haven Tribune,10 October1899). 41. Thayer,"FirstLoggingRailroadin Michigan' p. 18. 42. This estimateis basedon the following information:The BlendonLumberCompany madea ten-yearcontractwith the Norton mill in 1857 (GrandRiverTimes,6 May 1857,p. 2.). News accountsindicatethat the Norton sawmillcut only BlendonLumber Companylogs duringthis period.The 1860 U.S. Censusreportsthat the Norton mill was cuttingsix millionfeet annually(U.S.Census, 1860,"Manuscriptfor ... Michigan,"entries for OttawaCounty,SpringLakeTownship). This contractmusthavebeen carriedout until at least 1864 as the plat map of Ottawa Countyfor that yearshowsextensivelog boominggroundsownedby the Blendon LumberCompanynearNortonville.Two other sawmillsalso cut BlendonLumber Companylogs. The sawmillat the inlandterminusof the loggingrailroadcut morethan one millionboardfeet annuallyand operated from 1856 to 1870 (U.S.Census,1860, "Manuscriptfor ... Michigan' Ottawa County,BlendonTownship;and U.S. Census, 1870, "Manuscriptfor ScheduleFive: Productsof Industry,Stateof Michigan' held by the U.S. CensusBureau[Washington, D.C.],entriesfor OttawaCounty,Blendon Township).The Litchfieldsawmillthat operatedat Blendon'sLandingfrom 1859 until it burneddown in June 1864 cut four millionfeet annually(U.S.Census,1860, "Manuscriptfor . . . Michigan' entriesfor OttawaCounty,GeorgetownTownship). 43. One witnessto the majortechnological problemsthat lumbermenfacedin usingrailroadsto carryveryheavylogs was Richard E. Butterworth,co-ownerof Butterworth& LoweCo., in GrandRapids,Michigan.His U. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. company wasmanufacturing railroad construction carsas earlyas 1873,andrailroad carsdesignedspecifically forcarrying logsas earlyas 1878.SeeAnonymous, "Carsfor Logging'Northwestern Lumberman 16 (11December 1880):1. SeeRohe,"Tramways andPoleRailroads." DanielCarey,"Michigan's Foremost Unique Michigan History32 (September Logger,' 1948):301-302. in theTimber, Koch,SteamandThunder p. 22. WilliamF.Fox,Historyof theLumber in theStateof New York,Sixth Industry AnnualReportof theNewYorkForest,Fish, andGameCommission (1901;facsimile reprint, NewYork:HarborBooks, Harrison, 1976),pp.51-52.Kochprobably confused thedate1860withpage52 andrecorded the dateas 1852. The1864mapshowingallthreelinesis I. Gross,Mapof theCounties of Ottawa, pp.41,46, 47.Thelineoperated byStephen Lowingis notmentioned in theLowing FamilyHistorybook(typewritten copy, Michigan HistoryRoom,GrandRapids PublicLibrary, GrandRapids,Michigan). Noris Lowing's in anyof railroad mentioned in theentrieson localhistorycontained manuscript volumesthatwerecompiledby thelateDorothySkinner a Lowing Hubbard, familydescendant. However, JoanneMcClow, anotherLowingdescendant, her recalled uncletellingherthattheywerehikingon an oldrailroad grade,justwheretherailroad is drawnon.themap(shemadethisremark in a personalinterview withtheauthoron 29 April1988,beforeshehadseena copyof themapidentifying thegrade).A searchof theGrandRapidsandGrandHavennewspaperspublished between1857and1867 turnedupno newsaccountmentioning these loggingrailroads, butadditional information on theseandotherriverlandingscanbe foundin DonaldLinebaugh, "Grand River Landings, OttawaCounty,Michigan" (Master's thesis,Collegeof Williamand Mary,1982). Atlasof OttawaandKentCounties, Michigan. S0. Ibid., p. 36; Anonymous,Historyof Ottawa and MuskegonCounties,p. 102;J. Pierson, "HistoricalNote"'MichiganHistory 11 (October1927): 667-68. Sl. GrandHavenNews, 19 December1860, p. 3. MichaelKochin his Steamand Thunder in the Timbercontendsthat the Augusta& KennebecRailroadas well as the GrandTrunk Railroadoperatedlog trainsin Maine sometime during1860 (p. 102). Kochcites the BrunswickTelegraphin supportof his claim but does not indicatethe dateson which the news accountsdocumentingtheseevents werepublished. 52. GeorgeHotchkiss,Historyof the Lumber and ForestIndustryof the Northwest(Chicago, Illinois:G. Hotchkiss& Co., 1897), p. 331, erroneouslystatesthat the eraof railroadbuildinginto the forestsof Michigan beganabout 1860-62, with the construction of the Flintand PereMarquetteRailroad. The Detroitand MilwaukeeRailwayreached Muir in 1857 and penetratedthe pine forests of OttawaCountyin 1858. 53. The Detroit& MilwaukeeRailwayhauled logs againin 1864 when a sawmillburned down nearCoopersville.The millownerMr. Storrsdecidednot to rebuildand had his logs hauledwest to Mill Point,wheretheywere dumpedintothe bayou(nowSpringLake).See GrandHavenNews, 10 August1864,p. 3. 54. SaginawCourier,30 December1870, reprintedin ForrestB. Meek, Michigan's TimberBattleGround:A Historyof Clare County:1674-1900 (Clare,Michigan:Clare CountyBicentennialHistoricalCommittee, 1976), pp. 134-36. 55. These additionallog carrierswerethe Jackson, Lansing,and SaginawRailroad,the predecessorof the Mackinawdivisionof the MichiganCentralRailroad,runningbetween RifleRiverand Wenona(WestBayCity), documentedin the GrandRapidsDaily Eagle,3 November1871,p. 4; the Grand Rapids,Newaygo,and LakeShoreRailroad betweensouthernNewaygoCountyand GrandRapids,reportedin the GrandRapids Daily Eagle,25 July 1872, p. 1; and the lonia, Stanton,and NorthernRailroad betweenMontcalmCountyand Ionia, mentioned in the Ionia Sentinel,6 December 1872, p. 6. 56. "GrandHavenGrist;'NorthwesternLumberman, 19 (25 February1882):2. S7. See Thayer,"FirstLoggingRailroad"(1899) and "FirstLoggingRailroadin Michigan" (1903). S8. Lillie,HistoricGrandHavenand Ottawa County59. See Rohe,"Tramways and Pole Roads." 60. On this operationsee the above-citedArndt, '1973 LoggingTrain";Arndt,Bay County Story,pp. 122-23; Olds, "Michigan'sFirst LoggingLine"'pp. 19-20; and Koch,Steam and Thunderin the Timber,p. 22. 61. JeanWorth,"LS&IBuildingRailroadin Hauntsof Hiawatha' Miningjournal, 21 September1957,p. 8. 62. ForrestMeek and CarlBajema,"Logging Railroadsof Michigan,1850-1964:An AnnotatedBibliography," manuscript. 63. These railroadsweresignificantnot only in the historyof technologybut in landscape historyas well, becausethey mademajor contributionsto the rapiddemiseof the forests that had coveredmuchof Michigan'spresettlementlandscape.In additionto the work of scholarsalreadycitedhere,othersignificant historiesof loggingand deforestationin Michiganare:TheodoreJ. Karamanski, Historyand CulturalResources:Logging, Miningand PioneerAgricultureon the OttawaNational Forest,Michigan(Chicago, Illinois:Mid- AmericaResearchCenter, LoyolaUniversityof Chicago,1984);TheodoreJ. Karamanski,HistoricalRecords Study:CulturalResourceIdentificationand Evaluationfor the HiawathaNationalForest, Michigan,vol. 1 (Chicago,Illinois:MidAmericaResearchCenter,LoyolaUniversity of Chicago,1984);KennethD. Lafayette, "TheWayof the Pine:ForestIndustriesof MarquetteCountyDuringthe WhitePine Era, 1848-1912"(authormanuscript,Marquette,Michigan,1987). Researchis needed on the differentialimpactsof loggingrailroads on variousregionsand treespecies,as well as on the rateand extentof deforestation.For example,loggingrailroadsencouragedclearcutting,whereasthe lateruse of trucksmade selectivecuttingmorefeasible.Sourcesfor suchresearchincludelumberbusinessrecords in archives;businessjournals;surveyrecords; maps, and fieldsurveysof abandonedlogging railroadgrades. LoggingRailroads 83