"The lumber industry was to Michigan in the 19th century as what the automotive industry was to Michigan in the 20th century."* It was what most people outside of Michigan thought of when they thought of Michigan. And it was the period between the Civil War and the beginning of the 20th century that made Michigan the leader in lumber production.
At the end of the U.S. Civil War the Michigan lumber industry resumed at a great pace. This was due in part with the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad across the Great Plains and the Homestead Act that allowed people to stake a claim for land and develop it as a homestead or farm for free. These led to a mass immigration west and the need for more Great Lakes lumber. This episodes traces how the lumber industry was affected by this greater need and how innovation in transportation and cutting technology, both in the forest and in the sawmills, led to Michigan being a leader in the national lumber industry for nearly thirty years.
This fueled Michigan's economy and set up the state for economic and industrial success in the 20th century.
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https://northcountryhistorywithrobburg.buzzsprout.com/
*A phrase that I coined and have been using since 1998 when I began my career in forest history at the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum, a Michigan History Museum field-site.
Episode Sources
Allen, Clifford (editor). "Michigan Log Marks." WPA Writers' Program, Michigan State College, East Lansing, MI, 1941.
Hotchkiss, George W. "History of the Lumber and Forestry Industry of the Northwest," Chicago, IL, 1898.
Huckle, Earl and Keith H. Johnson. "Cadillac's Shay Locomotive, Titan of the Timber." Save Our Shay Historical Preservation Project, Cadillac, MI, 1984.
Hunt, Freeman. "Internal Commerce of the West: Its Condition and Wants, as Illustrated by the Commerce of Michigan, Present and Prospective." "Hunt's Merchant Magazine and Commercial Review." New York, Volume Nineteen, 1848.
Kilar, Jeremy. "Michigan's Lumbertowns: Lumbermen and Laborers in Saginaw, Bay City, and Muskegon, 1870-1905." Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1990.
Maybee, Rolland H. "Michigan's White Pine Era, 1840-1900." Michigan Historical Commission, Lansing, MI, 1960.
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