The Pineries May Be Said
To Begin At The Mouth Of The Crow Wing River; Though There Is A Great
Supply On The Rum River.
For upwards of a hundred miles above here on
the Mississippi more or less dense, the pine forests extend.
Captain
John Pope, in the interesting report of his expedition to the Red
River of the North, in 1849, says " The pineries of the upper
Mississippi are mostly upon its tributaries, and I think are not found
on the west side further south than the parallel of 46 degrees N.
latitude." (The latitude of this place is 46 degrees 16' 50".) "They
alternate, even where most abundant, with much larger tracts of
fertile country." Again he says "As might be expected from its
alluvial character, there is no pine timber in the valley of the Red
River, but the oak and elm there attain to a size which I do not think
I have ever seen elsewhere." In another place he remarks that "the
pineries along the Crow Wing River are among the most extensive and
valuable found on the tributaries of the Mississippi." Mr. Schoolcraft
says of this river, "the whole region is noted for its pine timber."
In speaking of the country on the St. Louis River, a few miles from
where it empties into Lake Superior, the same gentleman remarks: "The
growth of the forest is pines, hemlock, spruce, birch, oak, and
maple." I had heard considerable about Minnesota lumber, it is true,
but I was not prepared to see the pine timber so valuable and heavy as
it is above and about here.
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