But the question here occurs, and to my own mind with distinct impressiveness, Why is there so great a disparity in the prices of long lumber on the Kennebeck and the Penobscot? This question I can not satisfactorily answer to myself, and to it I venture but one suggestion in reply. The probability is, that, in the wholesale slaughter (so to speak) of lumber on the Penobscot, there may be a larger proportion of the fourth, fifth, and sixth qualities of lumber—as it is there distinguished—than on the Kennebeck.
Having made application to some of the most intelligent lumbermen on the Penobscot for a solution of this question, I may yet be able to append such facts as the inquiry may elicit.
From the best sources of information to which I have had access, the following is furnished as a tolerable approximation to the truth in relation to the amount and value of short lumber:
| Laths, | 17 millions, at | $100.00 per M.= | $17,000. |
| Clap-boards, | 4 millions, at | 15.00 per M.= | 60,000. |
| Shingles, | 26½ millions, at | 2.50 per M.= | 66,250. |
The "Gardiner Fountain" for January 28, 1848, reports the following as the amount of the various denominations of lumber manufactured at Gardiner and Pittston:
"Long lumber, 20,824 M.; Shingles, 16,302 M.; Clap-boards, 1905 M.; and of pickets, 50 M." The editor remarks that "the amount of money received for sales on the above lumber is $445,000." In addition to other kinds of lumber, there are large quantities of door and blind stuff not enumerated.
There remains but one observation to be made touching the lumber business on the Kennebeck. It is estimated by good judges that the present annual amount of lumber on this river may be hauled for ten successive years, after which it will depreciate one fourth every ten years, and thus, in forty years, exhaust the resources of the river.
For the principal facts involved in the above statements, not duly credited already, I am indebted to Mr. A. W. Babcock, an intelligent gentleman and extensive operator on the Penobscot; also to Mr. E. Bartlett, of Augusta, whose zeal in furnishing answers to the various questions proposed for consideration has only been equaled by the degree of readiness which he has manifested to assist me; and to M. Springer, Esq., deputy collector of the customs for the port of Gardiner, Maine.
Statistics of Lumber on the Kennebeck.
| Average price per M. | Total. | ||
| No. of Saw-mills | 150. | ||
| Amount of Long Lumber | 66,000,900. | $12.00. | $802,000. |
| Amount of Laths | 17,000,000. | 1.00. | 17,000. |
| Amount of Clap-boards | 4,000,000. | 15.00. | 60,000. |
| Amount of Shingles | 26,000,500. | 2.50. | 66,250. |
| $946,500. | |||
| Probable number of men employed | 1,200 to 1,500. | ||
| Probable number of Oxen and Horses employed | 1,000. |