Nineteenth Century Lumber Surveys for Bangor, Maine: Implications for Pre-European Settlement Forest Characteristics in Northern and Eastern Maine

Abstract

Abstract In the mid-19th century, Bangor, Maine, was a major center for the manufacturing and shipping of lumber, leading many to proclaim Bangor as the ”lumber capital of the world.” The raw material for this lumber was transported down the Penobscot River, which drains the largest watershed in Maine. Starting in 1832, lumber put up for sale and shipped from Bangor was surveyed. Between 1832 and 1872, over 3.36 billion board feet (bbf) of white pine lumber was tallied. In the 19th century, there were numerous inefficiencies and losses involved in the harvesting, transporting, and processing that converted a standing pine tree to lumber ready to be loaded on a ship; therefore, the 3.36 bbf surveyed provides only a minimum estimate for the volume of white pine in the pre-European settlement forest of northern and eastern Maine. Even this minimum volume estimate for pine suggests a magnitude of this resource that is inconsistent with descriptions developed from early land survey information and suggests that current interpretations of the pre-European disturbance regime may need re-evaluation.