Colonial ranger units.

[jmm99]

from Carl

During those days was the undergrowth in the forests less dense than it is now? I know in the UP the windfall and undergrowth is so dense it is very difficult to move around sometimes unless the snow if really deep.

Based on my dad's teaching - it depended on when and how the forests were logged. For example, in the area between Houghton and Ontonagon, the white pine was pretty much clear cut in the later 1800s, but hemlock, cedar and the northern hardwoods were left in many large areas. They were not clear cut until the 1920s-1940s. So, when my dad (born in 1912) went deer hunting there in the mid-1920s, 100-300 yards shots were possible (not necessarily common). My mom also used the word "cathedral" to describe those forests.

30 years later in the mid-1950s (I was born in 1942), a 100 yard clearing was a rarity and dense second (or third) growth was the rule. At that time, there were clear logging roads and railroad grades - with dense undergrowth beside them (unless recently logged). By 1980, the roads and grades had grown in (unless maintained), but the second growth along side them had grown up to the point where it was easier to walk in the bush, rather than on the grown in roads.

And, yes, full agreement with Matt that swamps (cedar swamps in the area I described) are a bitch; and carrying out 20-30 foot cedar stringers (for bridges and camps) by pure manpower is more so.

Move down the roads to the Baraga Plains and I'd not be surprised to see a different pattern.

A forester (or a timber cruiser) could give a more informed explanation for the areas he's worked.

Regards

Mike