Forests. 27 THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA THE ACADIAN FOREST By GEORGE B. DORR BAR HARBOR, MAINE MDCCCCXXII LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK MOUNT DESERT ISLAND THE ACADIAN FOREST BY GEORGE B. DORR, Supt. LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK, the sole eastern member of our national park system, lies in old French-Acadian territory upon the many-islanded and harbored coast of eastern Maine. The broad highway of the North Atlantic reaches to its foot, and the mountainous uplift that it occupies, unique on our Atlantic Coast, has been for cen- turies a landmark from the sea. The rock is granite, superb in the sculptured forms it takes under glacial and surf erosion, frost and weathering, and magnificent to climb. It was the mountains' bare rock summits, sharp-cut at dusk against the western sky, which led Champlain, sailing from De Monts' first settlement on the Bay of Fundy, where our national boundary now com- mences at St. Croix, to name the Island "I'Isle des Monts deserts, "the Island of the Wild and Solitary Peaks." Originally the molten granite, intruded under terrific pressure from unknown depths below into the yet older Cambrian strata that overlay it then and still surround it, formed a single mass, the length of the present island east and west. Across this, laid bare by the denudation of unmeasured ages, the recent ice-sheet, thousands of feet in thickness and bearing a heavy burden of gravel, rock and clay, ground its way, carving out a mountain range in miniature, with deeply divided peaks, valleys, lakes and streams, and containing at its midst, all but cutting the Island into two, the only glacial fiord - Somes Sound - on our Atlantic Coast. This great variety of form and physical condition within a space so limited, the situation of the Island at the meet- ing point of the temperate and northern floras, of land I LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK MOUNT DESERT ISLAND climate and sea climate, and its position on the Atlantic lonely islets in an arctic ocean, whose stormy seas are still Coast migration route of birds, the greatest originally recorded in surf-cut cliffs upon the mountain-sides. Since on the Continent, give the park a unique place as a wild then the land, relieved of that incalculable weight of ice - life sanctuary and opportunity for naturalists. the cause probably of its depression - has again risen The coast of Maine is what physical geographers call a bringing the coast-line down to meet the now united "drowned" coast, an old and worn land area invaded by Island, connected with it by a bridge. the sea. The ancient coast line, the continental shelf, lies far to the eastward, marked by the fishing banks built upon "There flows the deep where grew the tree, it by the deposit left by stranded icebergs, drifted from the o Earth, what changes hast thou seen ! north, or by the ice-sheet in its melting. The waters be- There, where the long street roars, hath been The stillness of the central sea." tween, supplied from the cold Arctic Current, rich in oxy- gen, and sun-penetrated largely to a bottom strewn with As a botanical area Mount Desert Island is singularly glacial drift, is rich in the microscopic floating vegetation rich so far as forest fires and recent human agencies have that makes the basic food supply for oceanic animal life, not impoverished the natural growth, which will hence- and rich in that life, vertebrate and invertebrate, both in forth be protected and cared for within the national park the forms biologists desire to study and in the food-fishes bounds and restored where needful till it shall represent men have annually braved the ocean to obtain since completely, as in a wild botanic garden, the whole Acadian Cabot's voyage to Cape Breton, four centuries ago, when region. Wild flowers are abundant from early spring, when his sailors are reported to have basketted the cod out the Trailing Arbutus or Mayflower puts forth its blossoms, from the sea at Miquelon. till the Witch Hazel blooms in fall, scattering as it flowers Anciently this flooded area, now fish inhabited, was a its long-held seed. Orchids of the terrestrial species grow broad coastal plain, clothed in forest and roamed by freely in beautiful and interesting forms, culminating in browsing animals - mastodons and mammoths, browsing display at mid-summer in the superb Fringed Orchid with horses of extinct species, and camels in their time, mingled its pale purple flowers. The pure white Trillium with deep with existing forms. The climate was mild; the fauna and purple blotches, the Clintonia, forming great beds of the flora like our own but varied with vanished types. splendid foliage in the woods, the Wild Iris and the Cardi- Then came the long winter of the Glacial period, advancing nal Flower along the banks of streams, the native Lilies, and retreating slowly, lasting long. Ice covered the land, growing among beds of ferns, the decorative Twisted hundreds and thousands of feet in thickness, to the mouth Stalk with brick-red, pendent fruit, the Hairbell, clinging of the Hudson River at New York, and life retreated south- to cliffs and ledges by the sea, the delicate Linnea, the ward, suffering irreparable loss. The coast sank at Mount brilliant-fruiting Dwarf Cornel, the spring-time Violets, Desert hundreds of feet below its present level in relation the summer Roses and the autumn Asters, the Blueberries to the sea, and when the mountains finally emerged, worn and Wild Strawberries, the Raspberries and Blackberries, and striated, from the melting ice, it was as a group of the Shad Bush and the Thorn, the Viburnum, most beauti- 2 3 LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK MOUNT DESERT ISLAND ful of northern woodland shrubs, the Rhodora, sung by to be inexhaustible, but the best has already been cut and Emerson, the Sumach and the Mountain Ash - there is the great trees which were once the pride of the forest no no period the season through that lacks its special interest longer exist." of flower or fruit. Silva of North America. Published in 1897. In trees and forest growth Mount Desert Island repre- "The White Pine has been seen six feet in diameter at sents the wide territory comprised in eastern and northern Maine, the Maritime Provinces, Labrador and Newfound- the butt and two hundred and forty feet in height, and land. The forest of this region, best described as the those over four feet through are frequent." Acadian Forest since it is in the old Acadian region that it WILLIAMSON. History of the State of Maine, published in finds its best expression, is the boreal extension of the an- 1832. cient Appalachian forest of mingled coniferous and hard- Three other species of pine grow in the Acadian forest: wood trees, ranging northward along the mountain folds The Red or Norway Pine, Pinus resinosa, a beautiful from Tennessee and Georgia. and stately tree with reddish bark and two long needles in The noblest tree in the Acadian Forest is: a cluster, which obtained its name of Norway Pine from its The White Pine, Pinus strobus, emblem of Maine, the resemblance to the Norwegian species, with which it was Pine Tree State, and eastern representative of the great at first confused. five-needled group which includes among other western "Pinus resinosa, the Red Pine, is the only American species the giant Sugar Pine of the Pacific slope. representative of a peculiar Old World group of which "The most beautiful Pine tree of eastern America, our Pinus sylvestris, the Scotch Pine, is the best known. In sylvan scenery owes the peculiar charm which distinguishes cultivation the Red Pine grows very rapidly and its hardi- it from all other parts of the world to the wide-spreading, ness, its picturesque habit, and its long dark-green leaves, dark-green crowns of the White Pine, raised on stately make it the most desirable of the Pitch Pines which flourish shafts above the level of the forest and breaking the mo- in the northern states for the decoration of their parks." notony of its skyline This most valuable timber tree Silva of North America. of northeastern America, the White Pine, has played a con- spicuous part in the material development of the United The Pitch Pine, Pinus rigida, which here, near to its States and Canada. Great fleets of vessels and long rail- northern limit, takes on a low, branching habit of singular, roads have been built to transport the lumber sawed from Japanese-like picturesqueness, growing, indifferent to wind its mighty trunks; men have grown rich by destroying it, and storm, in exposed positions along the coast and on the building cities to supply the needs of their traffic and seeing mountain heights where scarce another tree could stand. them languish as the forests disappeared. Fifty years ago It has shorter leaves than the Red Pine, three in a cluster. the pineries of Maine and lower Canada, of northern New The Gray Pine, Pinus Banksiana - known also as the York, of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Min- Jack Pine and the Labrador Pine - a boreal species which nesota contained stores of White Pine which were believed finds its southern coastal limit on Mount Desert Island, 4 5 LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK MOUNT DESERT ISLAND extending northward thence till, starved by cold, it dwarfs the Mount Desert region though ranging far beyond it to into a shrub. It has two short needles in a cluster, and the south along the Alleghany ridges, to take part with tough, sessile cones which it retains indefinitely, the wood the Balsam Fir and Yellow Birch in reproducing a strangely of the growing trunk frequently enclosing them undecayed. characteristic Acadian flora on the high mountain tops of The seeds often are carried in these cones for many years, western North Carolina, a survival doubtless from the this, it may be, being a provision for re-seeding after forest Glacial Period. fires, the cone opening when the fire has passed. "Picea rubens, the Red Spruce, is the principal timber After the White Pine, the most characteristic and spruce of the northeastern United States, and next to the stately tree in the Acadian forest is: White Pine the most valuable timber tree of the regions The Hemlock, Tsuga Canadensis, which attains its that it inhabits." Silva of North America, 1897. greatest abundance, size and beauty in the Acadian re- "Spruce is a goodly tree of which they make Masts for gion. Longfellow links it with the Pine in describing the Ships and Sail Yards. It is generally conceived by those forest of the opposite Nova Scotia shore in the opening line who have skill in Building of Ships that here is absolutely of Evangeline: "This is the forest primeval, the murmur- the best trees in the World, many of them being three ing pines and the hemlocks." In majesty of trunk in age, Fathom about and of great length." grouped in the forest depths, and in grace of delicate and JOSSELYN. New England's Rarities Discovered, 1672. lightly carried foliage, the Hemlock stands supreme. By far the most abundant evergreen in the Acadian The Black Spruce, Picea Mariana, formerly called Picea forest, and next to the White Pine the most valuable com- nigra, a swamp-growing tree rare in the Mount Desert mercially, is the Spruce, of which there are three species: district but abundant northward. The White Spruce, Picea glauca - formerly called "In the Labrador peninsula the Black Spruce is the most Picea canadensis - a beautiful tree with dense, blue-green abundant tree, growing both in cold sphagnum swamps and foliage, which grows magnificently in the Mount Desert on high hills covered with sands or with rocks or heavy region, and westward to Alaska, but which needs the cool glacial drift, usually in dense thickets, with long slender climate and short summers of the north to develop its full stems, but along the border of the treeless plains - where size and beauty, not prospering to the south of Portland. alone with the Larch, the Black Spruce holds the northern It retains permanently its lower limbs when growing in the outpost of the forest - it grows in open glades, and its open, and is the only evergreen tree on the coast whose short trunks are clothed to the ground with branches." foliage will withstand the ocean spray and whose roots Silva of North America. will maintain their hold, growing vigorously, on a surf-cut bank till it is washed away. One Fir only grows in the Acadian Forest: The Red Spruce, Picea rubens, formerly called Picea The Balsam Fir, Abies balsamea, which can readily be rubra, with foliage of a warmer green than that of the distinguished from the resembling Spruces by its smooth, White Spruce, with which it grows in close association in blistered bark and the way in which its needles are borne in 6 7 LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK MOUNT DESERT ISLAND flat, horizontal rows on the branchlets, and are silvery ture-loving tree belonging to the Cypress family, which beneath, while those of the Spruces are disposed irregu- grows commonly in swamps, together with the Larch or larly around the branchlets and are alike in color on all singly, to avoid the shade probably of faster-growing sides. trees less tolerant than it of water rather than for the Another distinction, easily observed in its season, be- water's sake, for it climbs high upon the mountain sides at tween the Firs and Spruces in all species is that the Fir Mount Desert, clinging to the ledges, and is beautiful when trees carry their cones upright, like Christmas candles, growing wild in open, rocky pasture-lands or on the lawn in closely bunched together near the tree top, while the cultivation, forming broad pyramids of light green foliage. Spruces carry theirs turned downward and scattered over One of the first plants sent out to England, being men- top and branches. The Balsam Fir is a beautiful tree when tioned in Gerard's Herbal, published in 1597, it has been young and grows rapidly, but ages soon. Its dead needles, long and widely cultivated as a hedge and ornamental heated by the sun, become pungently aromatic, and from tree on both sides of the Atlantic. its bark is derived Canada Balsam, employed for mounting The hardwood trees of the Acadian Forest - its angio- objects to be examined under the microscope, it remaining sperms: oaks, maples, poplars, and the like - form part constantly transparent and uncrystallized. of the great Appalachian angiospermous group, which they One conifer the Forest has that is not evergreen: continue northward; they have a common history and a The Larch, Larix americana, known also by its Indian common origin. names of Tamarack and Hackmatack. The Appalachian forest is the oldest hardwood forest in "Of the trees of the subarctic forest of America, Larix the world of which the rocks yield record. Fossil impres- americana best supports the rigors of the boreal climate sions of branches, leaves and fruits of trees that grew where and at the extreme northern limits of the forest is still a it now stands and are SO like the modern type as to prove little tree rising above its associate, the Black Spruce, indubitably their ancestral relationship, have been found which clings to the ground with nearly prostrate stems. embedded in Potomac clays dating back to the middle of Usually an inhabitant of lands saturated with mois- the Cretaceous Period: they appear again, in clearly de- ture, the American Larch when planted in good soil grows fined species now and strangely modern guise, in deposits much more rapidly than in its native swamps, attaining a of the Raritan formation extending along the Atlantic large size and more picturesque habit, and of all the Larch coastal plain from New York to Maryland; in Greenland trees which have been tried in the northern states it best and Spitzbergen; on the coast of Portugal. deserves attention as an ornament of parks and gardens." The trees these fossils tell of come from some common Silva of North America. home, some single distribution center, identical species occurring in widely separate localities. Where that home One other coniferous tree only grows in the Acadian was and how it chanced that the plants continued their Forest: development in it during the vast period the high degree of The Arbor Vitae, or Cedar, Thuya occidentalis, a mois- differentiation they attained implies before they migrated, 8 9 LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK MOUNT DESERT ISLAND remains a mystery; but everything at present points and sequoias, ginkgos, taxodiums, and other relicts of the toward eastern North America and the great, massed land earlier period - the forest of the Acadian region and its areas then probably connected with it in the north as the now flooded coastal plain must at that time have been, land of origin. and have long continued probably till the increasing cold The sudden appearance of these plants among those of and ice-invasions of the Pleistocene Period, from the most the older flora and their swift invasion of the world they recent of which we are but now recovering, destroyed all were henceforth to dominate and make habitable for man trace and form of vegetation to the Hudson's mouth. As is one of the most dramatic events in world history. Had it receded, vegetation - what genera and species had some untimely glacial epoch intervened prior to the plants survived - trekked slowly north again. This, geologically migration, the whole course of life development on earth speaking, is recent history, an affair of yesterday, and the would have been different; man impossible. For not only northward return movement of these Flowering Plants, the forest trees of hardwood type that formed man's early woody and herbaceous, is probably not yet completed but home and evolved him physically, but the grains, the still going on. grasses and the browse on which all grazing animals These are the trees of the hardwood angiospermous depend; the fruits and grains and vegetables man eats type now growing in the Acadian Forest and the vicinity of himself and that sustained him in his wilder past; the Mount Desert: birds - wild and domesticated - that feed on the seeds The Red Oak, Quercus borealis, - formerly called and buds and parasitic insects of angiospermous plants, Quercus rubra - the type of an important group and its all with slight exception belong to or depend on that great finest member, rapid in growth, valuable in wood, and group which makes its first appearance in those ancient, beautiful in autumnal color. rock-recorded trees. The Beech, Fagus americana, one of the most beautiful Among existing genera whose plants in ancestral species of forest trees and abundant throughout the Acadian bloomed and leaved and fruited in that far-off period amid Forest, where its nuts are eagerly sought by deer and bear, strange scenes and animals, with man unheralded, are: and by wild pigeons formerly. maples, oaks, willows, poplars of many species, thorns, dog- The Canoe or Paper Birch, or White Birch locally, woods, hollies, walnuts, tulip trees and magnolias of many Betula papyrifera, a noble tree with deep-green, handsome species, sumachs, plane trees, sassafras trees, viburnums, foliage, changing to golden yellow in the fall, and pure birch trees, beech trees, gum trees, aralias, witch hazels, white trunk from which the Indians obtained the bark myrtles, ivies, fig trees of many species, celastruses, of of which they made their bark canoes, unobtainable to which the Bitter Sweet is the familiar type, amelanchiers, the southward, where dug-outs - hollowed out by fire - of which the Shad Bush is the type, laurels of many ! were used instead. species, kalmia in one discovered form, hickories, and elms The Yellow Birch, Betula lutea, the grandest deciduous - a wonderful list to have come down to us from a time SO tree in the Acadian Forest. It has a bark of golden sheen distant, and one that tells us what - with associated pines when young and foliage that recalls the Beech. Growing IO II LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK MOUNT DESERT ISLAND in the open it assumes a many-stemmed and branching form, though single-trunked at base, but in the forest it dark-green leaves, its clean gray trunk, and the beauty of may attain a height of ninety to one hundred feet and a its foliage in autumn make the White Ash, in spite of its diameter of a yard or more. late leafage, one of the best ornamental trees of the Ameri- can forest." The Gray Birch, Betula populifolia, a slender tree of Silva of North America. rapid growth but ageing fast, whose leaves, smaller than those of the Canoe Birch and of a less rich green, ripple The Black Ash, Fraxinus nigra, a swamp-growing like those of the Aspen in the slightest wind - whence species. its specific name, populifolia - poplar-leaved. With light. The Aspen, Populus tremuloides, a rapidly growing tree seeds, carried far and readily by the wind, it is usually the whose leaves, lightly hung on slender, laterally flattened first tree to spring up over a fire-devastated area, and stems or petioles, rustle and quiver in the slightest breeze. makes an admirable nurse for the Spruce and Fir which "A graceful tree with slender, pendulous branches, seed among it and replace it ultimately. shimmering leaves, and pale bark, the Aspen enlivens the The Red Maple, Acer rubrum, one of the most beautiful spruce forest of the north and marks steep mountain trees of the American forest, lightening the springtime slopes with broad bands of color, light-green during sum- landscape with its red flowers and fruit illuminated by the mer and in autumn glowing like gold against backgrounds sun, furnishing a refreshing shade in summer, and becom- of dark cliffs and stunted pines." Silva of North America. ing in the early fall a blaze of flame-like color. The Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum; the grandest of the The Large-toothed Aspen, Populus grandidentata, a maple trees, which does not attain, however, the size and kindred tree with deeply serrate leaves, densely pubescent beauty in the coastal region that it does in the interior. and silvery white upon the under side in spring, when it The Moosewood or Striped Maple, Acer pennsylvani- seems to blossom on the mountain-sides, and golden yel- cum, a small tree growing naturally in the forest shade, low, in companionship with the White Birch, in fall. with straight, longitudinally striped stems and leaves The Balsam Poplar, or Balm of Gilead, Populus bal- exceptionally large, whose young shoots, rich in sugar, are samifera, a boreal species rare in the wild state near Mount a favorite browse of Moose in winter, whence its Moose- Desert but growing freely north to Hudson's Bay. It has wood name. exceedingly resinous buds and was frequently planted by The Mountain Maple, Acer spicatum, a many-stemmed the early settlers near their homes, together with a bed of and shrub-like tree that springs up thickly on the lower Tansy, for medicinal purposes. It is a tree of extraordinary slopes of mountains from a wealth of annually borne seed. vitality and vigor, but does not endure hot summers. The White Ash, Fraxinus americana; a straight- "The Balsam Poplar, which is the largest of the subarctic stemmed, splendid tree, the finest of its genus. trees of America, is the most conspicuous feature of vege- "The rapid growth of the White Ash, its freedom from tation over areas thousands of square miles in extent, and disease and the attacks of insects, its dense crown of large its great size, its stately trunk, and the brilliancy of its leaves, displaying in turn as the wind plays among its 12 13 LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK branches their dark green upper and their rusty lower surfaces, often make it a splendid object." Silva of North America. Besides these trees, the Black Birch or Cherry Birch, Betula lenta; the Silver Maple, Acer saccharinum; the American Elm, Ulmus americana; the Butternut, Juglans cinerea; and the Bur oak, Quercus macrocarpa, grow vari- ously in the Acadian region but - with the rare exception of the Cherry Birch - not natively at Mount Desert. The Hop Hornbeam or Ironwood, Ostrya virginiana, grows natively on the Island; the American Hornbeam or Blue Beech, Carpinus caroliniana, grows in its vicinity, but both are rare. Thorn trees are abundant, and beautiful in flower and fruit, but belong rather - with the Shad Bush, the Wild Cherry, and the Mountain Ash - among the Flowering Shrubs than Forest Trees, lightening the forest outskirts with their beauty. 14 Franklin B. Hough Papers, 1840-1885 - Finding Aid, New York State Library Page of 66 New York State Library I Franklin B. Hough Papers, 1840-1885 SC7009 Quantity: 116 boxes (40 cu. ft.) Acquisition: Donated to the New York State Library by Hough Family, 1915. Access: Collection is open to research. Processed By: Fred Bassett, Senior Librarian, Manuscripts and Special Collections April 1987, Revised October 1996 Series Description 1 Personal and Family Papers (Boxes 1-6, 113-116) a. Correspondence, Family and Friends, 1843-1885 b. Diaries, 1843-1883 C. School and College d. Biographical and Genealogical 2 Meteorological Records and Papers, 1824-1864 (Boxes 7-9) a. Journals and Records, mostly northern New York b. Studies of weather conditions and climate in New York State Includes statistical charts and maps. http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc7009.htm 6/2/ 2/2006 Franklin B. Hough Papers, 1840-1885 - Finding Aid, New York State Library Page 2 of 66 3 Census Papers (Boxes 10-15) a. New York State Census, 1855, 1865, and 1875 Includes instruction manuals and official forms. b. History of Census Taking in New York C. Notebooks and Scrapbooks 4 Civil War Papers, 1861-1865 (Boxes 16-38) a. Bureau of Military Statistics: Documents and Official Forms (Blank) b. New York State Regiments: History, List of Officers, News Clippings and Notes C. Regiments of Other States: Historical Notes d. Casualties: List of names by state e. Correspondence f. Writings g. Sanitation Commission Study of Military Camps 5 Forestry Papers, 1870-1875 (Boxes 39-51) a. Conservation and Preservation - Government Action. Includes papers relating to the establishment of the U.S. Bureau of Forestry in Dept. of Agriculture and creation of the Adirondack Forest preserve. b. Patents - Inventions using forest products C. Circulars with statistical data collected by U.S. Bureau of Forestry, http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc7009.htm 6/2/2006 Franklin B. Hough Papers, 1840-1885 - Finding Aid, New York State Library Page 3 of 66 1875-1880 6 Education Papers (Boxes 52-66, 113-116) a. Correspondence, 1874-1876. re: Exhibit of Educational Institutions of Centennial Exhibition, 1896 b. Colleges and Universities: Material from different institutions C. Centennial History of N.Y. Board of Regents, manuscript 7 Historical Research and Writings (Boxes 67-106) a. Local History: Jefferson Co., Lewis Co., St. Lawrence Co., and Franklin Co., New York (includes annotated galleys; notes and scrapbooks) b. Gazetteer of New York, annotated galley and notes C. New York State History: Colonial, Revolution, and Indian affairs d. United States History: Exploration and Settlement e. Constitutional and Legal History f. Biographical Directory g. Statistics and Research Methodology 8 Scrapbook Collection (Boxes 107-111) 9 Broadsides and Printed Materials (Box 112) 10 Maps (Filed separately) http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc7009.htm 6/2/2006 Franklin B. Hough Papers, 1840-1885 - Finding Aid, New York State Library Page 4 of 66 Biographical Note: Franklin Benjamin Hough, physician, scientist, historian, statistician and "father of American forestry" was born in Martinsburg, N.Y., July 20, 1822. His father, Horatio Gates Hough, fifth in descent from an English ancestor who emigrated to America in 1619, was born in Meriden, Connecticut. He moved to Southwick, Mass., and then to Constableville, N.Y., where he settled as the "first physician of the county." In 1805 he removed to Martinsurgh in the same county and died there on September 3, 1830. He was of a philosophical turn of mind, as shown by his writings, and an excellent physician. His biographer, portraying scenes of those early days, wrote of him, "How often has he been seen traveling on foot with saddle bags on his shoulders, making his way through the woods by the aid of marked trees to some distant log house, the abode of sickness and distress! There he has been seen almost exhausted by fatigue and suffering from want of sleep and food, reaching forth his hand to restore the sick, and by his cheerful voice, pouring consolation into the minds of the afflicted family." The younger Hough was graduated from Union College in 1843 and from Cleveland Medical College in 1848. He practiced medicine in Somerville, N.Y., 1848-1852, devoting spare moments to a study of the local history of the region and to its botanical and mineralogical exploration. His discovery of a new mineral that was named after him houghite - commemorated his name in that field of science. He was a man of splendid physique, as may be inferred from the following incidents mentioned in his autobiography. After recounting his visit to a locality rich in choice minerals, he writes, "I found myself loaded with forty or fifty pounds of treasures with which I walked back over the twenty-five miles I had come!" In another place he mentions walking all night a distance of forty-five miles to his home. He moved from Somerville to Brownville, N.Y. and thence to Albany, and in 1860 to Lowville, where he made his home the rest of his life, though much of his time was spent in duties elsewhere. He retired from the practice of medicine when he left Somerville, that he might devote his whole time to his research and literary work, but returned to it when he felt that his services were needed as a surgeon in the Civil War, where he served in the 97th Regiment, New York Volunteers. He kept abreast of the medical profession however until the last and was an active member of the Lewis County Medical Society. His writings were numerous and varied, commencing with a Catalogue of the Plants of Lewis County, New York, in 1846, he soon followed by histories of successively - St. Lawrence, Franklin, Jefferson, and Lewis counties; he was called "the pioneer author of county histories of New York." He seemed indefatigable in his work and prosecuted it with such enthusiasm as to generally prefer it to ordinary means of recreation. When reproached for such constant application, he was wont to answer, "I seek repose in labor." He then explained that it was his habit to have three or more wholly distinct manuscripts in progress at the same time, and these in different rooms. When tiring of work upon one, he would go into another room and take up http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc7009.htm 6/2/2006 Franklin B. Hough Papers, 1840-1885 - Finding Aid, New York State Library Page 5 of 66 another subject. There, amid fresh surroundings, with his thoughts running in a new channel, he would apply himself with as much vigor as though a nap had intervened. A writer once said of him, "There has probably been no son of New York, whose bibliographical record shows so varied and valuable a contribution to the literature of the state." A bibliographical list of his writings has been published in the 99th Annual Report of the University of New York. He was superintendent of the first complete census of the State of New York in 1855 and again in 1865. When comparing the census returns of these two periods, he was impressed by the evidence of a waning timber supply in localities. He reasoned that such a condition, carried out over a long period, would lead to deplorable results, and with pen and voice, he tried to awaken public appreciation of the subject. Finally, in 1873, he delivered an address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science on "The Duty of Governments in the Preservation of Forests." In this address he suggested that a committee be appointed to memorialize Congress on the importance of this subject, and it was done, he being appointed chairman of the committee. It proved to be a notable occasion, as it was the incipiency of the forestry movement in America, and resulted in the establishment of the Division of Forestry of the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Hough has since been looked upon as "the father of forestry in America." He was appointed the first Chief of the new Division of Forestry and continued active in its service during the remainder of his life. He visited Europe in its interests, and issued comprehensive reports. In reviewing one of these reports, an officer of the Wurtemberg Forest Service remarked, "It awakens our surprise that a man, not a specialist, should have so mastered the whole body of American and European forestry literature and legislation." He married in 1849 Mariah Ellen Kilham, and they had two daughters and four sons. According to an e-mail received December 8, 2003 from Robert B. Miller, a great-great-grandson of Hough, Hough's son Romeyn stayed in New York. The other boys moved to the Washington, D.C. area. Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln, 1865-1919) and Franklin were patent lawyers, and Elisha was a patent examiner for 37 years. Elisha (christened Elida, but his sister Minnie pronounced it Elisha so he kept it, even on his grave stone) was Miller's great-grandfather and he lived, died and was buried in Falls Church, Va. Most of the family possessions stayed in New York in Romeyn's line. Sadly, much of it was auctioned in 1973 after his daughter Marjorie died; Miller's family found out about this sale in 1998. Included were numerous copies of most of Franklin's books. All Miller has of Hough's are his Civil War Sword (1840 pattern medical staff officer's sword), one copy of Report Upon Forestry (1877), and one copy of Duryee's Brigade. Miller published the Hough genealogy "several years ago." He says he is "sure Franklin had a hand in it, but it was mostly Elisha's work. There were over 1,500 family members in it!" http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc7009.htm 6/2/2006 Franklin B. Hough Papers, 1840-1885 - Finding Aid, New York State Library Page 6 of 66 Also according to Miller, Cornell University has some Hough genealogical material, 401 items in collection #2023. He does not know who donated them, probably his great-aunt Helen (Helen Yale Hough), who was a librarian at Frostburg State College in Maryland. A private collection of Franklin's belongings was donated to the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland by Harry Dengler, a forester but not family. Miller supplied a Richard Grove of the Program for Agrarian Studies, Yale University with a fair amount of family history for his research "several years ago, [but he has] not heard from him since. He did tell [him] that Franklin was a frequent guest at the White House during Rutherford B. Hayes' administration. Box Folder Item Contents Personal and Family Papers 1 Correspondence - Family 1 Letters, F.B. Hough to Mariah (wife), 1863-1879 2 Letters, F.B. Hough to Mariah, 1880-1883 3 Letters, F.B. Hough to his children, 1876-1880 4 Letters to Mariah Hough from her children, 1879-1880 Correspondence - Non-Family 5 Letters, F.B. Hough to Walter Vale, 1843-1859 6 Letters, F.B. Hough to Walter Vale, 1860-1880 7 Letter, J.R. Simms to F.B. Hough, April 2, 1866 8 Letters to F.B. Hough, 1870-1885 2 Diaries - Personal 1 1843-1862 (Transcripts) 2 October 22, 1863-1864 3 1865 4 1866 5 1867-January 22, 1868 6 1868 (January 23-December) 7 1869 8 1870 - January 4, 1871 9 1871 (January 5 - December) 3 1 1872 2 1873-February 4, 1874 3 1874, February 5-November 29, 1875 4 1875, November 30-July 22, 1877 5 1878, September 28-October 27, 1879 http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc7009.htm 6/2/2006 Merch 18, 1899. Mr. Dorr, My Dear Sir: Kmouse my answering your note of March the second, which has just reached nc, in the language which is not more handy to me but the only one at the command of my stenographer. I hope you will find some one to translate this letter. Forestry in America has been introduced on a few private estates. These private individuals do care for forestry only as far as it yields higher returns than any other method to which the land may be used, and as a rule, forest destruction or rapid lumbering in found more remunerative than conservative cutting; consequently these gentlemen do not employ any educated foresters, because they do not need them. thet they need are thorough lunbermen, business men well acqueinted with the American lumber trade. Besides, forestry is beginning to be esteblished in foreste controlled by the Governments of the U. S. and of the various state: of the union. All of theno states, P.S A matter of fact, cannot employ any one except native Americans; consequently there in 110 or ming in state forestry for Europeans. on the other hand, as stated above, private individuals will not need educated forestors at the present time. Thus I am afraid there is no place for you open in the U. S. now. My personal position is unique, Mr. Vanderhilt differing in hic views from the other owners of large forest estates. Ever since I have been in this country I have tried hard to forget what I had 466 - 2 - learned through hard study at German forest universities. European forestry is not directly applicable to American forests unleas are introduce European economic conditions st the came time. Very truly, wait Time A [C.A Schenek] Biltnore, N. C. Maroh 13, 1899. Mr. Chas. MoNames, WILDERNESS Father of the Forest Preserve HOW FRANKLIN B. HOUGH HELPED CREATE WILDLANDS FROM WASTELANDS by Emily Williams O N APRIL 7, 1849, DR. FRANKLIN B. HOUGH ing minerals and writing histories of St. Lawrence, Franklin, wrote to his fiancée, "Although my territorial Jefferson and Lewis Counties. According to a biography of limits are narrow the world is mine." When he Hough compiled by the New York State Library, he retired died soon after their thirty-ninth wedding anniversary, the from medicine when he left Somerville, "that he might world was vastly different. Due largely to Hough's vision and devote his whole time to his research and literary work, but stamina, the U.S. government shielded many of the nation's returned to it when he felt his services were needed as a sur- forests from destructive logging, and New York State guar- geon in the Civil War, where he served in the 97th Regiment, anteed the protection of Adirondack public land. New York Volunteers. He kept abreast of the medical pro- In 1935 New York celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of fession however until the last and was an active member of the creation of the Adirondack Forest Preserve and named the Lewis County Medical Society." forty-four-hundred-foot Hough Peak, in Essex With his wife, Mariah, he moved to Albany in County, to honor the memory of the indom- 1854, worked as a statistician in the Depart- itable man who played a major role in ment of State and got the job of supervi- saving the mountains. The ascent is sor of the state census for both 1855 difficult, for climbers must follow and 1865. Census records, which at unmarked herd paths, but at the that time documented economic rocky summit they win a vast activity and agricultural data as panoramic view, a fitting tribute well as population figures, con- to Hough, who taught the vinced him that the state's forests country to see the importance were diminishing at a dangerous of conservation. rate, threatening the future pro- duction of timber. HOUGH WAS BORN IN 1822 ON In the mid-1850s New York a farm near Martinsburg, east of produced more timber than any Tug Hill. As a boy he roamed the other state, and the rapacious log- giant conifers and deep gulfs of the ging brought disastrous side effects. plateau, and he usually came home Fires raged through the forest, ignited loaded with heavy sacks of rocks and plants, by cinders tossed from the smokestacks of which he loved to identify and classify. He grad- passing trains. Erosion in denuded areas released uated from Union College, in Schenectady, in 1843, and topsoil, choked Adirondack streams and threatened the five years later earned a medical degree from Cleveland Med- water supply that kept traffic moving on the Erie Canal. The ical College (today's school of medicine at Case Western bare, plundered mountainsides offended travelers who ven- Reserve University). Through college and medical school tured to the Adirondacks in pursuit of sport or beauty. he hiked woodlands, collected botanical and geological spec- Prompted by growing concern for the endangered forest, imens, and exchanged them with other enthusiasts. Hough the New York State legislature appointed the first Adirondack was too serious to form casual friendships, but he treasured Commission, in 1872. Hough, one of seven members, was his contacts with congenial correspondents, some of whom assigned to inspect woodlands and write a final report. The formed the American Association for the Advancement of Adirondacks invited despoliation and destruction, he conclud- Science in 1848. Three years later Hough himself joined the ed. Logging companies customarily bought huge tracts, cut association of eminent scholars. off the timber and let the land revert to the state for nonpay- Hough practiced medicine in Somerville, near Gou- ment of taxes. Often the state resold the land to railroad com- verneur, from 1848 to 1852, all the while botanizing, collect- panies for a paltry amount, as little as five or six cents an acre. Above: Franklin B. Hough advocated protection of woodlands, heralding the creation of the Adirondack Park. Courtesy of Norman J.VanValkenburgh 76 ADIRONDACK LIFE March/April 06 WILDERNESS WELDERNESS Instead of acting with such wanton improvidence, he argued, the state Immediately he began studying the plight of New York's mountains, should hold the land until a good use forests of the whole country. He trav- Hough persuaded the congress to en- might be revealed. Following Hough's eled and corresponded with-and col- dorse the recommendations of the first investigation, the commission recom- lected information from-loggers, tan- Adirondack Commission. mended that the state stop selling wild ners, charcoal makers, sawmill owners, The American Forestry Congress or forfeited land in Essex, Clinton, college presidents and legislators. He met again at Saratoga, in September Franklin, St. Lawrence, Lewis, Herk- compiled a massive amount of in- 1884. Hough spoke on "The Duty of imer and Hamilton Counties. Since valuable data. The three reports to New York State with Respect to the the citizens should have a place for Congress provided a foundation for Management of its Wastelands and the recreation, the commission suggested intelligent government supervision of Encouragement of Forestry." It was a that the state might possibly create a public woodlands. Among numerous forceful address, and it heralded the huge park. Hough took the report to recommendations, his reports urged a approach of forestry legislation in New the senate in May 1873, but it did not strong program to educate the public York State. Later he wrote, "They lis- cause even a ripple of action. on the need for conservation, vigor- tened with profound attention. They Three months later, deeply dis- ous laws for fire protection, govern- made many enquiries and ended by turbed by the findings of the Adiron- ment oversight of logging, careful putting all the Bills before them (six dack Commission, Hough went to study of European methods of forest or seven in number) into my hands, Portland, Maine, for a fateful meeting protection and establishment of state with the request, that with or without of the American Association for the schools of forestry. these, I would present such a draft of Advancement of Science. There, he In 1881 Congress recognized the a law as I thought the State ought to read his paper "On the Duty of Gov- growing importance of silviculture and have." Following Hough's speech, the ernments in the Preservation of Forests" created the Division of Forestry with- state appointed Charles Sargent, direc- to a large crowd at City Hall. The in the Department of Agriculture. tor of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum, speech so moved the members that Hough became its first chief, but his to head a commission for investigat- they named a committee to spur Con- tenure was brief and unhappy. A ing a policy of forest préservation. gress and sent Hough and famed new secretary of agriculture resented Hough did not serve Sargent's com- Massachusetts botanist George B. Hough, replacing him with one of his mission. The famous board deliberated Emerson to Washington to lobby for own cronies, and shunted him away for several months before sending its forest protection. Few in Congress felt from Washington. Hough was sent bill to the legislature. The legislation concerned, but Hough was persistent. across the Atlantic to study European contained many of Hough's recommen- "I am convinced," he wrote to one rep- forestry methods, and he knew this dations. Among the changes to Hough's resentative, "that this is destined to be was a gesture to keep him out of the draft, the commission added Fulton, one of the great questions of the near way. On his return, Hough was de- Saratoga and Warren to the counties future, and that those who take an moted from chief to agent. The humil- where the state should retain wild and active interest in it now whether in or iation hurt, but he never swerved from forfeited land, bringing the total to ten. out of Congress, will deserve and here- his goal of arousing public interest in The bill veered away from Hough's after secure an honorable place in the forestry. Gamely, he worked harder draft in a few respects, for Hough had Annals of our Forestry." than ever. He wrote Elements of For- favored a managed forest under govern- Finally, toward the end of three ses- estry, the first manual for would-be ment supervision, while the majority of sions of Congress, the bill passed, al- foresters in America. In April 1882, the commissioners voted to keep the though in a roundabout way. The De- at his own expense, he traveled to wilderness untouched. partment of Agriculture added a rider Cincinnati to attend the organization- On May 11, 1885, the legislature to its 1876 appropriation for the dis- al meeting of the first American For- created the Forest Preserve, forerunner tribution of seeds, allowing two thou- estry Congress. "I was introduced," he of the Adirondack Park. With the cre- sand dollars for appointment of "a wrote in his diary, "to a great number ation of the Forest Preserve, the tena- man of approved attainments of persons, all of whom appeared to cious Franklin B. Hough won his fight ac- quainted with the methods of statisti- be much pleased to meet me. In fact to force the government to take care of cal inquiry" to study the nation's forests it appears that I am much better the precious woodlands. and report to Congress. The bill passed known and appreciated here than at Hough died June 11, 1885, only a on August 15, 1876, and Hough was Washington." Hough stayed a week month after the victory for forest leg- appointed forestry agent. in Cincinnati and spent time with islation. He left a brilliant legacy. "He Hough rejoiced in the opportunity other impassioned delegates such as was," wrote distinguished conserva- to launch a forestry program. Accord- German-born forester Bernhard Fer- tionist Gifford Pinchot, "perhaps the ing to his diary, "I am resolved to do now and famed surveyor Verplanck chief pioneer in forestry in the Unit- credit to myself and to the nation." Colvin. Deeply concerned about the ed States." Bar Harbor Vollege Improvement Association Report of Trees and Planting Committee GENERAL PLANTING. 1907 AMDorr The chairman reports that work was done by Mr. Grant last autumn. in planting on the village streets and in caring for planting done in previous years. at 6.6 an expense amounting to $233,-no work having been done by the committee since that time. Care of previous planting, of vines especially, is now necessary and fresh planting along the roadside where opportu- nity has arisen. The places of certain trees, more- over, which were wantonly destroyed a year ago during the visit of the fleet along the walk on lower Main street, need to be refilled by others, which can be obtained from former plantations on the roadside that it would now be better to thin out. On this various work $200 could be expended with advantage If this is more than can be spared from other work $150 would serve for doing what is urgent in the committee's work. VILLAGE GREEN PLANTING. All the trees planted last year and this are doing well, with the exception of certain canoe birches at the western end of the Green which were attacked last autumn by an insect working its way between the bark and wood. around the trunk. The trees thus attacked will need to be replaced. Once established, the canoe birch is one of the hardiest of trees and not readily subject to the attack of insect or other dis- eases, but it is liable to suffer in removal even under the best conditions and is then subject to such attack while its vitality is impaired. One or two of the large poplars on the northern side of the lot, which suffered from the drought last year, are also dying and need to be replaced. Other- wise the only planting to be done upon the Green is that of a few Norway maples along the southern side of the long path, corresponding to those planted on the northern side this spring along a portion of the walk. These uniting with the others will presently make this walk a shady one throughout the greater portion of its length and add considerably to the pleasantness and beauty of the Green. For these various plantings on the Green your committee recommend an appropriation of $200. After this planting is done but little further appropria- tion for tree planting on the Green will be required. FORESTRY. An attempt has been made this summer by the Tree Committee. jointly with the president of the association, to initiate a movement looking toward investment by the summer residents, either Individu- ally or In association, In such lands on the island as an expert may judge to be of permanent forestry value and not of greater value for other purposes and their scientific forestry treatment for the purpose of busi- ness Investment under the direction of a competent expert. The chairman of the committee, having given some study to the question himself and con- suited experts upon it, believes that sound investment can be made in such lands on the Island. investment which would ultimately bring a good as well as perma- 133 nent return. The forestry conditions on such land upon the Island are distinctly good. Growth is rapid and pro- duction quick: the woods which can be grown are valuable and all the wood grown will always be readily marketable on the Island itself : and there is a large extent of land upon the island, many thousand acres probably-which while it is of little or no value for other purposes. would be fertile in tree growth. Such lands rightly treated would be permanently productive. and as in good forestry the woods would be merely thinned from time to time until their main crop of trees had reached full size and marketable value. not over two per cent. of these woodlands at most would ever be cut over in any single year. And this cutting would be massed each year in special areas selected with regard to the growth of trees upon them and to future work. and so selected also as to exert a can- stant check upon the spread of fires upon the island- an important matter in forestry investment as for the landscape. The constant disfigurement now caused by cutting in small. scattered areas along the roads with and paths. and the danger that exists at present from fires starting or spreading in the brush left in them re which should be burnt. would be avoided under such Dorr treatment. market Under it by far the greater part of the forestable lands upon the island would always have good WOODS and a considerable portion of them old and fine of ones-growing on them and subject to good care and as a forestry treatment. This would be infinitely better than the present state of things or anything that could rest otherwise be hoped for. and would help. more than tonerb. believe anything eise could do. to ensure the permanent for beauty of the island. and to add to Its attraction as a summer home. Nor would it hinder at all but help the outright purchase of such portions of the older woods as might seem to be specially important to keep permanently forested for the pleasure of our drives and walks. Such portions would be but a small part of the land capable of good forestry treat- ment. and piece by piece they could be acquired as the woods on them became mature. and held as public reservation. The chairman of the committee believes that this scheme is practicable and economically sound. and that aesthetic results of great importance to the island would inevitably result from its adoption. There is no question moreover that the price of wood is going to advance steadily for many years to come, until the forest crop becomes a profitable one to grow in more arid regions than ours and under conditions less favorable to forest growth. The first step towards such investment is a thorough forestry study of the island by a competent expert and the preparation of a report upon it and forestry map. This the chairman hopes it may be possible to get done within the coming year. The acquisition of land for forestry purposes would follow after slowly. land being only purchased when it could be acquired at a price reasonable in view of its own actual value for the end in view and that of the stand- ing wood upon it. In confirmation of his opinion in this matter the chairman of the Tree Committee sub- mits a letter just received by him from the Forestry Department at Washington. GEORGE B. DORR. Chairman. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOREST SERVICE Washington. Branch of Silviculture. September 3. 1907. MR. GEORGE B. DORR, Bar Harbor, Maine. Dear Sir: Mr. Pinchot has undoubtedly written you that he is very much interested in your plan for taking care of the forests on Mount Desert Island. Your scheme for preserving the forests not for purely sentimental or aesthetical reasons but also for financial considera- tions is a very sound one and is in full accord with the principles of true forestry. A work of this kind suc- cessfully carried out would be of great value to forestry in general. and would serve as 2 conspicuous object lesson to other forest owners and forest inves- tors of what can be done in this line. The forests on Mount Desert Island seem to offer a good opportunity for such an enterprise. and the Forest Service will be very giad to do all that it can to help you in carrying out your plan. I do not think it will be possible this fall to make as thorough an examination as would be necessary for a full and authoritative report on the situation. which is absolutely essential for your purpose. Unfortunate- ly. Mr. Cary cannot visit the island this fall I shall. however. be very glad to send Mr. S. T. Dana. of the Forest Service. about September 15. to talk matters over with you and to make a preliminary investigation of the conditions there with a view to completing the work next year. Very truly yours. (Signed) Wx. T. Cox. Assistant Forester. and circulatch with The annual Voted that the report be printed report of the association Anneral Sept of the President of H U. to the Oversears 8YL thousants of for Academic years 32 GIFTS FOR IMMEDIATE USE 1911-1912 contributions, either by students or instructors at Harvard, as may seem to merit preservation in permanent form, from Laird Bell $25 Amount brought forward $500 William C. Boyden 25 George D. Markham 50 Frederic I. Carpenter 50 Albert Matthews 50 George G. Crocker 50 Dudley L. Pickman 50 Frederick P. Fish 50 Charles A. Snow 50 Robert Grant 50 Francis J. Swayze 50 Henry S. Howe 50 Charles H. Tweed 50 George G. Kennedy 50 Kenneth G. T. Webster 50 Mrs. George L. Kittredge 100 Moses Williams 50 William Caleb Loring 50 Amount carried forward $500 $900 Towards improvements in The William Hayes Fogg Art Museum, from Anonymous $2,000 George Nixon Black 1,000 Mrs. Edward M. Cary 2,000 Mrs. William H. Forbes 3,000 Alfred Atmore Pope 5,000 $13,000 Towards the expenses of work at The William Hayes Fogg Art Museum in connection with loaning slides of Greek and Roman subjects to various high schools in Massachusetts, from Frederick P. Fish $25 Robert S. Morison 10 James Hardy Ropes 5 $40 From Francis Bullard, $30, towards the purchase of a print, by Marcantonio, for The William Hayes Fogg Art Museum. For the Division of Forestry, from John S. Ames $200 Amount brought forward $1,110 Oakes Ames 200 David N. Skillings 100 George J. Barker 20 Charles O. Skinner 10 The Blanchard Lumber Com- Nathaniel H. Stone 100 pany 25 The Stone Lumber Company 10 Warner R. Butler 200 John E. Thayer 200 J. Randolph Coolidge 50 Washington B. Thomas 100 George B. Dorr 100 Eliot Wadsworth 100 Charles Holyoke 15 John W. Weeks 100 Amory A. Lawrence 100 William P. Wharton 100 Mrs. Henry S. Russell 100 The John M. Woods Com- Miss Marian S. Russell 100 pany 50 Amount carried forward $1,110 $1,980 Digitized by Google Original from NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY