274 ^ History of the Pacific Northwest
and markets for the lumber still less so. A long rail haul would be required to place the product in reach of the users of lumber east of the Rocky Mountains, and a very long water haul would be required to lay it down in Europe or on the Atlantic seaboard. In comparison, the Southern forests were near the great markets both of America and of Europe. This explains why Oregon and Washington in 19 13 produced 6,690,oooM, as against the 15,300,oooM, produced in the eight southern states named.
Nevertheless, lumbering had definitely taken its place as the leading manufacturing industry in these states. Already, there are centres where the manufacture of lumber is producing important towns and cities, as it did in Michigan, as witness Saginaw and Grand Rapids, or in Wisconsin where Oshkosh and Lacrosse illustrate the same tendency. And, moreover, so large is the lumber industry that when its prosperity wanes the entire industrial and commercial life of these states is seriously affected. When lumber prospers the case is reversed.
The market for lumber. The prosperity of the lumber business depends on an unfailing market, on low freight rates on the overland railway lines, and on the excellence and cheapness of water transportation. This explains the eager, determined interest which Northwestern people have taken in the tariff on lumber, in the decisions of the interstate commerce commission respecting freight rates, and in
