CHAPTER XIX.

RHODE ISLAND.

The original forests which covered the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations have entirely disappeared, and for many years the Commonwealth has been in a state of high cultivation. The only timber at the present time is second or third growth, and little, if any, is of merchantable character. The area covered by tree growth, however, is slowly increas ing, although, with the exception of young forests of white pine, the productive capacity of the woodlands is, in view of the heavy demand continually made upon them, especially by the railroads, rapidly diminishing. Practically all of the timber reported as cut within the State is shipped from adjoining territory. The woodland of the State has an area, as estimated from the maps of the United States Geological Survey, of 400 square miles, or 37 percent of the area of the State.

Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams, who fled from Puritan persecution and settled the Providence Plantations in 1636. Mr. Williams was accompanied in his exile by five companions, viz., William Harris, John Smith, Francis Wicks, Thomas Angel and Joshua Barlin. Mr. Williams was no believer in the principle of controlling through civil government the consciences of men, and his frank avowal in regard to his views incurred the censure of the Puritan magistrates of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay so that it was resolved to expel him from the colonial bounds; but when it was learned that he proposed to found another colony, the magistrates determined to ship him back to England. Mr. Williams received timely warning of this intention, however, and fled into the wilderness, where for many weeks he wandered "not knowing what bread or bed did mean," but the spring of 1636 found him planted on the east side of the Seekonk River. The authorities of the Plymouth Colony claimed jurisdiction over this territory and he proceeded around what is now Fox Point and up Providence River and landed at the site of the future town, where he selected a dwelling place for himself and his companions. His main object, as he stated at the time, was "the settling of a plantation and especially for the receiving of such as were troubled elsewhere about the worship of God." William Blackstone was the first settler in Rhode Island, however, removing there from Boston in 1634.

In 1638 these pioneers were followed by William Coddington and a few

others, who, also, were practically exiled from Massachusetts on account of their religious principles. These found a home on the island of Aquidneck and established the settlements of Newport and Portsmouth. Immigration continued to such an extent that in 1643 Roger Williams went to England and secured a charter, embracing the towns of Providence, Newport and Portsmouth under the name of the "Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England." This charter did not take effect until 1647, when the first General Assembly convened at Portsmouth.

The war between the Indian tribes and the settlers, which broke out in 1675, caused untold suffering and great loss of life and did not end until the death of King Philip in 1676. Rhode Island in 1709 secured by purchase from the Indians most of the land that it now occupies as a State. It has been stated above that there is little, if any, timber of merchantable size in the State. This was not always the case, however, for Bishop in his "A History of American Manufactures," published in 1868, says: "Rhode Island, whose principal exports were lumber, pipe staves, etc., as early as 1639-40 enacted a law to regulate the price of boards and clapboards at the mill, indicating that the colony had already possessed those useful appurtenances in the new settlements. The prices were fixed at eight shillings the hundred for sound boards delivered at the mill, and one shilling a foot for clapboards and fencing, to be sound and merchantable stuff. A sawmill appears, however, not to have been built on the Falls of Pawtucket, now so profitably applied to other uses, until after the Revolution. In 1810 the State contained twenty-eight sawmills."

Hakluyt, in his "Voyages," Volume III, published in London in 1800, says: "In the spring of 1524 Verruzano passed Block Island without embarking, which he described as being 'in form of a triangle, distant from the mainland ten leagues, about the bigness of the Island of Rhoades; it was full of hills, covered with trees, well peopled, for we saw fires along the coast. We gave it the name of your Majesty's mother.''

A more recent writer, Livermore, in his "History of Block Island," published in 1877, says: A thorough searching in some of the old and most illegible records has brought to light the fact that when the island was settled, heavy forest timber was abundant here, and supplied the people with wood for fuel and timber for buildings and fences. In an inventory of Robert Guthrie's estate, in 1692, mention was made of 'forty-two acres in the west woods, at twenty shillings per acre.' . . . In 1714 the town enacted 'That no manner of persons whatever may cut any timber, trees or poles on any man's land without his leave, and if any person do he shall pay the sum of five shillings for every tree or pole so cut.'

44

The kinds of timber most common here were oak, elm, pine,

hickory, ash and cedar, with a thick growth of alders, in swampy places, which were small and numerous.'

Again, William P. Sheffield, in an historical address delivered July 4, 1876, in the city of Newport, said:

Tradition has it that the first settlers at Newport found the present site of the city a thickly wooded swamp. It is said that tall forest trees were then growing from the bottom to the summit of the hill, that these were first cut away, until they came down to low marshy ground, made impenetrable by the dense underbrush. Nicholas Easton, William Brenton and Thomas Hazard are said to have contracted with three Indians to clear up the underbrush for a coat, the large brass buttons on which were taken off, strung together, and were thus used as a necklace or ornament by one of the Indians. The Indians fired the underbrush, and that cleared the lowland on the margin of the harbor. Much sand and gravel, it is said, was filled in upon the low ground. Mr. Jaffrey, William Dyer and John Clarke were the committee of proprietors to lay out the town lots. Thames Street was first laid out, one mile in length. The first lots were laid off on the north side of what is now Washington Square. All the lots on the east side of Thames Street were assigned space beside on the west between the street and the water. The first landing place was at a point of land then projecting into the water north of the present site of Long Wharf. At the time of the first settling of Newport, Brenton's Neck and Goat Island are said to have been covered with large forest trees.

Horace A. Keach's "Burrillville," published in 1856, stated that in the preceding year there were 16,262 acres of woodland in that town, from which 8,500 cords of wood, 7 tons of shipped timber, 73 cords of tanbark, 27,000 hoop poles, 408,000 feet of lumber, 1,582,000 shingles and 68,100 bushels of charcoal had been cut and sold. In 1815 there were large pine forests in Burrillville, for Mr. Keach said: "The effects of the terrible tornado of September 23, 1815, are still visible at Burrillville. We had large pine forests slightly rooted in a light soil, and whole acres were laid prostrate. The hunter in our woods often stumbles over an old log half bedded in the ground and thickly covered with a deep green moss. When the farmers collect their fuel in the autumn, they break off the pitchpine knots, and during the long winter evenings the big fireplace is ruddy with their glow, and the women knit, the old men smoke, children play, and kittens purr around the cheerful light."

The earliest figures obtainable showing the extent of woodland were found in the "Rhode Island Colony Records," which showed that in the year 1767 there were 241,686 acres of woodland, valued at about $1,186,730. The following compilation shows the number of acres of woodland by counties and townships and the value of same:

Over 100 years later, or in 1875, the area of woodland had decreased 85,232 acres. In that year the State census gave the acreage of woodland and unimproved lands by counties, also value of forest products for that year. The following statement was made up from data thus afforded by F. B. Hough in his "Report Upon Forestry," published in 1877:

ACTUAL AND RELATIVE AMOUNT OF WOODLAND AND Value of
FOREST PRODUCTS IN 1875.

The shipbuilding business of Rhode Island was one of the first of its manufacturing industries, and had reached considerable proportions before the end of the Seventeenth Century. Its fame as a shipbuilding colony had reached the sister colonies at that time. It will be of interest to quote from "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the End of the Century," 1902, edited by Edward Field, A. B., as showing the extent of this industry, inasmuch as it was necessary to utilize the forests to build the ships. Mr. Field says:

Before the close of the Seventeenth Century shipbuilding had become an important business at Newport, and it was also carried on at Warren, Bristol and other coast settlements, including Providence and Warwick. In answer to a request from the British "Lords of Trade," in 1680, regarding various matters, Governor Sanford's answer, so far as it related to shipping, was: We have no shipping belonging to the colony, but only a few sloops." The colony had been accused of lawlessness, and as there was danger of its charter privileges being taken away, the Governor's answers were framed in such a guise as to convey the impression that the settlers were living under very humble conditions. It was probably a fact that at that very time the colony was well supplied with shipping, and was carrying on a thriving trade with the other colonies and the West Indies. At all events, there was considerable shipbuilding done here about two centuries ago. One hundred and three vessels were built in the ten years from 1698 to 1708, eight of which were ships. In 1704 the colonial General Assembly imposed a tonnage duty on all vessels not wholly owned by its inhabitants,

In 1709 Edward Wanton, a shipbuilder from Scituate, Massachusetts, came to Newport and established a shipyard, and the colony purchased one of his vessels-the sloop Diamond-for £400, and chartered another, and fitted them up as ships of war to take part in the expedition against Port Royal, in Nova Scotia. The shipping interests of Newport assumed very large proportions. In 1739 more than one hundred vessels were owned there, and its West India trade for many years was very large. At one time as many as eighteen West Indiamen were known to arrive within twentyfour hours. Several of the warships of the Revolution were of Rhode Island build. Among them were the twenty-eight-gun ship Providence, which was captured by the British at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1780, and the thirty-two-gun ship Warren, which was burned by its crew on the Penobscot, in 1779, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the British. These ships were two of the lot ordered by Congress in December, 1775, and were both launched at Providence in the following May. The George Washington, a 624-ton ship which was purchased by the Government in 1798 at Providence, is supposed to have been built either here or at Warren. The General Greene, a ship of 645 tons, which carried twenty-eight guns, was built at Warren in 1799. Another war vessel, the Chippewa, a fourteen-gun brig, was built at Warren in 1815.

Newport's commercial development was very marked just before the Revolution. In 1769 the port employed 200 vessels in foreign trade, and between three and four hundred in the coast trade. It then ran a regular line of packets to London, and also had many ships engaged in whaling. Newport enjoyed a bright future at this time and its inhabitants were confident that it would become the commercial metropolis of the colonies. The Revolution, however, ruined the town. It was occupied by the British throughout the greater portion of the war, and its commerce and shipbuilding ceased for the time being and never recovered from the blow, as, after peace was restored, the town's supremacy was gone and trade had been diverted to other ports.