Eastern White Pine

The Tree

The Eastern White Pine, the king of all trees east of the Mississippi, and upon which the lumber industry of the United States was founded, is a stately tree growing to a height of 100 to 150 feet and occasionally over 200 feet, and 3 to 6 feet in diameter. It has a straight trunk gradually tapering its full length with comparatively light straight limbs, and forming a rather open irregular top. The dark gray bark is deeply furrowed in long ridges. The needles are a bluish green 3 to 5 inches long, and are borne in bundles of five. The slender cones are from 5 to 10 inches long, usually curved and mature at the end of the second season. The white pines are very susceptible to the White Pine Blister Rust disease and large expenditures are made annually to combat the disease by destroying the alternate host, the wild currant and gooseberry bushes. Stands of this wonderful tree are gradually being depleted. From 1875 to 1895 sale of White Pine lumber made countless millionaires in the Lake States and New England. In 1873 a boom of White Pine logs containing 600 logs averaging 42 feet long and 4 feet in diameter. A million board feet of lumber, was taken from Muskegon, Michigan, to Chicago. Few of the larger specimens of this tree remain. In 1945 in Wisconsin a White Pine was found 140 ft high, with trunk circumference of 16 1/2 feet and containing 8,000 board feet of lumber. The tree was estimated to be about 400 years old.

Common Names In Use

• Eastern White Pine (trade)
• Apple Pine
• Balsam Pin (N.C.)
• Canadian White Pine (trade)
• Cork Pine (Mich.)
• Minnesota White Pine (trade)
• Northern Pine (S.C. and trade)
• Pumpkin Pine (Mich. and trade)
• Sapling Pine
• Soft Cork White Pine (trade)
• Soft Minnesota White Pine (trade)
• Soft Pine (Pa.)
• Soft White Pine (trade)
• Spruce Pine (Tenn.)
• Weymouth Pine (Mass., S.C.)
• Wisconsin White Pine (trade)
• White Pine (Me., N.H., Vt., Mass., R.I., Conn., N.Y., N.J., Pa., Del., Va., W. Va., N.C., Ga., Ind., Ill., Wis., Mich., Ohio, Ontario, Nebr.)

Eastern White Pine cone

Eastern White Pine tree bark

Growth Range

The natural growth range of Eastern White Pine is from Newfoundland to Lake Winnipeg in the province of Manitoba, Canada, southward through eastern Minnesota to the south eastern section of Iowa; eastward through Wisconsin and Michigan with scattered stands in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio; from Maine southward through the New England states, and the Appalachians along the Allegheny Mountains as far south as northern Georgia.

The Wood

The heartwood of Eastern White Pine is a very light creamy brown or tan slightly tinged with red, turning somewhat darker after exposure to the air. The sapwood is usually narrow to medium wide and a creamy white or pale yellowish color. The texture is fine and very uniform, straight even grained, nonporous, soft, not stiff, with little or no figure. It seasons well with very little warping and is relatively free from resin. It is the carpenter’s delight as it is very easily worked,glued, carved and finished. It takes and holds paint well, nails easily but is only average in ability to hold screws and nails. Does not split easily in nailing. Stays in place when well seasoned.

Uses

The Eastern White Pine has long been famed for pattern making because of its clear uniform straight grain and soft fine texture. It has a very wide variety of uses from matches, sash, doors, general construction, signs, interior trim, shade and map rollers, caskets, wooden-ware and novelties, toys, dairy and poultry supplies, boxes, cabinet making, boot and shoe findings, conduits, dairy, poultry and apiary supplies and hundreds of other uses.

Bibliography

Shelley E. Schoonover (American Woods) 1951 (Watling & Co. ) Santa Monica, CA