During the nineteenth century, lumbering became a large-scale industry controlled by manufacturing companies rather than a local enterprise controlled by farmers. | Technological advances, including the use of steam power, led to increased productivity, efficiency, and commercialization of the lumbering industry. | Seasonal changes and severe winters made the development and laying of track for logging railroads slow and difficult. | After 1860 farmers continued to be the main suppliers of new timber, but lumbering companies took over its transport and manufacture into wood products. | The invention of new technology, such as band saws, allowed American lumbering companies to make a profit by exporting surplus lumber to Britain and other countries. | New methods for transporting logs to mills helped transform lumbering from a seasonal activity to a year-round activity. |