Ironmen occupying The North

[Anthony Appleyard]

In the part of "A Feast for Crows" where Ironmen are occupying The North,  a character has a poor opinion of the riches of The North: he says that little good will come from occupying so much land far from the sea, and mentions or shows gravel, turnips, tree seeds, and suchlike,  But the story does not mention there that, surely, for a seaman, one genuine useful product of The North is shipbuilding timber. For a start, they likely could make thousands of ships from the wood in the trees in the Wolfswood.

And also, the farmland would supply much food to resupply ships.

[Tucu]

Asha discusses this in ADWD:

Quote

"You are clinging to Sea Dragon Point the way a drowning man clings to a bit of wreckage. What does Sea Dragon have that anyone could ever want? There are no mines, no gold, no silver, not even tin or iron. The land is too wet for wheat or corn."

I do not plan on planting wheat or corn. "What's there? I'll tell you. Two long coastlines, a hundred hidden coves, otters in the lakes, salmon in the rivers, clams along the shore, colonies of seals offshore, tall pines for building ships."

"Who will build these ships, my queen? Where will Your Grace find subjects for her kingdom if the northmen let you have it? Or do you mean to rule over a realm of seals and otters?"

 

[The Young Maester]

Iron men would have timber in abundance. Only problem is getting the people to work on the timber. You either force families from the isles to move to the north, or you get what little locals are located in the western shore to do it for you.

[Loose Bolt]

Another potential problem is that during long winters northern Sunset Sea will froze and so sailing becomes impossible. So Ironborn would have to choose b4 that happens do they really want to spend their winter surrounded by their enemies without any chance of gaining any supplies or military support from south and without any means to escape.