The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1874-11-25
Our Forests.
THE wAsTEfuL RAPfDITr WITH wrIcn
THEY ARE BEING observation-disclosures
STARTLING FACTS AND FIGURES,

| 'ion Vi our Iortst lS tast prtnSIYg u
10 u condition in which there will h
occusion for real alar,p.9H1t is no
probable tha' any "scare'' like tha
which few years ago went owe
England, concerning thel elprospectiv,
exhaustion of her coal supply, vii
Immediately y occur in A meri,a a, touch
'ng the loss Of our forests, but We
wish something near Enough ap
proaching it might h.ppen to stop a
work that is full Of evil promise. M,
ln the whole United States there
IS left but one really great tract 0!
timber. 1t lies at the far extreme
Of our country, and consists Of ubou,
one half of Washington territory ant,
third # Oreg,n. Caiifo, nj !. p has,
perhaps, $4,000 acres Of forest aow,
OF which fully ",alf has been cut
away within the last two or three
years Here in Now York We ,have
no considerable forest left except in
the Adirondack region. Our wealth
of maple, walnut, aud hickory is SUBJ
stantially gone, and large part of
it has bean wantonly destroyed.
Wisconsin had magnificent forest
growth, but the people are sweeping
it away at lnarvellously rppid rate.
One billion feet Of timber 2were cut
in single year. 1t will hot take
more than decade or two At the ut
most to fairly exhaust this source of
wealth to the State. Michigan and
Minnesota arc. following in the same
course. slashing away ut their forest
MS if tree had no right to lift it's
head. One of our most Intelligent
army officers, Gen. Brisbiu, who
knows the Western country thorough.
ly, aud to whose accurate. knowledge
of This snhjeot we arc indebted f,r
many facts, snys that 1000 acres of
Wisconsin, timber hre cut annually to
supply the Kansas and Nebraska
markets alone. The Saginaw for rest4
are even now practically destroyed,
and, if the Northern Pacific railway
is built, it will open up to the ak the |
ono remaining belt of timber iu Ore
gon and Washington Territory.
The railroads have been the great
dcstroyrrs Of our forests. They use
ono hundred and sixty millions of
ties annual y-this means the level
ing Of at least 1900 acres of treess.
The timber they uso is not the re:uso
Or the inferior, but among the very
best, fine young trees, eight or Zen
inches in diameter. The Union
Pacific company undertook at FIRST o
lay til, ir road with cottonwood ties,
drawn ON the occasional wooded
canj ons along the line of tho road.
One cons, ,qucnce o. this vas shown
IN our Waah;.9lpn dispatch the other
day regarding the legislation to be
asked from Congress for the relief of
the road. The Government commits
sion ap ,ointed to examine the Ii o
reported thnt it was not compile ted
within the TEN Of the lw. The
use OF these svf wood ties was held
by them to be an evasion Of contract,
and governm ent patents for the lanos
granted along two or three hundred
miles OF the rond have accordingly
been refusci. The settlers who have
bought the lands eau get no titles
from the company, for it has none.
This locks bad tor our fnreats, since
1t means tn: ultimate destruction of
thousands Of more good timber to re
place the condemned ties, which have
already swept off a lurge part Of the
tr% precious grvwtts Of this Compare.
lively trec'css region. Ii it Is re.
mcmbcicd that the ties have to be
re"e"ed every s:ven years, the ex.
tent OF the denan on our forests
viii DC "ppre ciutcd. When 10000
miles more Of rails havo been laid it
will require all the young treos 10
the country tc supply tho demand
for ties.
Fences arc also enormous cohsu.
meta Of trees. In the East we are
learning in this regard economy from
ncc' s,ity, but 10 the West, in some
State, the farmers cut down the for.
OF with scarcely more thought than
they harvest their grain. The fences
of the United State, people may not
generally know, have cost more than
the lands, and are, to-day, the mo t
valuable cla's of property, save rail
roads and real estate in cities. II
linois alone has S2,OO0.OO0 invested
in fences, and they annually cost
$4,000 for repairs. Iu Nebraska,
where excellent herd laws arc in force,
the necessity for fences has been so
much lessened that the fences IF the
State cost less in proportion to po,.u.
lation than in any other in the
Union. ..
The outrageous waste Of timber
caused by tho telling of forests and
the burning Of the trees to bring the
land und er cultivation still goes on at
q fearful rate. From 1860 to 1870
no less than twelve million acres OF
forest were thus wantonly Destroyed. :.
For fuel also vast tracts arc )oaelcd
Of their trees. 1t took 10000 acres
of forests to supply Chicago with fuel
In one year, 1871. Our annual dc
crease OF forest from all thsse causes
Is not far from 100000 acres. Yet