The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-07-28
State Forests .
UNDER THE BLOWS OF THE wo DDS
MANS AXE.

The state forestry commission re.
Gently appointed by the governor has
a vide and important work before il.
the magnitude of which is dou btless
fully appreciated by the gentl
directed to consider the best way out
of serious situation, and if they dis
cover some plan during the proc ess Of
inquiry and. investigation that will
serve to restore wasted territory they
will solve problem that has long had
the earnest force of public pressure
back of it, pressure in the form of
public n n.cessity.
1t has been some years since arbor
days were established as an avenue
through which to repair the great loss.
es annually suffered by the work of
denudation carried on by the lumber
interests, and the Pennsylvania State
Forestry association has been an in.
valuable auxiliary as an agent bent
upon acquainting the public of the
permanent loss sustained in the gener.
al destruction of the once unrivaled
forests that covered the northern and
western central counties but the re-
suits from these two sources have been
feeble at best, and the state concludes
at last by legislation to arrive at the
core Of the trouble through forestry
commission. This is wise course to
pursue. As a beginning it must event
ually provide a sure foundation for
future legislative action, and, the light
turned on, the present condition of
the timber sections means truth in
all its forceful nakedpess.
The Forestry commission will find
remarkable condition, for instance
in Shuylkill, Luzerne, Lackawanna
and Carbon counties, from whose
mountain sides the standing timber
long since disappeared to be used in
the mines as supports. Nothing has
been done to restore by growth the
supply SO taken, largely from the fact
that the native wood were exhausted
and no recreation was possible.
In other sections like those found
in Clearfeld, Clinton, Jefferson, Elk,
Lycoming, Cameron and contiguous
counties, where the axe and lumber.
man found virgin timber kingdoms
fifty years ago, the despoliation has
been OF such a character as to cause
much alarm even among the residents
of the territory covered. For the first
time this year the city of Lock Haven,
once a thriving centre of the lumber
interests, finds itself with scant sup
ply of logs for its mills, and in fact the
great boom is practically closed
Williamsport has been the recognized
head and front of the Susquehanna
lumber trade, the mills there sending
annually to market hundreds of mill
ions of feet of finished and unfinished
lumber, but the supply has been dwind
ling down until there is no longer
scarcely a respectable showing
Investigation will introduce facts tc
the commission showing that Pennsyl
vania's once inexhaustible supply Of
timber has really such a thing as q
limit, and that the time has come tc
save the pine and hemlock wherever
the course of salvation can be Judi
ciously pursued Only as far back as
the year 1874, when John DuBoi.
penetrated the wilderness from Drift
wood along Benefits Branch Lick, he
found fifty miles of close growth lr
pine and hemlock as straight as an ar
row. To-day there is hardly a stick
left worth cutting, and his claim tha
the timber stretch was inexhaustible
comes as warning cry to care for
that which remains.
If the commission can stop the pot
hunter from firing up the woods, anc
kindred to him the very many who
cultivate the hucklebery and black
berry by burning over extensive areas
yearly in order to have furious crops
at the expense of the young timber
shoots, they will eliminate the cause
Of much of the waste and destruction
In state forests. If in addition to this
the commission can induce the variou:
corporations, companies and owners
of timber tracks to set out again young
trees in the place of those taken away
some day the virgin forests will return
but never again in the primitive purity
the settlers found them half century
ago.