The Portland daily press., 1897-07-28
OUR FOREST WEALTH.
How 1t Has Been Recklessly and Wfckedly
Wasted BY the American People.
illustrated American.)

illustrated American.)
Another half century at the present
rate of wasteful destruction will practical
ly bring the end of Americas forest
wealth.
| When our ancestors landed on Ply
mouth Rock they entered the ''forests
primeval" which, with hardly break,
extended the whole length of the Allan
tic coast and hundreds of miles back into
the valley of the Mississippi. The wood
mans axe was the pioneer of civilization.
The forest was an enemy to be overcome
as speedily as possible. Hence fire and de-
struction marked the progress of the set
tier.
Today, except for the almost inaccessible
businesses of the mountains, the northern
portion of those vast forests is practically
destroyed. Much woodland remains in the
East, but it has lost its pristine wealth of
forest monarchs. The merchantable tim
Der was sacrificed long ago to the demands
of commerce.
Notably wasteful have been the methods
of the early settler. Except for the logs
needed for his little cabin and other prim-
tive buildings, and for frewood, the trees
were an encumbrance, to be got rid of as
| rapidly as possible. When the axe and
| fire completed their work of destruction
there was little save blackened stumps to
tell of the former glory.
| AS the wood acquired value from the
increased demands of the people, the
wastefulness has lessened. But in the lum
her camps this wastefulness is still
marked, Young trees ara sacrificed to
make road into the forest. When the
giants fall under the axe, they frequently
carry other trees with them, which are
left to rot. Only the heavy portions of the
trunk are chosen, while the limbs and top
are usually left unused.
| Even when the log reaches the mill
scarcely more than half of it goes to the
lumber pile. The slabs, which make up
a fourth to a third Of the log, are some
times burned for wood. Often they are
burned in furnaces, without serving any
useful purpose.
| The rough lumber goes to the factory
and in the planer, the lathe, and through
| other process the waste continues. In the
| finished desk or chair there remains not a
| fourth of the original wood Of the forest.
| More permanently destructive than all
| other wastes is that of forest fires. 1t is
estimated that s25, 900 will not cover
the annual loss by fire to the standing
| timber alone in the forests of the nation.
| But the fire destroys the saplings, the
young shoots, and the fallen seeds which
| produce the forests of another century. 1t
destroys the vegetable mold, which has
been gathering for decades. The very soil
| is burned out and made unfit for valuable
trees. Five hundred years of forest growth
may be destroyed by fire in few hours.
The principal cause of forest fires is the
clearing of land. Farmers put the torch
to their clearings and then permit the fire
to escape. Another fruitful source is the
carelessness of hunters, who leave the
| flames in their camps. Sparks from rail-
road engines kindle others. Many fires
are deliberately, set by timber thieves on
government land to cover up their pecu-
| lations
The forest consumption Of this country
J is enormous. The department of agricul-
ture estimates that the value of wood cut
| for manufacturing purposes and for fuel
each year exceeds a billion of dollars.
The value added by processes of manu-
| facture is not less than half billion
more.
The department. estimates that the an
| nual consumption of the forests for all
purposes reaches %, O0O COO, 600 cubic feet.
| This represents a pile the size of the
| the largest freight car for every family in
the country. A tract of forest one-third
the area of New York State is stripped
every year to supply the demand.
Under this enormous consumption, it is
no wonder that America is being rapidly
despoiled of her forests. There are still
large tracts of valuable timber in the
South and on the Pacific coast, but the
immense forests of Michigan and Wis
consin are now practically denuded of
merchantable timber. Years ago the
States of the Northeast ceased to be an
| important factor in the lumber trade.