Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-10-08

Ills week 4 nave spent at the
Nt forestry buretu gathering the
latest informs tion as to Uncle
zs@ez$ Sam'a woodla ads. The figures
G4S4gNil are so great that the mind
cannot comprehend them, and
the only way to understand them is by
simple comparisons. Take, for instance,
the woods which covered this country
along about 1900, at the time Captain
John Smith landed at the mouth of the
James. They had an area greater than
one-thrd Of all Europe and considerably
more than one-fourth OF the whole
United States, including Alaska. The
forestry service estimates that the stand
of merchantable timber then eoualed
more than 100000 600 900 feet, or enough
ITO construct board walk a foot wide
and an inch thick, and 100000, 600 miles
long. That amount of lumber would
have covered board walk ten feet wide
from the earth TO the sun, and still left
enough over to have belted the waist OF
old Mother Earth at the Equator with a
band three and one-half miles wide. The
remainder, If cut into flooring. could have
earpeted New England, New York, New
Jersey Delaware and Maryland. The
total area of the wood land was $50 900 900
acres, and the merchantable timber $780,
OOO,GO0,0OO feet. That is what we had at
y the beginning.
Our MiEhty Forc,as.
Before 1 tell you what has become of
this mighty property let me describe in
a nutshell just what ii was. Uncle Sans
foresters have told me the story. The
woods were in five great tracts. There
were the northern forest, the southern
forest, the central forest, the Rocky
mountai, woods and the Pacific woods
The northern forest was the home of
the white pine, covering an area about
six times great as that of Ohio and
containing enough lumber to have made
a belt Of bolrds an inch thick and mile
and a half wide around the globe. The
southern forest was largely of yellow
pine and OF cypress, but the trees were
not so large, and in board feet 1t was
Just about equal that of the north. The
central foreSt, which lay between, was
nearly all hardwood; it had an area
much larger than the woods north and
south, and the lumber within it was
about half as much more as either of the
others. 1t would have made a band
around the earth at least two miles in
width.
And then came the Rocky mountain
forest, composed chiefly of cone-bearing
trees. This contained only llO,OOOOOO
kscres, and the lumber upon it was about
. $40, 900 board feet. The Pacific for
est was still smaller in area, but it had
the biggest trees in the country. 1t had
the Douglas fir the redwood and western
yellow pine; it had the giants of the for
est, and the scientists here say that its
trees were the largest and that they con-
tanned more lumber than any other
known to history or geology. The area
of the forest was just about equal to two
states the size of Pennsylvania but
the stand was SO great that 1t equaled
the hardwood central forest of the east,
y and IL cut into inch boards it would have
Nsufficed to belt the globe with board
walk two miles in width.
Our Lumber supply In 1911.
Now let US sec what is left. Our board
walk to the sun has been just about
cut in half, and the same is true of the
left-overs. a walk could still be made,
but il would be only five feet in width,
and the board belt around the equator
would be considerably less than two miles
in width. Fully one-half of the mer-
charitable timber has disappeared; It has
been cut down, burnt up and wasted in
every possible way; some Of it has gone
into buildings, but vast amount has
been absolute waste.
The northern forest has lost 40 per
cent Of it's area, the southern almost as
much and OF the central forest more than
one-half has been cleared. OF the Rocky
mountain woods we have still 80 per cent
and of the Pacific forest almost as much
Altogether we have remaining about
$500, O00O00O0O feet Of timber. and of this
one-fifth belongs to the government and
- hat nfr far. ha hal
is in the hands of private individuals. OF
Interpretations, syndicates and trusts. and
it is going so fast that il the present
ratio continues, in twenty or twenty-five
years It viii be all cut away.
Our Rig Lumber Cut.
In 1909 tho trees that went into timber
were enough TO have made a board walk
1000 feet wide running right through the
center of the earth from one side to the
other. The amount was more than 1900
10000 feet, board measure; and in addl-
ton, a vast amount of wood YVES used for
other purposes The forestry bureau es-
Inmates that we are now annually con-
Stunning 80 600 cubic feet OF good tim
ber Divide that into posts foot square.
Stand them on the earth and let them
prop up the moon. You can make fifteen
or sixteen such posts. and each OF them
would reach all the way 10 our little
sister planet and still leave millions OF
cubic feet Tor cross pieces TO bolt the
Hcaflold together
\ And whore did all this lumber go? In
addition 10 the vast amount which went
Unto boards, more than 1000 10000 feet
were CONSUMED IN fence rails. posts and
telegraph poles; I1s.O000OO feet. mostly
white GAL, went into ties Cor the rail-