El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-07
Copyright 1911. by Frank C. Carpenter.

ern forest, the central forest, the
Rocky mountain woods and the Pacl-
fiC woods.
The northern forest was the home
Of the white pine, covering an area
about six times as great as that OF
Ohio and containing enough lumber 70
have made a belt Of boards an inch
thick and a mile and half wide
around the globe. The southern forest
was largely Of yellow pine ana OF
cypress, but the trees were not so
large, and IN board feet II was Just
about equal that Of the north. The
central forest which lay between, was
nearly all hard wood. 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
band around the earth at least two
miles I'm width.
And then came the Rocky Mountain
forest. composed chiefly Of cone bear
ing trees This contained only no.
100000 acres and the lumber upon 1t
was about 400 billion board feet The
Pacific forest was still smaller IN
area but it had the biggest trees Of
the country. It had the Douglas fir,
the redwOaOd and western yellow pine,
II had the giants Of the forest
and the scientists here say that its
trees were the largest and that they
contained more lumber than any other
known to history or geology. The
area of that forest was just about
sylvania but the stand was so great
that ii eQualed the hardwood central
forest of the east and if cut into inch
boards. ii would have sufficed to belt
the globe with q board walk of two
miles in width.
Our Lumber Supply in 1911,
Now let us see what is left. Our
board walk to the sun has been just
about cut I'm half. and the same is true
of the leftOvers- A walk could still
be made, but 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 understandable timber has
disappeared. 1t has been cut down.
burnt up and wasted in every possible
way. Some Of it has gone into build
ings. but vast amount has been alb
sOlute waste.
The northern forest has lost 40 per
cent of its 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 go percent. and Of the Pacific
coast forest almost as much. Although
we have remaining about twenty five
hundred billion feet Of timber. and OF
this one fifth belongs to the govern
ment and is being properly cared for.
The balance is in the hands Of private
individuals, of corporations, syndcates
and trusts, and il is going so fast that
if the present ratio continues. in 20
or % years it viii be all cut away.
Our Big Lumber Cut.
In 1909 the trees that went into tim
Der were enough to have made a
boardwalk a thousand feet wide run
ming right through the center Of the
earth from one side to the other. The
amount was more than forty four bill
lion feet board measure, and, in addi-
ton. a vast amount of wood was used
for other purposes. The forestry bu~
reau estimates that we are now an
nualv consuming twenty thousand mill
lion cubic feet of good timber Divide
that into posts a foot square, Stand
them on the earth and let them prop
no the moon. You can make 10 or
16 such posts. and each of them would
reach all the way to our little sister
planet and still leave millions of cubic
feet for cross pieces to bolt the scat
fold together.
And where did all this lumber go?
In addition to the vast amount which
went into boards more than one thous-