Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-12
The Hlskin Letter 81 ' : 2sssa
EASTWOOD COMES INTO IT'S OWN

Washington, d. c., Dec. 9.-At least
so per rent Of the American born
grandfathers and grandmotners in the
United States are familiar with the
slang meaning Of the word Eastwood:
Ihat is because such a percentage OF
these venerable persons anne from the
section of he country in which the
Eastwood tree is Indigenous. The rea-
son for the use Of such a slang term
was that it's colloquial meaning re-
Elected the opinion of the value of the
tree. When u grandparents wanted
to describe an utterly worthless object
or even a person deemed to be worth
less, such q person or object was said
to be Eastwood, because of all the vast
natural wealth which the pioneers
found in this country. the Eastwood
tree was considered of least value.
In the early days when the American
pioneer went into the wilderness he
had to depend on the things he found
in that environment to fill his every
day needs. He must build his houses
of the native woods, he must make his
tools of native iron, he must weave his
clothes of native fibres and must
raise his own food. Such a civilization
caused these people to put definite
values upon all the products of ma
ture. Everything had a value. Hick-
Dry was good for axe handle and ash
for wagon spokes. Pine and all kinds
Of oak were excellent firewood, but
Eastwood was discovered to be good
for nothing.
Its fibres were too spongy and
stringy to work into anything useful.
1t was not strong to withstand pres
sure. 1t did not last long and it would
not burn well. Almost any other kind
Of waste wood at least would make a
good fire, but Eastwood when set
alight would sputter for a while and
go out and what little burning it would
do gave very little heat in comparison
with other fuels.
So it was not surprising that men
and women who must put definite values
on materials and on people surround
ing them should coin a new word for
their language and agree that bass
wood should describe a useless object
or a worthless drone. In the states
from the Atlantic coast to the p~rairies
| and from Georgia and Mississippi to
the Canadian line. the Eastwood tree
grows in nearly every county and in
this section the slang term Eastwood
cen be heard among old people to this
day.
Science to the Rescue.
If this were a play, at this point the
words Enter science in the form of
the department of agriculture" should
be written. To pursue the fantasy.
science would be a prince charming
come to alter the life Of Eastwood.
the cinderella of the forest. 1t took
some years Of investigation and ex-
perimentation and the overcoming Of
the Inherited natural prejudice and
belief that Eastwood was worthless,
but science persisted and the other day
the department of agriculture issued
from it's press a booklet devoted en-
tirely to this useless wood.
The booklet lists $50 practical
uses Of Eastwood,
The despised cinderella of the for
est. once the scorn of the pioneers,
now is priced for many uses and chief
ly through the inv~estigative work and
experimentation of this scientific
workshop of Uncle Sam.
The scientists Of the department
consider all the characteristics Of a
commodity and select the good points.
Then they find the uses to which such
good points can be put. Eastwood is
n wood of peculiarly clean appearance.
1t is almost as white as holly. Be
cause cf its spongy texture, it does
not split and therefore can be used in
small pieces. Such characteristics. on
consideration. were found to be very
desirable in the manufacture Of con
tainers for food. People want to
have food packed in clean containers
which will not readily fall apart.
So the humble basswood came into