980 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



to "start west," and iiot only dozens, scores, and hundreds, 

 but thousands of flat-bottomed boats were built in that 

 vicinity to carry settlers to Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana Illi- 

 nois and Missouri. Today enormous barges assemble at 

 Pittsburgh, as the pioneer boats assembled there a cen- 

 tury or a century and a half ago, and move off down the 

 river toward the west ; but today they carry coal instead of 

 emigrants. The same forests which furnished the planks 

 for the bateaus of 1783. and the keelboats of a later time, 

 still furnish 

 planks for the 

 coal- bearing 

 river barges of 

 1918. 



The wooden 

 ships of com- 

 merce that sail- 

 ed the seas dur- 

 ing the early 

 period of our 

 history, and 

 down to the 

 present, have 

 been made 

 from relatively 

 few woods, 

 c o n s i d ering 

 that our forests 

 contain nearly 

 six h u n d r e d 

 species. The 

 wood must be 

 suitable and 

 convenient. On 

 the .■\ 1 1 a n tic 

 coast white and 

 yellow pine and 

 white oak have 

 been in most 

 deniand, b u t 

 some elm has 

 found place, as 

 also a little 

 hemlock, chest- 

 nut, beech, 

 Norway pine, 

 and yellow 

 poplar. On the 

 Pacific coast 

 Douglas fir and 

 Port Orford 

 cedar were used 

 in early ship- 

 building and are still so used. The construction of ocean- 

 going merchant vessels on rivers far from the sea was an 

 early industry. The upper Ohio, from the vicinity of 

 Pittsburgh to Marietta, Ohio, was busy with shipbuilding 

 before the opening of the nineteenth century. Ships 

 built there, 2000 miles by the river highway from the 



Wfc-M KK.N CANOE CEUAR 



This is the western red. or giant, cedar, and the picture is shown by courtesy of the Three Lakes 

 Lumber Company. It was of this cedar that the Pacific Coast Indians made their remarlcable canoes, 

 some of wliich would carry nearly or quite a hundred men. The wood is soft and is easy to hew. Few 

 dugouts are now made of it. 



sea, were important carriers of American commerce. One 

 of the ships when it reached Italy, was detained by the 

 officials because the port of clearance was believed to be 

 fictitious. They had never heard of Marietta. Ships 

 built on the upper Ohio passed down the river at frequent 

 intervals on their way to the sea, and carried cargoes to 

 the West Indies. France, Italy, and to other foreign coun- 

 tries besides carrying coal, flour, glass, pork, and furniture 

 to Philadcljihia and other home ports. The first cargo of 



coal from Pitts- 

 burgh to Phil- 

 adelphia, 1794, 

 liy way of the 

 Ciulf of Mexi- 

 c o . sold at 

 $10.50 a ton at 

 Phil adelphia. 

 It is wort h 

 mentioning that 

 the Pittsburgh 

 a n d Marietta 

 ships were 

 made largely 

 of black wal- 

 nut, and the 

 wood attracted 

 attention 

 among ship- 

 fa u i 1 d ers be- 

 cause of its 

 durability and 

 on account of 

 its great 

 strength in pro- 

 portion to its 

 weight. The 

 furniture car- 

 ried in sailing 

 ships fro m 

 Pittsburgh was 

 largely black 

 walnut, cherry, 

 and yellow 

 l)irch, and it 

 found a good 

 market in the 

 Atlantic coast 

 cities. 



The United 

 States entered 

 upon its navy 

 program at a 

 time when it 

 had become necessary to provide ships with which to 

 fight the Mediterranean pirates, late in the eighteenth 

 century and early in the nineteenth. Several vessels 

 were constructed of southern pine and live oak. The 

 first six ships contributed greatly to the early history 

 and the romance of the United States. These ships were 



