1094 



AMERICAN FORF.STRY 



States. They came straight from lier forests and saw- 

 mills, trained in her woodcraft, with all of the physical 

 vigor, the adaptability to life in the open, and the rough 

 and ready mechanical skill of the American woodsman. 

 They knew their work and were ready to put all that 

 they had into it. 



Furthermore, these lumberjack soldiers felt in a pecu- 

 liar way that their country was behind them. This was 

 not nnlv in the focusing of national forces from every 



crews made off with the laurels of certain pure lumber- 

 jack units, in the records of the operations for ])roduc- 

 tion. 



To meet the growing requirements of the American 

 Army, Engineer Service battalions were rapidly added 

 to the forestry and road troops during the summer and 

 fall of 1918. At the end of hostilities, thirty-six Service 

 companies were wprking with the 20th Engineers. The 

 first four of them were white troops, organized as the 



"The lumbermen and foresters of the United States may well take pride in the men who have repre- 

 sented them on the American Expeditionary Force. Now they are returning, better men for the sacrifices 

 they have made, for the sense of organization and responsibility which they have learned, for the diffi- 

 culties which they have mastered, and for the understanding which they have gained of forest culture 

 and forest thrift in France. Such a body of trained men represent an asset of the utmost value to the forest 

 industries of America. Let us recognize their worth and their capacity by an intelligent direction of the 

 return of these soldiers to civil life in positions where their experience in national service can be effectively 

 utilized."— Lt. Col. W. B. Greeley, 20th Engineers (Forestry). 



point upon winning the war, but in the special efforts ot 

 the forest industries to man and etpiip the lumber regi- 

 ments. Many lumber companies had sacrificed their own 

 interests in urging valued employees to join the ranks 

 of the forest regiments. In many cases differences in pay 

 were made good by old employers or provision made 

 for the families left behind. And the lumberjack soldiers 

 felt, too, the backing of friendliness and forethought 

 which followed them to France, in the organized steps 

 taken by the lumber and 

 forestry associations for 

 their comfort and wel- 

 fare. 



Special credit is due to 

 the officers and men of the 

 three battalions, the 41st, 

 42nd, and 43rd Engineers, 

 which were organized and 

 c(pii[j[)cd for road and con- 

 struction work in connec- 

 tion with " forestry opera- 

 tions. They came to l-'rance 

 keen to take up this task, 

 for which they too had 

 been especially fitted by 

 training and experience. 



But the necessities of war dictated otherwise. They 

 landed in France to find the undermanned Forestry Sec- 

 tion struggling to keep up with the timber needs of an 

 army already twice the size of that originally intended. 

 It was necessary for these road builders to turn lumber- 

 jacks themselves, cutting fuelwood, piling, or entangle- 

 ment stakes as occasion demanded and manning the new 

 sawmills which were installed as fast as they arrived 

 from the United States. The road companies took hold 

 of this work, to which most of them were unaccustomed, 

 with splendid spirit, and in the end some of their mill 



Lt. Col. W. B. Greeley is Assistant Forester of 

 the United States. He has had general charge 

 of all forestry operations of the regiment and 

 his administrative ability, his knowledge of for- 

 estry and lumbering had much to do with the 

 successful work of the regiment. The French 

 have honored him by presenting him with the 

 Legion of Honor. Shortly before this honor 

 was conferred upon him he induced the French 

 government to reduce its bill against the A. E. F. 

 for forest acquisition about 2,000,000 francs. 

 Editor, American Forestry Magazine. 



5U3d Engineers. They contained a large proportion of 

 railroad men and other skilled workers, and were soon 

 in the mills and woods and on railroad jobs, on all fours 

 with the forestry troops. Upon the other Service Com- 

 panies, composed of colored troops, fell the brunt of cut- 

 ting the fuelwood which the Quartermaster was calling 

 for by the hundreds of thousands of cords. But several 

 sawmill crews composed largely or entirely of black sol- 

 diers made exceedingly creditable records. 



The first board was cut 

 by the American troops in 

 France, at a little French 

 mill in the Jura Mountains, 

 on November 26, 1917. 

 The first American mill be- 

 gan sawing near Gien, on 

 the Loire River, Novem- 

 ber 29, 191 7. .Still earlier, 

 another company of the old 

 loth Engineers began cut- 

 ting fifty-foot piling in the 

 pine forests of the Landes, 

 hauling them out of the 

 woods on the nnming gear 

 of army supply wagons, 

 by man power. On the 

 date when the armistice was signed, the 20th Engineers 

 were operating eighty-ione American sawmills in. France 

 and cutting 2,000,000 feet of lumber, ties, poles and piling 

 every working day. One year after the first American 

 saw bit into its first log in France and shrilled defiance 

 at the Kaiser, the forestry troops of the American Expe- 

 ditionary Forces had cut 300,000,000 board feet of lum- 

 ber and ties, 38,000 piles, 2,878,000 poles of all sizes, and 

 317,000 cords of fuelwood. It is impossible, in a few 

 words, to tell of the labor, the Yankee ingenuity, and the 

 resolution to back up our fighting doughboys which were 



