242 TRANSACTIONS OF THE NORTHERN 



The last of the pine timber on the Hudson had disappeared ; the 

 valieys and pine-clad hills of the Susquehanna, the Chenango, and 

 Delaware had been nearly disrobed, the northern forests from Maine to 

 Oswego were fast receding, tens of thousands of acres of the finest hem- 

 lock timber on the continent were annually denuded for the bark alone, 

 and the timber left to perish. 



This work of forest destruction was hastened onward to its con- 

 summation by the pioneers of the forest lands, till only a limited supply 

 for the indispensable uses of the farm remained, and in some districts 

 the same improvident waste continues. 



In the progress of improvements, a new use for timber appeared. 



Railroads Avith their endless demand began to sweep' away Avhat 

 seemed to be a scanty supply, which with strict economy was scarcely 

 sufficient for the present generation. Yet, this new mode of transporta- 

 tion has become an imperative necessity. 



The forests melted away before them. Increasing Avith more than geo- 

 metrical ratio from year to year until now, when there is more than sixty- 

 two thousand miles of railroad ttack in the United States, which if ex- 

 tended one continuous line, would reach twice and one-half times around 

 the globe, and require for one single relay of track more than one hun- 

 dred and seventy millions of ties or sleepers, equal to twenty-four mil- 

 lions two hundred and eighty-five thousand seven hundred and fourteen 

 annually; to supply which want more than one hundred and fifty thou- 

 sand acres of the best timber is used, and every seven years in the 

 aggregate, more than a million of acres of our finest forests are swept 

 away. 



Add to this, the enormous amount of the article consumed on the 

 locomotives, costing yearly more than seventy-five millions of dollars,and 

 the annual supply of more than two hundred and fifty millions of feet 

 fcf lumber for railroad bridges, depots, and other structures, the lines of 

 telegraph poles running parallel with every line of road, and you have 

 before you the startling fact, that the wood of more than two hundred 

 thousand acres of woodland is yearly consumed by railroads alone. 

 Great as this railroad demand appears, yet the building ol fleets of mer- 

 chant ships, and vessels of war. the ten thousand lake, river, and canal 

 boats, tlje building of towns, and cities, the untold amount of wood ma- 

 terial used in tlie mechanical departments of industry, swell the amount 

 to amazing proportions — nearly a million feet of lumber being used 

 annually in the manufacture of one kind of sewing-machine alone. 



Add to this, the the incomputable .amount of wood and wood-ma- 

 terial used by nearly thirty millions of the population engaged in farm- 

 ing industries, Avhich in fact is greater than all other in the aggregate, and 

 you have before you an array of wood consumption, the computation of 

 which would make the strongest intellect lo reel. 



I forbear to dwell on the waste and utter destruction of one-fifth 

 of our finest pine forests by the fiery deluge of eighteen seventy-one, of 

 the conflagrations of the mighty cities of Boston, and Chicago, of towns 



