10 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



manufacturing industry of America. The business has gradually 

 moved westward until today Chicago is the center. At this point it 

 will probably remain for all time to come, so far as the United States 

 is concerned, for Chicago is not only the geographical middle ground 

 of hardwood growth, but it is the center for the economic collection 

 of woods from north, east, south and west, as well as for the dis- 

 tribution of the manufactured furniture product. It is as well a 

 center for skilled labor. In the South, notably in North Carolina, 

 there has grown up quite a furniture industry, but by reason of the 

 dearth of skilled cabinet-makers the furniture product in that section 

 has been confined almost exclusively to the cheaper lines of goods. 



Range o! American Hardwood Growth. 



The greater part of the L'nited States ("ust uf the Mississippi 

 river, and some considerable area between the Mississippi and Mis- 

 souri rivers, was originally covered by forest growth. With only 

 comparatively small exceptions this timber consisted of hardwoods 

 of various kinds, save that portion of the northern part of the 

 country on which grew comprehensive forests of white pine and 

 hemlock, and white pine, hemlock and hardwoods; and that area 

 along the Atlantic coast from Xew Jersey to South Carolina, on 

 which grew the original loblolly pine; and that gieat territory from 

 North Carolina westward covering a part of South Carolina, Georgia, 

 Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and eastern 

 Texas on which grew long and short leaf yellow pine. The re- 

 mainder of this vast area was largely a range of mixed hardwood 

 forest. 



There has been a great deal said about the practical exhaustion 

 of white pine in this country, and about the speedy decimation 

 of yellow pine, but little has been said si)ecifically concerning the 

 wonderful diminution in timber area of American hardwoods. 



The greater portion of original forest growth in this country 

 was hardwoods of various kinds. From the Mississippi river to the 

 Eocky mountains there are no hardwoods save small and com- 

 paratively uninijxirtaut patches of Cottonwood and oak in Okla- 

 homa and tlic Indian Territory. While the Pacific coast region 

 has almost boundless forests of the coniferae it has no hardwoods. 

 The early burden of attack on American forests was on hardwoods, 

 for the land on which these woods grew was the richest and the 

 best adapted for agriculture. It was along the rich bottom lands 

 of every stream that the pioneer chopped and burned that he might 

 clear a space whereon to grow crops with which to feed his family. 

 Of necessity many millions of acres of magnificent hardwoods were 

 destroyed to the ultimate end that food might be supplied. Such 

 destruction would be called wanton today, but at the time it was a 

 practical necessity. 



New England, once a rich timbered hardwood section, has its 

 area reduced to a eomi)aratively small range in Maine, northern 

 New Hampshire and northern Vermont, within which is contained 

 birch of superior quality, hard and soft maple and some beech. 

 The oak, chestnut and elm are gone forever. 



In New York there are still iu the Adirondack region and in 

 some scattering pa-tches in other portions of the north a consider- 

 able quantity of fine birch and cherry, and some maple, chestnut, 

 beech and oak, but as compared to the size of the state, the area 

 is very small. 



In the one-time great timbered state of Pennsylvania comparatively 

 little hardwood remains save a small section along the general summit 

 of the Allegheny mountains, which contributes considerable fine 

 birch, cherry, maple, chestnut and beech. 



Maryland is denuded of its original hardwood growth, save a 

 small area in the western part of the state. 



Virginia is practically in the same condition, except in a few 

 extreme western counties, and at the headwaters of the tributaries 

 of the Big Sandy river. 



In West Virginia, which, save along the Ohio river and main 

 tributaries running out of the state, is a new lumbering section, 

 there is considerable standing hardwood, but practically all of it 

 is under operation. This state in its production of poplar, oak, 

 chestnut, cherry, walnut, maple and beech may be divided into seven 



districts, of which the commercial center of the first is Parkersburg, 

 its logs coming from oil the watershed of the little Kanawa 

 river. Second is the Charleston district, its source of supply being 

 along the Kanawa river and its tributaries. Third, a district which 

 is reached by the Eichwood and Pickens divisions of the Baltimore 

 & Ohio raUroad, the seats of lumber operations being at Eichwood, 

 Sutton, Curtin, Weston, Camden-on-Gauley, Pickens and other 

 points. Fourth, the Guyandotte river district, which logs are prac- 

 tically all floated down that stream and the Ohio river to Cin- 

 cinnati. Fifth, the Norfolk & Western railroad district, lying a 

 hundred miles east of Portsmouth, 0., and extending as far as 

 Bluefields. Sixth, the Greenbriar river district, extending from 

 Eonceverte north to Elkins, which has been fully as much depredated 

 of its timber as any other part of the state, and within which re- 

 cent operations have been inaugurated that will denude it of its 

 timber within a period of a very few years. The points of manu- 

 facture within this district lie at Eonceverte and Marlington and 

 along the line of the Coal & Iron extension of the West Virginia 

 Central railroad, between Durbin and Elkins. In this same section 

 there are other small patches of hardwood groMth, notably in the 

 vicinity of Mabie, W. Va. Along the Greenbriar river between 

 Durbin and Eonceverte, the hardwoods have been exhausted in many 

 places, but a considerable range of oak growth still exists east 

 of White Sulphur Springs, which has recently been penetrated by 

 a railroad. Seventh, the CTinch Valley district, reached by the 

 Clinch Valley division of the Norfolk & Western railway. These 

 are all mountain mills in this section, and the chief seats of opera- 

 tion are at or near Bristol, Va., Bluefields, W. Va., and Sword 's 

 Creek, Va. West Virginia is famous for the fine quality of its 

 poplar and red and white oak; some of the finest sections of this 

 character of timber still existing. It also has considerable quanti- 

 ties of chestnut, clu'rrv, some black walnut and a large quantity of 

 maple, basswood and beech, but these latter woods are not of as 

 excellent a quality as those growing in more northern sections 

 of the country. 



Going west into eastern Kentucky, the first important hardwood 

 section is the poplar district of the Big Sandy river. This stream 

 has been logged for sixty years of its splendid poplar, but its upper 

 waters still contain a relatively large quantity of this magnifii-ent 

 wood, intermixed with oak, and other hardwoods of le.sser value 

 The center of production from the Big Sandy district is at Ash- 

 land, Ky., and Coal Grove, O., the logs being floated to these 

 points from distances as far as 175 miles. Next west is the Licking 

 river district, containing comparatively the same character of tim- 

 ber. This section has been operated for many years, and the pres- 

 ent site of lumber operations is Salt Lick and Farmers, Ky. Imme- 

 diately s<mth of the Licking river district is the Beattyville and 

 Jackson district, on the Kentucky river, of which the chief site of 

 lumber production is Clay City. 



West of this district is the Kentucky river district proper, of the 

 same general character of hardwood growth — poplar intermixed with 

 oak — and the site of these operations is Ford, Ky., the Kentucky 

 river being used as a means of log transportation. 



South of this section is the Cumberland river district, the logs 

 coming off the main stem of the Cumberland river and the manu- 

 facturing takes place largely at Wasioto, Burnside and Williams- 

 burg. To complete the description of the range of hardwood tim- 

 ber growth in Kentucky the Frankfort district must be referred to, 

 which, though comparatively small, still is developing a good deal 

 of oak and poplar, and of which Frankfort is the center; and the 

 district west of Frankfort, the Louisville district, which draws its 

 source of suppl.v of po]>lar and oak from both sides of the Ohio 

 river. While this is an old operated region, there are still scat- 

 tering patches of oak, po|ilar and other hardwoods remaining, that 

 produce in the aggregate a good deal of Innilicr. Louisville is still 

 an imj>ortant hardwood center. 



Starting back eastward and further south into Xoitli ('anilina, 

 the farthest eastward hardwood section of commercial importance 

 remaining is the Winston-Salem district. These twin cities are the 



