120 THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



will once more resound to the hum of the saw, and 

 vv^ill again contribute its share to the production of the 

 World. 



Never again will it see a sawmill capable of turn- 

 ing out six million board feet of lumber a month, for 

 the cut from the State lands will be limited to what 

 they actually produce each year. Instead, it will see 

 what is far better — a number of smaller but more stable 

 industries, supporting a thriving forest community of 

 permanent homes. 



A Tale that Points a Moral 



So runs the tale of Cross Fork. It is merely a strik- 

 ing illustration of a commonplace occurrence in the de- 

 velopment of America. Many another sawmill and 

 lumbering town has had a similar history. A brief 

 period of strenuous and even frenzied existence has 

 been followed by sudden death, with prospects for a 

 distant — sometimes very, very distant — resurrection. 



Until comparatively recent years the policy, or per- 

 haps lack of policy^ on the part of the Federal and 

 State governments in the handling of their forest lands 

 has been such as to invite waste and to discourage per- 

 manence in the wood-using industries of the country. 

 Pennsylvania is not alone in having disposed of its fin- 

 est woodlands for twenty-six and two-thirds cents an 

 acre, only to buy them back again for three or four dol- 

 lars an acre after the timber has been removed and 

 the land devasted by fire. 



