38 



deafening thundering which no one lias attempted to describe and soar out of 

 sight in the dusk of the early evening, while from the rising cloud came a noise 

 as of a mighty tornado. As the darkness settled the birds descended and alighted 

 many deep upon the branches of the trees, the weight being sufficient to break off 

 many of the large limbs. Then the scene changed. The slaughter began in 

 earnest. The rapid firing of guns; the squawking of the Pigeons; the breaking 

 of the limbs of giant trees I)eneath the living weight; the continuous rumble aris- 

 ing from the whirr of countless wings; all illumined by the lurid lights of numer- 

 ous torches and many fires produced an effect of which no words can convey a 

 conception to one who has not experienced a night at a pigeon roost. Each year 

 such scenes were re-enacted. Each year the slaughter went on. Less and less the 

 numbers grew. Trapping and netting, supplemented by repeating guns, added to 

 the power of destruction, and the Pigeons, whose numbers were once so great that 

 no one could conceive the thought of their extinction, have dwindled until they 

 are rarely found. One Pigeon in a year I Soon they will be but a memory. 



The pioneers' first work was to cut away the trees and build a cabin. As 

 each cabin was built, it foreshadowed a clearing extending more and more each 

 year. The line of the Ohio and of the Wabash formed the basis for the advance 

 of settlement. The ax and fire performed their work. Great deadenings gave 

 promise of a lively time log-rolling next season. Giant Tulip Poplars; monster 

 Black Walnuts; and Oaks, Ash, Wild Cherry (Prunus aerotina Ehrhart) and 

 Sweet Gums, the largest of their fellows, were rolled into heaps and burned. To 

 this, in time, was added the necessity for fuel, for lumber and for timber to sup- 

 ply all the demands which human minds could make upon the forest, not only 

 for our own population, but also for other States and other lands. Thus were 

 our forests destroyed. Now, except in a few localities, there remains no virgin 

 forest. 



The destruction of the 2:)riniitive woods cost much besides the trees that were 

 sacrificed. Each tree was the host or resting place of other forms of life. Of the 

 blight upon its leaves; of the fungus upon its limbs; of the lichen and moss upon 

 its bark; of the birds among its branches; the insects on its foliage and about its 

 blossoms; the borers within its body. And it sheltered other lowly, ground in- 

 liabiting forms beneath its spreading shades. Who can tell what the destruction 

 of a tree signifies? How far-reaching are its effects! After the axe came fire, 

 carrying destruction to the more inconspicuous animals and plants. Fire, too, 

 swept the standing woods and in its blighting efiects extended far beyond the im- 

 mediate necessities of the pioneer. With the cutting away of the larger trees, in 

 many localities, sprang up thickets and therewith came thicket-inhabiting animals. 

 As the clearings were extended, meadow lands and pasture lands were reserved. 



