from settlement until 1890, but the requirements of the state now have SO 

 increased that, whereas this original forest would have supplied sufficient 

 wood to carry the population for the first 80 years, it contained less than 

 a twenty-year supply under present conditions. 



The table on pages 58-63 shows the forested areas present and orig- 

 inal, by counties. 



Outline of Forest Use From Original to Present Forests 



The importance of forests to a pioneer people is admirably shown by 

 the trend of settlement in Illinois. In 1800 Lexington, Kentucky, with 

 3,000 people, was the largest town west of the Alleghanies ; and the total 

 American population of Illinois was probably not as large as that of 

 Lexington. By 1820 Illinois had a population of 55,311, practically all 

 within the forested area. The pioneers built near the navigable rivers; 

 succeeding settlers pushed farther from the river up smaller streams, but 

 always settled in the forest where clear running water and material for 

 fuel and shelter were available. Thus the initial settlement, concentrating 

 upon the forested areas, resulted in the rapid clearing of the secondary 

 stream-bottoms and some of the wooded uplands, and thus far pioneer- 

 ing in Illinois continued the practices of the older colonies. Some of the 

 best of the original forest was destroyed to provide crop land, but there 

 yet remained the heavy flood-plain forests of the larger rivers and a large 

 per cent of the upland forests. 



Over half the state was prairie land, until 1830 regarded as a desert. 

 About this time the discovery that prairie land was good crop land initiat- 

 ed a flood of immigration. Between 1820 and 1870 the population of 

 the United States quadrupled, while the population of Illinois increased 

 forty-six times. In 1830 the settlement of the prairies began, and by 

 1840 less than one twenty-fifth remained unsettled, and this unsettled 

 part was the finest of the black soil belt of Champaign and Ford coun- 

 ties. In this decade over 300,000 people settled on the prairies, creating 

 an enormous demand for housing material, fuel, and fence posts. Rail- 

 roads did not exist, and overland wagon-haul for lumber was out of the 

 question. Under these conditions, local supplies of timber were the con- 

 trolling factors in prairie settlement. Prairie land could not be sold un- 

 less several acres of forested land were included, and the relative values 

 of prairie and forest per acre were about 1 to 7. Prairie land commonly 

 sold for $5.00 per acre, woodland for $35.00 per acre, and frequently 

 such woodland was several miles from the farm. 



Gaged by our standards, the prairie pioneer was obliged to be waste- 

 ful. Sawmills scarcely existed. His buildings were constructed from 

 logs, his fences from poles or rails. Open fireplaces consumed great 

 quantities of fuel wood. He experienced a timber shortage at the very 

 beginning ; and, under pressure of dwindling local supplies, he established 

 forest plantations about his prairie home. If he had a wood-lot he used 

 the timber wisely. Fires were stopped and sprouts, which formerly were 

 destroyed, developed into thrifty trees. As a consequence the limited 



