The Significance of the Forest 3 



Later, settlement moved westward to the prairie and 

 the plains. Sod huts for years were the only homes they 

 knew. The dread of the winter was acute because of the 

 scarcity of fuel. The building of good homes and towns 

 was slow on account of the lack of building material. It 

 was only the construction of railroads that carried civili- 

 zation and comfort rapidly across these treeless areas, 

 and much of the freight in the earlier days was wood in 

 one form or another. Even the rapid building of the 

 many railroads was due to the abundance of tie timbers. 

 The railroads, the great civilizing highways of the prairies, 

 are laid on millions of wooden ties. 



Nor does wood play a much less important part in the 

 world to-day. In spite of the innumerable substitutes 

 that have been brought into use, the wood consumption 

 is greater per capita than it was in the days of early settle- 

 ment. For every substitute introduced, many new uses 

 for wood have been discovered. While it is possible by 

 care and economy of use greatly to reduce the per capita 

 consumption of wood, the experience of European coun- 

 tries has shown that no nation can enjoy the highest 

 prosperity without the produce of forests. 



While there are certain parts of this country in which 

 the timber supply has run far short of the demand, the 

 development of our transportation facilities has been such 

 that other timbered sections have always been able to 

 supply the want without hardship to the denuded section. 

 Thus it is that the sources of lumber have been pushed far 

 back into the mountainous regions of the West and the 

 less densely populated parts of the Southeast, without 

 the knowledge being very painfully impressed upon the 



