LECTURE I. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 



It may be stated without fear of contradiction that outside of food 

 products' no material is so universally used and so indispensable in human 

 economy as wood, indeed, civilization is inconceivable without an abun- 

 dance of timber. 



The nomad of to-day, who herds over the treeless plains and prairies, 

 is still like the Scythian of ancient times ; his life, his culture, his attain- 

 ments are no more advanced. The successful settlement and civilization 

 of our own treeless regions of the west became possible only through the 

 development of means for the transportation of this most needful material. 

 So general and far-reaching has its use become that a wood famine, how- 

 ever improbable its occurrence, would be almost as serious as a bread 

 famine. We may become less wasteful, both as regards food and wood, 

 but the necessity of wood, so far as we can foresee at present, will always 

 be second only to the necessity of food, and far greater than that of any 

 other material used in the arts. 



Our civilization is built on wood. From the cradle to the coffin, in 

 some shape or other, it surrounds us as a convenience or a necessity. It 

 enters into nearly all our structures as an essential part. Over half our 

 people live in wooden' houses, and the houses of the other half require 

 wood as an indispensable part in their construction. It serves to orna- 

 ment them, to furnish them with conveniences, to warm them, to cook the 

 food. More than two-thirds of our people use wood as fuel, and until re- 

 cent times it was the only or principal means of smelting the ores and shap- 

 ing the metals with which to fashion the wood itself. For every hundred 

 tons of coal mined, two tons of mining timber are needed, and wood in 

 large quantities is needed to mine our metals. 



Every pound of iron, every ounce of gold, requires wood in its min- 

 ing, wood in its manufacture, wood in its transportation. There is hardly 

 a utensil, a tool, or even a machine, in the construction of which wood has 

 not played a part, were it only to furnish the handle or the mould or pat- 

 tern. .,. 



The articles, useful or ornamental, made wholly or in part of wood, 

 are innumerable. Our houses are filled with them, our daily occupations 

 necessitate them wherever we are. For our means of transportation we 

 rely mainly on wood. Our 260,000 miles of railroad track (190,000 miles 

 railroad in the U. S.), the carriers of civilization, lie on not less than 700,- 

 000,000 of wooden ties and need 140,000,000 annually for renewals ; they 



