A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 109 



in the forest industries can live with their families in their own homes 

 instead of living in camps. They can be responsible citizens instead 

 of the homeless, voteless men with little sense of civic responsibility 

 who so often make up our transitory, "boom" logging camps and 

 sawmill towns. Under these conditions villages or small cities can 

 grow up, their size depending on the magnitude and variety of forest 

 industries. 



Such communities will furnish markets for nearby farmers and 

 social and economic opportunities for them and their children and 

 will tend to halt emigration to distant cities. The churches, schools, 

 hospitals, public libraries, stores, places of entertainment, and other 

 institutions which are provided in these centers and the contacts 

 with persons of various occupations and points of view serve to widen 

 the mental horizons and social opportunities not only of the villagers 

 but also of the more scattered population in surrounding territory. 



Without the industry centers, such institutions and services could 

 not exist, or only on an exceedingly inadequate scale. Where the 

 sawmills and industries are transient in character, as has so generally 

 been the case in this country, the community nuclei are little better 

 than camps, and the community services are not provided or they 

 pass away with the cutting out of the tributary forests. Under such 

 circumstances the social ill effects are greater than if the communi- 

 ties had never existed, because settlers are left stranded who would 

 never have come into the region if they had not expected that per- 

 manent social institutions would be provided. 



EXAMPLES OF PERMANENT FOREST-INDUSTRY COMMUNITIES 



An excellent example of a community, or rather a group of com- 

 munities dependent upon forest industry, is Grays Harbor County, 

 in western Washington. 6 This county, with a population of 60,000, 

 including several modern cities, is almost entirely dependent on the 

 forest resources. In 1928 it had 52 lumber and shingle mills and 

 19 other enterprises manufacturing wood products. These, together 

 with logging camps, employed over 10,000 persons. Millions of dol- 

 lars have been spent by local interests and by the Federal Govern- 

 ment in developing the harbor and port facilities for the shipment 

 of lumber. There were 1,892 business firms in the county engaged 

 in all sorts of enterprises. There were only 22,000 acres of crop and 

 pasture land in 1928 out of a total area of 1,196,000 acres, but there 

 were 956,000 acres of logged-off land. The total assessed valuation 

 of the county in 1928 was close to $38,000,000, of which more than 

 one half represented forest land, timber, and woodworking plants. 

 Probably 90 percent or more of the other values would be wiped out 

 if the lumber industry should cease. Obviously, the disintegration 

 of such a group of communities or of others like these elsewhere 

 would entail great economic loss, not only to those directly involved, 

 but to the State and Nation as well. Fortunately, in this instance 

 this has been realized before the forest was entirely exhausted, and 

 plans for insuring a perpetual timber supply are being discussed. 



Another example, in another part of the country, is the city of 

 Bogalusa, in Louisiana, which has a population of more than 14,000 



6 Cooperative forest study of the Grays Harbor area (Washington). By various authors. 79 p. Pub- 

 lished by Western Forestry and Conservation Association and Charles Lathrop Pack. (Portland, Oreg.) 



