UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



5953 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



men, has become a market fish of some impor- 

 tance. 



On the Pacific coast, San Francisco has suc- 

 ceeded New Bedford, Mass., as the headquar- 

 ters of most of the whaling vessels under the 

 American flag, which hunt in far northern and 

 far southern waters. The Oregon, Puget Sound 

 and Alaska waters swarm in season with salmon, 

 which are taken by nets, traps and wheels 

 driven by the current. Fish hatcheries are 

 now necessary to maintain the supply. Canned 

 salmon is the principal fishery product exported 

 from the United States. The leading canning 



sufficient rainfall except upon the mountains. 

 It is thought that the Indians, who frequently 

 set fire to the prairie grass to improve the 

 pasture for the buffalo, may also have had some 

 influence in limiting the crowth of forests. On 

 the prairie slope the mountains were generally 

 forested, and so were the lowlands in the well- 

 watered district toward the north. 



The North Atlantic and the Great Lakes dis- 

 tricts developed chiefly pine and other cone- 

 bearing trees, and this was also the case on 

 the sandy coastal plain in the South. On the 

 other hand, the region south of the Great 



RAINFALL 

 MAP 



AVERAGE ANNUAL RAINFALL, IN INCHES 



centers are Astoria, Ore., at the mouth of the 

 Columbia, and Seattle, Wash.; in Alaska the 

 salmon pack is over half that of the United 

 States. The catch of halibut in the West is 

 much larger than in the Atlantic, some being 

 shipped even to New England; and there are 

 immense cod and herring banks almost un- 

 touched. (Each fish named in the above ac- 

 count is described in its alphabetical place in 

 these volumes.) 



Forest Resources. Originally the eastern half 

 of the United States was nearly all forested. 

 Only in the districts west and immediately 

 south of the lower end of Lake Michigan did 

 the prairies penetrate further cast than the 

 Mississippi. In the west the land was mostly 

 without forest cover because of the lack of 

 373 



Lakes and also the southern uplands were for- 

 ested 'mostly with hard woods. In the west 

 the coniferous (cone-bearing) forests also pre- 

 vailed. The early settlers were compelled to 

 clear away the forest as quickly as possible, in 

 order to raise food crops, and they soon came 

 to hate the forest, not only as an impediment 

 to agriculture but also as a hiding place for 

 wild beasts and hostile Indiana. 



On this account immense quantities of timber 

 were destroyed without any thought of its 

 value, or the possible time when trees might 

 have to be replanted. In addition to such de- 

 struction there was also still more extensive 

 cutting of timber for commercial purposes, 

 especially in the northern part of the country, 

 where the winter snow furnished good roads. 



