508 



THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



being at present as 1 to 4, although the average for the last seven years is but as 1 to 10. As the supply of pine 

 timber is exhausted, hemlock will be more and more handled until it will become the most important timber of this' 

 region. The summary is made for the last eight years only: 



u It is proper to add that the variations in the yearly stock of logs shown above are in some measure due to a 

 greater or less proportion of each annual cut being left behind in the woods or in the streams, from varying supplies 

 of water or from other peculiarities of the season. 



" The lumber manufactured at Lock Haven and William sport is shipped by railroad and canal to Baltimore and 

 Philadelphia and to intermediate cities and stations. 



" I found it more difficult to obtain information of the extent and limits of the hemlock woods of Pennsylvauia r 

 and of the amount of the standing timber and the annual crop of hemlock, than I did to get the same facts respecting 

 the pine. Lumbermen agree that there was originally far more hemlock in this state than pine, and they speak of 

 it now as inexhaustible, which is not strictly true, for it is doubtful if it holds out to supply the increasing drain 

 made upon it by tanneries and saw-mills for more than twenty-five years to come. Large quantities of hemlock 

 have been wasted. Much that grew intermingled with the pine has died after the pine has been removed, partly 

 from exposure to fuller sunlight and summer drought, and partly to forest fires induced by and following lumber 

 operations. In the early days of the tanning industry of this region, when hemlock lumber was esteemed of little 

 value, and whenever of late years the lumber trade has been so dull as to offer 110 inducement to send to market 

 the trunks of the trees felled for their bark, large quantities Of these have been left in the woods to decay. Now, 

 however, with a good market for hemlock lumber, tanning companies owning hemlock lands, or the contractors who 

 furnish the tanneries with bark, buying for this i>urpose stumpage from the proprietors of the timber-lands, often 

 own saw-mills in the timber region, and cut and ship this lumber to market by railroad. 



" Inasmuch as hemlock, besides mingling more or less with pine throughout the pine belt, seems to have formed 

 a border entirely around the pine, the extent of the hemlock woods, as well as the quantity of hemlock timber, has 

 always been much greater than of pine. Beginning in Wayne county, in the extreme northeastern corner of the 

 state, the original hemlock forest extended westward through the northern tier of counties as far as Warren 

 county, in the vicinity of lake Erie. Thence its bounds may be traced southward through Forest, Clarion, and 

 Jefferson, and thence eastward through Clearfield, Center, Clinton, Lycoming, and Sullivan counties. IsTow the 

 northeastern counties are for the most part cleared, and not only have the outskirts of these woods been cut off 

 on all sides, but their continuity has been completely broken up throughout its whole extent by countless clearings 

 and settlements. Yet, however much the hemlock forest has suffered, it possesses to day greater value than did all 

 the pine standing in 1850. Quite neglected a few years ago, hemlock is appreciating rapidly in value and importance, 

 and ere many years shall have passed it will be almost the only kind of lumber known in the Williamsport market. 

 The best grades of hemlock bring as high a price as scrub pine, the product of the shorter and more knotty trees 

 grown on high land. Although as a rule Pennsylvania hemlock is of superior quality, much of it being nearly as 

 good as spruce, yet here, as well as elsewhere, considerable variation in quality is noticed. Lumbermen classify 

 hemlock into two kinds, red and white, according to the character of the wood, but the more intelligent among 

 them attribute the difference to soil and situation. White hemlock, being sounder, firmer, and straighter grained, 

 constitutes the highest grade. Bed hemlock is more brittle, more inclined to splinter, and liable to be found more, 

 or less decayed when the trees have gained full size. In this condition trees are said to be 'shaky'. Such timber is 

 generally found on bottom lands, while the hemlock of high hillsides is apt to be short and scrubby. The quality 

 of the hemlock seems to deteriorate west from the center of the state. The Pine Creek hemlock is considered better 

 than that of the Siuuamahoning, and this better than that on the Alleghany. Seldom more than two good logs can 

 be obtained from a trunk, the third and fourth logs being generally inferior and knotty ; 8,000 feet per acre is here 

 considered a good yield of hemlock, and 10,000 feet a large yield. 



" From Williamsport to Lock Haven the valley of the West Branch of the Susquehauua is usually less than a 

 mile in width, being bounded by abrupt and rocky ridges a few hundred feet iu height. At Lock Haven we 



