THE FORESTS' OF THE UNITED STATES. 5C9 



ascended the ridge on the south side of the river, some 800 feet in altitude, in order to examine the moderate forest 

 growth with which it was covered. In favorable places scattering specimens of white pine indicated the crop these 

 hills have yielded the lumberman in former years. Hemlock, also, was scattered over the hillsides, but even as 

 late as the present year most of the trees in this immediate neighborhood had been felled for their bark ; their 

 peeled trunks lay strewn over the hillsides, being left to decay within a mile or two of the saw-mills of Lock 

 Haven. The summit of the ridge afforded a good view of the surrounding country. Parallel ridges of a similar 

 altitude, and which appeared more heavily timbered, lay back of the one on which we stood ; between them were 

 seen narrow valleys occupied by farms. On the north or opposite side of the river successive ridges rose higher 

 and higher as they receded from the river, and in the distance seemed to lose themselves in a plateau whose 

 altitude was equal to that of the ground on which we were standing. The gentle slopes and rounded summits 

 immediately above the river showed smooth, cultivated fields interspersed among woodlands of deciduous trees. 

 The more distant heights displayed a darker forest growth where hemlock and pines predominated. 



" From Lock Haven to Warren, the county-seat of Warren county, even on the hillsides overlooking the river, 

 close to the banks of which the railroad crept, but especially where we were able to look into the deep runs coming 

 down to the river by a gradual descent from the table-lands of the divides, seldom more than a few miles back 

 above the river, we saw much original forest still standing and principally composed of hemlock. Some white 

 pine appeared as scattering trees or in groves, and some hard wood. The proportion of hard wood increased as 

 we ascended the divide between the waters of the Susquehanna and those of the Alleghany river. 



" On the summit of this divide the forest had a truly northern aspect, except that we missed the spruce, not 

 seen in Pennsylvania. The dark foliage of the hemlock mingled with sugar maples, beeches, and birches. For 

 many miles above Lock Haven it was a second growth which occupied the hillsides, a thin growth of white oak, 

 chestnut, locust, etc., which had followed the lumberman and forest fires. Considerable second-growth white pine 

 was seen in a few places, but on this none of the present generation seem to set much value, and I have yet to 

 meet any one in the state who gives a thought to encouraging and preserving such growth. To consume the forests 

 as speedily as possible, satisfied with what can be realized from them in the operation, appears to be the spirit 

 which rules this region. Alternating here and there with the original forest mentioned above were seen all along 

 the railroad leading through this timber belt, but especially in the vicinity of the settlements and lumbered districts, 

 .tracts which have been ranged by fire. Sometimes the fires had spread from the clearings into uncullod timber, 

 killing everything, large and small. Sometimes 'hemlock slashes' had burned over after the trees had been cut 

 and ' peeled '. Always the charred stumps thickly dotted the ground, and the blackened, half-consumed trunks 

 strewn over the soil in confusion gave to the landscape an aspect of complete desolation. The bird cherries and 

 poplars, which in the forests farther north soon cover and hide from view such wastes of ruin, are wanting here. 



" I learned that the best hemlock grows on the steep sides of the deep runs, and that upon the summits of the 

 divides were considerable barrens, the soil of which was sometimes too poor to support any arboreal growth. 

 Farther to the west the summits of the dividing ridges are occupied by hard wood chiefly, although hemlocks 

 mingle with the beeches and maples. 



" Arrived at Warren, we find that we have passed through the woods and are in a long-settled and -well- 

 improved country, and, judging from the scattered patches of woodlands occupying the low hills within view, the 

 region of hard- wood forest has been reached. The coniferous forest belt only extends into the southeastern quarter 

 of Warren county ; the northern and western portions, lying beyond the Alleghany river, yield oak, chestnut, 

 hickory, etc. Originally there was a little pine scattered over the southeastern portion of Warren county, but this 

 has been mostly cut, and hemlock remains, as it ever has been, the most important timber in this part of the county. 

 In Forest county, next south of Warren, pine is local, being scattered in small quantities throughout the county. 

 On the highlands there is much hard wood, beech, maple, and white wood existing in belts between the streams. 

 This, however, may be called a hemlock county. In McKeau county a central table-land is covered principally by 

 a growth of maple, beech, etc. In the remaining portions of the county the timber is chiefly hemlock. The valley 

 of the Alleghany river, in the eastern part of McKean county, is mostly cleared and improved. Elk county is 

 one of the best counties for hemlock. Through Elk, the southwestern corner of McKeau, and the southeastern 

 corner of Warren runs the Philadelphia and Erie railroad. Along the line of this road, as it passes through this 

 portion of the timber belt, are located the largest tanneries of the United States. These are consuming the hemlock 

 of this region at an enormous rate, and, in addition to the vast amount of bark which they consume, large quantities 

 are shipped out of the region by railroad. The first important tanneries of Warren county were established 12 or 

 15 years ago, and at the present rate of consumption the hemlock of this county can hardly hold out 20 years 

 longer. The laud, after the forest has been removed, is excellent for agricultural purposes throughout this region, 

 and on all sides pioneers are making themselves farms. These men prefer to begin in the undisturbed forest rather 

 than locate on the slashes, because they can pay for their land with the hemlock bark which it yields; and from a 

 radius of 15 miles bark is drawn and sold at from $4 50 to $5 a cord to the tanneries. On an average, four trees yield a 

 cord or ton of bark, the equivalent of 1,000 feet of lumber, board measure. In W r arren county from 5,000 to 6,000 

 acres of hemlock were cut down in 1880, and there is no possibility of this growth being renewed, for every foot of 

 slashed laud is eventually burned over, and sometimes the burnings are repeated until the soil is nearly ruined for 

 agricultural purposes. From the dry slashes the fires extend to a greater or less distance through the living 



