278 THE FORESTS OF ALLEGANY COUNTY 



ten to fifteen years. For young forests containing mixtures of the 

 other species mentioned, a cutting for mining props can be made 

 in from fifteen to eighteen or more years. Excluding the conifers, 

 much of this material is supplied by coppice sprouts, the Chestnut 

 and Locust far outstripping the other hardwoods in growth. The 

 remainder of the props comes from pole stock, grown from seed, 25 to 

 30 years old. The annual consumption of mining props in the coal 

 and fire-clay mines of western Allegany county is roughly esti- 

 mated at about 1,000,000. This represents an annual culling of 

 about 28,000 acres. 



The wastefulness of cutting such timber as White Oak, Hickories, 

 Maples, White Ash and White Pine at the short interval of fifteen 

 to eighteen years should be apparent, and will be discussed later. 

 The use of the other less valuable timber species, and especially the 

 rapid growing Chestnut and Locust is more advisable. 



This county has produced large quantities of Chestnut Oak tan- 

 bark and considerable Hemlock in the western part. The sources 

 of supply are, however, now greatly diminished or exhausted. Ko 

 bodies of Hemlock exist in the county. The small quantity of 

 young timber scattered along rocky north slopes of streams in west- 

 ern Allegany, is insufficient to supply tan-bark. 



The once abundant stand of Chestnut Oak has likewise been 

 nearly exhausted by bark peelers. The comparative lightness of this 

 product has enabled producers to secure bark from even the steep, 

 rocky slopes of the highest mountains, from which the hauling of 

 heavier saw-timber would have been unprofitable. The large tanning 

 establishment which continued for many years at Gilpintown, in 

 the north central part of the county, had to be abandoned a number 

 of years ago for lack of tan-bark. 



With scarcely an exception, the exploitation of tan-bark in the 

 past W 7 as attended by a total waste of the timber, and most of the 

 bark peeling of the present time leaves the trunks unused. The only 

 exception observed by the writer was in recent work on the lands 

 of the Consolidated Coal Company in the western part of the county. 

 Here all peeled Chestnut Oak is being sawed up for mining timber 

 with the other timber stripped from coal-bearing land. 



