CHAPTER XVIII 



WOOD FOR THE NATION 



Westward the course of forest discovery and 

 depletion has taken its way in the United States. 

 The pine and hardwood forests of the Atlantic 

 and New England States first fell before the bite 

 of the woodman's ax and the sweep of his saw. 

 Wasteful lumbering finally sapped the resources 

 of these productive timberlands. Shift was then 

 made farther westward to the Lake States. Their 

 vast stretches of white pine and native hardwoods 

 were cut to a skeleton of their original size. The 

 lumbering operations then spread to the southern 

 pine belt. In a few years the supplies of market- 

 able lumber in that region were considerably re- 

 duced. Then the westward trail was resumed. 

 The strip of country between the Mississippi 

 River and the Cascade, Sierra Nevada and Coast 

 Ranges was combed and cut. Today, the last big 

 drive against our timber assets is being waged in 

 the forests of the Pacific Coast. 



Our virgin forests originally covered 822,000,- 

 000 acres. Today, only one-sixth of them are left. 



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