OP OHIO 9 



To the early settlers only the rich soil had a potential value. 

 The vast forests were of no worth. In fact, owing- to the expense 

 of clearing-, tree growth was a factor to decrease land values. 

 Annually many hundreds of acres of the finest hardwoods in the 

 world w r ere cut and burned, and later, when the early lumbermen 

 started their mills, the farmer, anxious to get the trees out of his 

 way, voluntarily rendered assistance in felling- and logging- them 

 without thought of remuneration for his labor or timber. 



For many years there was no demand for timber products. 

 The first market, it has been stated, was found at New Orleans, and 

 a few rafts were floated down. Before there was any considerable 

 transportation development, Cincinnati became the center for tan- 

 bark. To supply the demand gig-antic oaks, valuable at that time 

 only for their bark, were cut down and afterwards rolled tog-ether 

 and burned. 



With the influx of new settlers came the towns. This 

 necessitated the sawmills, and from 1820 until the present time 

 Ohio has held an important place among- the States in the production 

 of roug-h lumber. There were more than 1,900 sawmills operating 

 in Ohio in 1860. This number was steadily maintained for several 

 decades, when the failing- timber supply beg-an to be felt and the 

 larg-er mills were compelled to move to other regions. In 1910, 

 1,532 mills were still operating- in Ohio. These were mostly 

 portable mills of small capacity. Their combined cut in 1910 was 

 542,000,000 feet as ag-ainst 990,000,000 feet sawed in 1900, a decrease 

 of more than 45 percent. 



The present forest lands of Ohio are found mainly in farm 

 woodlots except in the southern part where there are roug-h and 

 sterile lands more valuable for growing- timber than crops. The 

 woodlots vary in size and condition and only comparatively recently 

 have the farmers beg-un to show interest in the proper manag-ement 

 of them. The northeastern part of the State, as already noted, is 

 where the pine and hemlock now grow; in the north, hard maple, 

 ash, and oak predominate; in the southern portions the woodlots 

 contain mostly oak, beech, elm, sycamore, chestnut and poplar. 

 Those of the greatest commercial importance are the oaks, ashes, 

 beech, maples, yellow poplar, the hickories, chestnut and elms. 



PURPOSE OF STUDY 



The study of the wood-using- industries of Ohio presents data 

 on a subject and along- lines not heretofore attempted in the State, 

 althoug-h similar studies haye been made in other States. Eventually 



