Steady Progress of Forest Depletion 



FOREST DEPLETION AND MIGRATION OF THE 

 LUMBER INDUSTRY 



Each successive chapter in the history of the lum- 

 ber industry in the United States has been a story 

 of depletion and migration. In softwoods it is a 

 history of regional industries, each developing in its 

 turn, dominating the consuming markets of the coun- 

 try, and declining at last so far as to be unable to 

 meet the local requirements of its region. Each has 

 had the same essential features of beginning, rise, 

 gind fa?] from light culling operations to clean cutting 

 of good timber and poor alike and of the shifting of 

 cut from the more to the less desirable species. The 

 story of each region will be taken up in detail, but 

 the main outlines should first be made clear. 



In New England lumbering early became a lead- 

 ing industry, supporting local needs, furnishing the 

 basis for the early shipbuilding industry, and provid- 

 ing exports. The industry expanded very slowly, 

 and owing to the shifting of the cut from one 

 section to another, from one species to another, 

 and finally from virgin stands to second growth, 

 partly on deserted farm lands, production did not 

 reach the maximum until as late as 1907. Since 

 then it has been falling rapidly. 



New York followed New England as the center 

 of softwood lumber production and was the leading 

 lumber State in the country in 1850, although the 

 greatest volume production was reached from 10 to 

 20 years earlier. Pennsylvania followed New York, 



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