where conditions of growth were most favorable, there were tracts of 

 forests that compared well with the best virgin timber in the Ohio 

 Valley. The best specimens of oak, walnut, and sycamore were often 

 from 4 to 6 feet in diameter and from 80 to 100 feet high, but in the 

 settlement of the region these soon disappeared, and have never since 

 been equaled in the State. 



Throughout the central and western portions of the State the 

 streams were fringed with thin belts of trees, but usually back of these 

 the growth was poor and scrubby, suitable only for the protection of 

 stock, for a poor grade of posts, and for fuel. 



UTILIZATION. 



In the more heavily timbered portions of the State the early settlers 

 utilized the best timber for the construction of buildings and fences. 

 The westward extension of railroads had much to do with the exhaus- 

 tion of the timber. Every accessible tree that would make a bridge 

 timber or sleeper was cut almost before the prairie sections of the 

 State were settled. Even before the railroads reached the valleys of 

 the Cedar and Iowa rivers much of the best red cedar and walnut 

 along these rivers had been cut and rafted to the Mississippi for the 

 down-river trade. Again in the early eighties a very thorough canvass 

 of the eastern and central parts of the State was made by furniture 

 manufacturers, and most of the best walnut was taken out. This 

 thorough removal of the virgin timber of the State soon necessitated 

 the importation of softwood lumber and cedar posts. These are now 

 increasing so rapidly in value that many consumers are being forced 

 to use cheap grades of pine, hemlock, and hardwoods. Portable saw- 

 mills are operating wherever timber is found, and the best of the second- 

 growth woods and planted timber is being utilized. Cottonwood and 

 silver maple have been found very valuable for construction purposes 

 where the wood is not exposed to the weather, and they sell for from 

 $22 to $28 per thousand board feet. 



The high price of lumber and posts and the rising value of farming 

 land is causing the clearing of many hillsides and ridges in the eastern 

 part of the State. Many of these ridges are not fit for agricultural 

 purposes themselves and moreover are a menace, since rains and melt- 

 ing snows erode them and spread the soil and debris over the fertile 

 lands below. The removal of the forests has led also to floods and to 

 the disappearance of springs and small streams. More than this, it 

 has very considerably lowered the water table in the soil. In southern 

 Wisconsin the lowering of the water table has resulted in the death of 

 many large trees, which could not send out new roots and adapt 

 themselves to the changed moisture conditions of the soil. The dying 

 out of many old trees in eastern Iowa is probably due to this same 

 cause. 



47795 Cir. 154-08 2 



