336 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



in spite of the all important part which it is to play in 

 the future welfare of the nation. 



A few of the gold seekers who came to dig remained 

 to log and so the industry began, began as it had begun 

 in New England and the Mississippi Valley, with an 

 unlimited supply of raw material and shut oflf from any- 

 thing like an 

 adequate mar- 

 ket. Began as 

 it has always 

 begun in every 

 section of this 

 country, before 

 there was any 

 real need for 

 it. In this the 

 Pacific Coast 

 was no worse 

 off than the 

 others had 

 been and 

 would not have 

 had any par- 

 ticular trouble 

 ilf it had not 

 been for the 

 horrible exam- 

 ple of the Lake 

 States. Far 

 sighted men in 

 M i n n e s o t a 

 had made mar- 

 velous f o r - 

 tunes by the 

 acquisition of 

 extensive tracts 

 of timber and 

 the operations 

 of "big" busi- 

 ness. Why not 

 do this same 

 thing on the 

 Pacific Coast 

 on a far larger 

 scale fully 

 c o mmensurate 

 with the big- 

 ness of the 

 West? It was 

 a glorious con- 

 ception bujt it 

 has and is cost- 

 ing the lumber 



industry of the Pacific Coast hundreds of millions of dol- 

 lars. The beauty of that dream took complete possession 

 of the people of the Coast States and many in other sec- 

 tions of the country. "Buy timber land," was the univer- 

 sal cry. The timber barons of the Lake States had 

 done it, and they were millionaires. Lumbermen took up 



VIRGIN SUGAR PINE .-XND WHITE FIR FORESTS IN CALIFORNIA THE GIANT 

 OF THE PACIFIC COAST IS FINALLY COMING INTO HIS OWN, AND IT WILL BE 

 ONLY A MATTER OF THE NEXT DECADE BEFORE HE CAN CLAIM AND IN ALL 

 PROBABILITY HOLD FOREVER, THE CROWN OF SUPREMACY IN PRODUC- 

 TION, SUCCESSIVELY WORN BY FIVE GREAT CENTERS OF THE INDUSTRY. 



all of the land they could possibly get hold of, land 

 men and other professional speculators did the same, 

 every grocery clerk and every school teacher who could 

 scrape together a few hard earned dollars, bought tim- 

 berlands. Atid every one of them who owned an acre 

 of that precious timber considered himself a potential 



million aire. 

 Then these 

 "foolish vir- 

 gins" learned a 

 simple truth 

 which they 

 had overlooked 

 in their enthu- 

 siasm ; even 

 m i 1 1 i o naires 

 have their 

 troubles and 

 potential mil- 

 lionaires are 

 never without 

 them, espe- 

 c i a 1 1 y when 

 their potential- 

 ity rests upon 

 credit as most 

 of theirs did. 

 All of these 

 troubles were 

 in plain view 

 at the time 

 they bought, 

 but they were 

 too excited 

 and too com- 

 pletely hypno- 

 tised by the 

 "glorious con- 

 ception" and 

 the great land 

 hunger of the 

 American peo- 

 p 1 e to see 

 them. They 

 sold and resold 

 and sold again 

 till paper val- 

 ues shot sky- 

 ward, and tim- 

 ber bought for 

 a dime sold for 

 five dollars a 

 thousand. But 

 there was something wrong. There did not seem to be the 

 demand for lumber that they thought there was. The Lake 

 States men had sold theirs fast enough. What was wrong? 

 They tried their best to instill a little life into their 

 sleeping giant. They electrified their mills, they put in 

 double and even treble circulars, they tried to electrify 



i 



