AN HISTORICAL SKETCH II 

the same time a small private school was established by Carl 
A. Schenck at Biltmore, N. C. The former school was aban- 
doned after three years of successful work through the lack of 
state support; the latter is still in existence. 
The great impetus given to American forestry through the 
creation of the National forests, the activities of the separate 
states in furthering a progressive forest policy, and the rapid 
expanse of the work of the Division of Forestry under the new 
chief, Gifford Pinchot, created a demand almost over night 
for a large number of technically trained men. Mr. Pinchot 
had been trained in the forest schools of Europe and became 
the leading figure in American forestry. He soon realized that 
his vision of forest conservation could not be attained without 
an able corps of men thoroughly trained in technical forestry 
and familiar with American life and institutions. The two 
schools, at Cornell and Biltmore, with uncertain tenure of life, 
could not be depended upon to supply the large numbers of 
men immediately required and the continually increasing number 
that would probably be necessary for some years to come. 
Early in the spring of 1900 it was announced by the President 
of Yale University that a gift of one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars had been received to endow a graduate school of forestry. 
Two ideas of fundamental importance stand forth in this 
announcement; namely, an endowed institution and a graduate 
school. For the first time in America the new profession of 
forestry was placed upon a high plane requiring the best type 
of scholarship and a thorough scientific foundation. The fact 
of an endowed institution assured permanency and the possibility 
of substantial and gradual development. 
The gift under which the School was founded was from Mr. 
and Mrs. James W. Pinchot and their sons, Gifford Pinchot and 
Amos R. E. Pinchot. It provided for a department in the Uni- 
versity to be known as the Yale Forest School and a summer 
school of forestry at Milford, Pike County, Pa. The object 
of the School, as expressed in the terms of the gift, is both 
instruction and research in forestry. The University in accept- 
ing the gift agreed to provide the necessary buildings to house 
the School until the new institution was in a financial position 
to erect buildings for its special use. 
