CREATION AND ORGANIZATION 8 



Cod in 1620 they found similar forests stretching 

 in all directions from their town-site. After the 

 Atlantic seaboard became pretty well settled the 

 home-builders began moving westward through 

 New York, Pennsylvania, and what is now Ohio. 

 Still nothing but unbroken, virgin forests were en- 

 countered. Westward to the Mississippi civiliza- 

 tion advanced and still forests reigned supreme. 

 Then the Middle West, the Rocky Mountain re- 

 gion, and finally the Pacific Coast regions were set- 

 tled. During 140 years civilization has spread from 

 coast to coast and of that vast wilderness of forest 

 there is left only a remnant here and there. The 

 giant pines that sheltered De Soto and his thousand 

 followers on their ill-fated expedition in 1541 to the 

 Mississippi River have long since disappeared. 

 Along the Allegheny and Appalachian ranges the 

 vast forests that once harbored the hostile Narra- 

 gansetts and Iroquois are now but a memory. The 

 giant oak, ash, and cypress forests of the Missis- 

 sippi Valley are rapidly being decimated by the big 

 saw-mills that work night and day to outdo each 

 other. In the north the dense and magnificent for- 

 ests of white pine that greeted Father Marquette, 

 when he planted his missionary station at Sault Ste. 



