CHAPTER I 



OUR FORESTS PREVIOUS TO 1878; THE PERIOD OF 



• BEGINNINGS 



THE EARLY SETTLERS AND THE FORESTS 



The attitude of the early settlers toward the timber resources of the 

 country was generally one of indifference. This was only natural and 

 inevitable, since in most regions the land was covered with forests, 

 which had to be cleared before agriculture was possible, which pre- 

 sented only an obstacle to the spread of settlement. Toward a resource 

 which at first seemed inexhaustible and only a bar to progress, there 

 could at least be no general attitude of conservation. 



The British policy of reserving the timber lands was regarded with 

 considerable hostility. The British government early adopted the 

 policy of reserving timber for her future supply of naval stores, par- 

 ticularly the large pine trees available for ship masts. Thus the char- 

 ter granted the province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691 reserved to 

 the Crown all trees two feet in diameter, and forbade anyone to cut 

 such trees without a royal license. In 1704, the British parliament 

 passed an act imposing a fine of five pounds upon anyone who should 

 cut a pitch pine tree or a tar tree under twelve inches in diameter three 

 feet from the ground. This act applied to several of the colonies ; and 

 similar enactments were made at various subsequent times. Very nat- 

 urally the colonists strongly resented this policy.^ 



The British regulations showed some of the elements of a conserva- 

 tion policy on the part of the ruling country, and the attitude of some 



1 In order to secure enforcement of the law of 1704, John Bridger was commis- 

 sioned surveyor general of the woods, one of his duties being to mark with the 

 broad arrow of the British navy all trees that were to be reserved for the Crown 

 and keep a register of them. Edward Randolph had been surveyor of woods and 

 timber in Maine in 1656, and Adolphus Benzel was appointed inspector of his 

 Majesty's woods and forests in the vicinity of Lake Champlain in 1770. Fox, "His- 

 tory of the Lumber Industry in New York," 16: Bui. 370, Cornell Univ. Agr. Exp. 

 Station: Ford, "Colonial Precedents of our National Land Svstem," 145. 



