RESULTS OF OUR FOREST POLICY 323 



trated than in the southern pine region. One of the holders in this 

 region had over 1,500,000 acres, another 626,000, and several others 

 owned holdings of more than 300,000 acres each. Six holders in Minne- 

 sota had 54 per cent of the white and Norway pine in the state, and 

 the same number in Michigan owned over half. 



COMPARISON OF OWNERSHIP IN THE DIFFERENT REGIONS 



Of the three great timber regions studied — the Pacific Northwest, 

 the southern pine region and the Lake states — the Pacific Northwest 

 contained the largest holdings ; and it was there that the greatest pro- 

 portion of the timber was in the hands of the few very large holders. 

 .More than one third of all the timber in the Pacific Northwest was 

 included in eight holdings, while in the Lake states it took forty-four 

 holdings, and in the southern pine region, 159 holdings to represent 

 the same proportion. In the Pacific Northwest, holders of over 3,500,- 

 000,000 feet each owned 50 per cent of the timber, in the Lake states, 

 12 per cent, and in the southern pine region only 8.7 per cent. 



There are several reasons why the very large holders did not have 

 so much of the total supply in the southern pine region as in the West. 

 In the first place, there was no railroad grant in the South which 

 compares in size with the Pacific grants. In the second place, the stand 

 is not nearly so dense in the South. Moreover, the lumbering opera- 

 tions of many years have brought most parts of the South to a con- 

 dition unfavorable to assembling immense holdings. Large buyers, 

 whether they plan to establish a mill or to sell their timber standing, 

 prefer solid blocks of virgin timber, and the parts of the South where 

 considerable areas of such forest still exist have for some years been 

 comparatively restricted. Probably a more important factor, however, 

 in the determination of the size of holdings has been the price at which 

 the timber could be bought. It is true that vast tracts of land in the 

 South were sold at low prices by the government many years ago ; but 

 when investors began to assemble very large holdings, the timber in 

 the Pacific Northwest could be bought at a lower price, compared 

 with its probable future price, than that in the South. 



While it is true that a few very large holders owned a far greater 

 proportion of the timber in the Pacific Northwest than in either of 

 the other two regions, it was in the southern pine region that large 



