CHAPTER III 

 THE STORY OF OUR NATIONAL FOREST 



THE ORGANIZED REMNANT OF A WASTED HERITAGE, 



IT STANDS BETWEEN POSTERITY AND DEPLETION, 



AND IS NOW DISCOVERING NEW AND INVALUABLE 



USES UNDREAMED OF HERETOFORE 



THE first comers to America found a mighty 

 forest fronting the Atlantic shore and extend- 

 ing westward as far as the white man ventured for 

 many years. They were justified in believing, and 

 no doubt they did believe, that it covered the un- 

 known continent to the shores of the western sea. 

 Along the coast this forest consisted of small pines 

 which, a little back, gave way to greater pines, with 

 which presently were mingled a wide variety of 

 other conifers and deciduous trees of very many 

 species ; where level lands gave way to foothills and 

 mountain ranges, the trees assumed still greater size. 

 Forests covered even the mountain tops. 



To the early settlers the forest was both a bless- 

 ing and a menace. From it were hewn the timbers 

 for their houses, barns, plows, and wagons, the rails 

 for their fences, and fuel to cook their food and tem- 

 per the heavy winters. It harbored plentiful game 

 for their sustenance. But also it was cover for sav- 

 age beasts and hostile Indians, and it had to be la- 



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