LUMBER CUT OF UNITED STATES, 1870-1920. 



17 



centers of the country. Not quite 50 per cent of the lumber pro- 

 duced in the United States is consumed in the States north of Ten- 

 nessee and east of Iowa. Heretofore the average haul of timber to 

 this region has been between 500 and 1,000 miles. Hereafter a large 

 amount of the supply will have to be hauled between 2,000 and 3,000 

 miles, although a considerable portion of the western timber may 

 come by sea through the Panama Canal to the East coast markets. 

 In the years when much more timber was accessible to water-borne 

 traffic, transportation cost from $1 to $3 per thousand feet. In the 

 year of this report it costs about $9 per thousand from the South and 

 about $20 ^ from the Pacific coast to New York. 



ieS9 1900 I30/ I90£ 1903 130-f 1305 I906 1907 1908 1909 1910 ISII '9/S I9IJ 1914 I9IS 1916 1917 _ /9Jj9_ 1919 /9£0 



Fig. 8. — The curves for hemlock and white pine illustrate the shrinkage of eastern lumbering as compared 



with increases in the West. 



Not a single factor in the new situation tends to reduce the cost of 

 lumber. On the contrary, almost all factors tend to increase the 

 cost. It is difficult to see, under such circumstances, how any sub- 

 stantial reduction of prices may be expected. The additional cost 

 of transportation across the continent is as much as our fathers paid 

 for first-^ade hardwoods before the Civil War. 



Price IS the factor which will determine hereafter whether the 

 average American will use less lumber or more. There is plenty of 

 timber on the west coast for immediate needs, but if the price is so 

 high that the per capita curve continues steeply downward, then the 

 long-prophesied shortage is already at the door. 



The long step to the Pacific coast is the final shift in the migration 

 of the lumber mdustry, unless Americans should desire to cross the 



6 In March, 1922, the steamer rate per thousand from the West coast to New York was approximately 

 $18.25. 



5045°^23— Bull. 1119 1 



