4 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



Marie in 1668, have been laid low. Unproductive 

 wastes, sandy barrens, and useless underbrush now 

 greet the eye. In fact the pine forests which cov- 

 ered the greater part of Michigan, Wisconsin, and 

 Minnesota have been leveled by the woodman's ax. 

 The army of lumbermen has moved now to the 

 Coast to again turn virgin timberlands into un- 

 productive wastes. 



Thus forest destruction has followed civilization. 

 Statistics show very vividly how gradually one 

 large lumbering center after another has become 

 exhausted, often leaving behind desolation and busi- 

 ness depression. In these large centers thriving 

 towns sprang up only to disappear again after the 

 removal of the forest wealth. In 1850 about 55 

 per cent, of the annual cut of lumber came from 

 the New England States; even as late as 1865 New 

 York furnished more lumber than any State in the 

 Union. By 1890 Michigan had reached the zenith 

 of its production and in that year the Lake States 

 furnished 36 per cent, of the lumber cut. By 1909 

 the Southern States had increased their cut to over 

 50 per cent, of the total of the countr3^ In 1913 

 the cut of the State of Washington was the largest 

 ever recorded for that State or for any other State, 



