was produced in the region 

 (USDA Forest Service 1 933). 

 Perhaps typical of the bigger 

 operations, the Great 

 Southern Lumber Company 

 cut 1 million board feet per 

 day during the boom time 

 (Hartman 1981, unpubl.). 



The industrial cycle for 

 hardwood lumber 

 production followed much 

 the same geographical 

 pattern as that for 

 softwoods. The South's 

 total hardwood and 

 softwood lumber production 

 in 1909 was almost half the 

 Nation's total (Southern 

 Forest Resource Analysis 

 Committee 1969). 



Exploitation would run its 

 course, in other regions 

 and in the South in turn, 

 before public concern for 

 the Nation's resources was 

 aroused. However, a first 

 step toward assessing the 

 status of the South's timber 

 resource was made in 1900. 

 The U.S. Bureau of Forestry, 

 in cooperation with the 

 Geological Survey of the 

 U.S. Department of the 

 Interior, conducted a field 

 investigation of the southern 

 Appalachian region. The 

 results, submitted to 

 Congress in 1902 by 

 President Theodore 

 Roosevelt, detailed 

 widespread damage in the 

 region's forests. The survey 

 (U.S. Bureau of Forestry 



1 902) said of the logging 

 operations: 



During the past few 

 years, [the lumberman] 

 has cut everything 

 merchantable. He is 

 now beginning to 

 extend his operations 

 to considerable 

 distances beyond the 

 main lines of 

 transportation by the 

 construction of 

 tramways and even 

 cheap, short railways. 

 Meanwhile his search 

 for the more valuable 

 trees has extended in 

 advance to most of the 

 more remote mountain 

 coves. 



There has naturally 

 been no thought for the 

 future. Trees have been 

 cut so as to fall along 

 the line of least 

 resistance regardless 

 of what they crush. 

 Their tops and 

 branches, instead of 

 being piled in such a 

 way and burned at 

 such a time as would 

 do the least harm, are 

 left scattered among 

 the adjacent growth to 

 burn when driest, and 

 thus to destroy or injure 

 everything within reach. 

 The home and 

 permanent interests of 

 the lumberman are 

 generally in another 



