of minor importance. The total stand of timber of all kinds in the 

 Northern forest was originally not less than 1,000 billion board feet.' 



The northern extremity of the Southern type was in southern New 

 Jersey. From there the forest widened out southward and westw^ard 

 through Virginia, and covered nearly all of North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, portions 

 of eastern Texas and Oklahoma, and southern and western Arkan- 

 sas, with a small extension into southern Missouri. This, too, was 

 a coniferous forest. The yellow pines predominated heavily. Inter- 

 spersed with the pines in localities suitable for their growth were 

 cj'press, oak, gum, magnolia, yellow poplar, and a variety of other 

 hardwoods. The total original area of this forest was about 220 

 million acres, and it contained at least 1,000 billion feet of timber. 



The Central forest stretched between the Northern and Southern 

 types from the Atlantic Coast to the Plains. There were no sharp 

 demarcations between it and the others, and it was extremely irregu- 

 lar in shape. It was the only forest region of the United States in 

 which the hardwoods predominated, and they grew in extreme 

 abundance. Walnut, oak, elm, hickory, Cottonwood, maple, bass- 

 wood, chestnut, sycamore, red gum, ash, and many other trees here 

 reached their maximum development. It is conservatively estimated 

 that the original area of the Central hardwood forest was not less than 

 280 million acres, and that the amount of timber standing in it 

 before clearing began was at least 1,400 billion board feet. 



The Rocky Mountain forest, as its name indicates, was typical of 

 the Rocky Mountain region, from Idaho and Montana through 

 Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado to Arizona and New Mexico. It was 

 separated by the Plains from the eastern forests and by desert areas 

 from the Pacific forest. This forest grew chiefly on the higher 

 plateaus and mountain slopes and was almost entirely coniferous. 

 Western yellow pine occurred throughout, while lodgepole pine, 

 Douglas fir, larch, spruce, western red cedar, and other softwoods 

 were abundant in many localities. The broken character of this 

 forest makes an estimate of its area extremely difiicult. It is prob- 

 able, however, that the original extent was at least 110 million acres, 

 with a stand of not less than 400 billion board feet of saw timber. 



The Pacific type of forest prevailed in Californ'a, Oregon, and 

 Washington, reaching its maximum development along the Sierras 

 and west of the Cascades. So far as saw timber was concerned, it 

 was almost exclusively a coniferous forest, and consisted chiefly of 

 Douglas fir, western yellow pine, redwood, western red cedar, sugar 

 pine, and various other firs and spruces. The original area of this 

 forest was at least 90 million acres, and it contained not less than 

 1,400 billion board feet of timber. 



[Cir. 166] 



