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Sife. 



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Figure 2. — Southern Indiana has wide expanses afforests broken ordy by small fields in the valleys. 



Settlement and Development 



Pioneers began arriving in Indiana from the Eastern 

 States early in the 19tli century. Travel was easiest 

 on streams and so the first settlements were along the 

 Ohio and Wabash Rivers. To the pioneer timber 

 indicated good soil. Because the hills were both 

 forested and well drained, the pioneers settled the 

 hill country first. Not many years after the forests 

 were cleared from the hill land, serious soil erosion 

 occurred on the steeper slopes. As the thin soils lost 

 their fertility, the pioneers cleared other land. The 

 limited prairie area of Indiana was the last to be 

 settled because the productivity of prairie soils was 

 not understood and forested areas were preferred {3). 



About V/i million people now make up the State's 

 labor force. Approximately 25 percent of this force 

 resides in the southern half of the State, and much of 

 the unemployment has occurred in the more heavily 

 forested southern portion. 



Agriculture 



Indiana has 19.7 million acres in farms: about 56 

 percent in crops, 18 percent in pasture, 15 percent 

 in woodland {8), and 11 percent in roads, house lots, 

 cropland not harvested or pastured, and wasteland. 



Indiana's Forest Resources and Industries 



There has been little change in land use in the 

 State during the last 25 years. However, some 

 shifting of farm population and a gradual increase 

 in the size of farms has occurred. In 1920 there were 

 205,000 farms averaging 103 acres each, and in 1950 

 167,000 farms averaging 118 aci'es. 



Although livestock and cultivated crops account for 

 most of the farm income, sales of forest products 

 amounted to 1.6 million dollars in 1950, according 

 to the Census of Agriculture. Sixty-two percent of 

 this income was from the sale of standing timber. 

 More important than sales, however, is the value of 

 fuelwood and fence posts cut for farm use. If farmers 

 were required to purchase these products, the esti- 

 mated cost would exceed 4 million dollars. 



When cultivated some soils of the unglaciated area 

 of southern Indiana erode so rapidly that many farms 

 have been abandoned and are reverting to forest (fig. 

 4). Even where agriculture is successful, farms do not 

 always provide full-time employment for the opera- 

 tors. Therefore, many operators work part time in 

 other occupations including logging and sawmilling. 

 Thus in 1949, 46,000 farmers worked 100 days or 

 more off the farm. Fifty-nine percent of these farmers 

 operated less than 50 acres of land. 



Because livestock production is such an important 

 industry in Indiana, pastureland is in great demand. 



