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Wood Harvest and Manufacture in Kentucky 



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THE FOREST ofEered the pioneer settlers of 

 Kentucky an unlimited supply of wood for 

 home building, fences, heating, and cook- 

 ing. In fact there was too much wood. Forests were 

 a hindrance to the farmer, so he cut and burned 

 them to make room for crops and pasture. As top- 

 soil eroded and soil became sterile, old fields were 

 abandoned and new land was cleared. The settlers 

 welcomed the lumber industry because it helped 

 them clear the land. 



Early lumbermen found an abundance of high- 

 quality, virgin timber. Because the timber supply 

 exceeded local demand, the growing lumber indus- 

 try began seeking out-of-State markets about 1870. 

 White oak, walnut, yellow-poplar, chestnut, and 

 pine brought good prices on these markets. How- 

 ever, as time passed, the demand for some wood 

 products decreased. Rail fences were no longer 

 made. Coal, oil, gas, and electricity replaced wood 

 for power and to some degree for heating and 

 cooking. 



Land clearing is now much less common; in fact, 

 a lot of former cropland has already reverted to 

 forest. Preservative treatment of railroad crossties, 

 poles, timbers, and fence posts is prolonging the 

 life of such items, thereby reducing the volume of 

 wood used. The total demand for Kentucky wood 

 has certainly been reduced, but there is still a great 

 demand for quality hardwood suitable for such 

 products as veneer, tight cooperage, furniture, and 

 interior finishing. 



Primary Forest-Products Industries 



In 1948, more than 208 million cubic feet of wood 

 from Kentucky forests were used in wood products. 

 About 45 percent was burned as fuel (fig. 28). Saw- 

 logs, including those sawed into crossties, accounted 

 for an additional 35 percent of the total. The re- 

 maining 20 percent was distributed among other 

 products, such as mine timbers, fence posts, cooper- 

 age bolts, and miscellaneous farm timbers. 



Kentucky's Forest Resources and Industries 



To produce these logs and bolts and deliver them 

 to mills or road sidings, about 3^ million man- 

 days were required, the equivalent of full-time em- 

 ployment for more than 13,000 men. In its primary 

 form, this wood was worth more than 40 million 

 dollars. This is an average value of 20 cents per 

 cubic foot of wood used. Some of the products, such 

 as sawlogs, cooperage bolts, handle bolts, and veneer 

 bolts were further processed locally into products 

 of still greater value. 



PRODUCT 



PRODUCTION 



FUELWOOO 

 SAWLOGS 

 MINE TIMBERS 

 FENCE POSTS 

 COOPERAGE BOLTS 

 ALL OTHER 



c 



! 1 



1 





FEET 



' ' 1 







zoe 1 M 



T0T4L 



ILLION CUBIC 





) 20 40 60 80 

 MILLION CUBIC FEET 



Figure 28.— Production of primary forest products in Ken- 

 tucky, 19-18. 



In addition to the wood used by the individual 

 primary forest-product industries discussed below, 

 a small amount of dogwood and persimmon are cut 

 for shuttles and golf club heads. For the most part, 

 the wood of these species is exported to other States 

 for manufacture. 



Lumber 



Lumber production in Kentucky reached a peak 

 of nearly 1 billion board feet in the early years of 

 the present century, declined to 200 million board 

 feet during the depression of the 1930's, and has 

 recently climbed to the range of 500 to 600 million 

 board feet per year (fig. 29). Most of the lumber is 

 produced in the southeastern part of the State (fig. 



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