COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE WHITE 

 MOUNTAIN FORESTS. 



The White Mountain region is naturally a forest country. The 

 rocky soil, steep slopes, and high elevations prevent the use of the 

 land for agriculture, except in a few favored places. The forests 

 that cover the mountains are partly primeval, partly culled, and in 

 places cut clean by the ax. In many places they have been injured 

 severely by fire. Their resources are of great and far-reaching value, 

 for their use extends not only throughout New England, but also, 

 in the form of news paper manufactured from spruce and in other 

 manufactured products, throughout the entire country. 



The persistent widespread advance in the price of timber prod- 

 ucts has been felt throughout the land. It has already affected 

 directly all forms of business that deal primarily with wood, such 

 as the building trades, the woodworking factories, ties for railway 

 construction and repair, and mine props, and indirectly other busi- 

 ness, such as farming, in which the cost of a barn or a wagon is 

 much greater than heretofore. It is confidently asserted that "the 

 rise in the price of lumber which marks the opening of the present 

 century is the beginning of a greater and more rapid rise which is 

 to come, and the suffering which will result from the progressive 

 failure of our timber was but faintly foreshadowed by the recent 

 temporary scarcity of coal." There has been reckless waste of the 

 vast forest wealth of the nation, which is still going on, but changes 

 for the better are being made in important directions. The more 

 thoughtful lumbermen see the issue clearly and have begun to treat 

 the forest more conservatively. Some have bought up large tracts 

 against the coming scarcity. The Government has established Na- 

 tional Forests in the West, which will in part meet the ever-growing 

 demand for timber in that section of the country. 



The even flow of water from mountain forests is of utmost im- 

 portance. Commerce and manufacture depend upon it. The White 

 Mountains form the great watershed of New England. Five of the 

 most important rivers of New England, each having remarkable 

 water power, take their rise in the heights of northern New Hamp- 

 shire and in portions of two adjoining counties in Maine. These 

 rivers are the Connecticut, the Merrimac, the Saco, the Androscoggin, 

 and the Kennebec. The growth of many of the most progressive 



[Cir. 168] 3 



