of a forest resource that is spread thinly over many 
acres, and whose products are heavy and bulky, are 
often handled many times between stump and the 
final product, and may be consumed hundreds of miles 
from their origin. In the early days of lumbering in 
Virginia, the waterways and rough “tote” roads were 
the principal arteries of transport for both logs and 
lumber. Later improved roads and railroads sup- 
plemented the interior waterways. Today trucks are 
increasingly important in moving logs, lumber, pulp- 
wood, and the host of finished wood products, but they 
have not replaced railroads or water shipment. Vir- 
ginia has a good transportation system which utilizes 
highways, railroads, and waterways. 
Land Use 
When the first colonists stepped ashore at James- 
town in 1607, all of Virginia save the tidal marshes, 
the rock outcrops on the higher mountains, and the 
scattered Indian clearings was forested. In the more 
than three centuries which have since elapsed, the 
utilization of timber and the clearings for agriculture 
and towns have greatly reduced the forested area, but 
58 percent of the State, 14,832,300 acres, is still forest 
land (fig. 9), of which all but 420,300 acres is com- 
mercial (table 1) .* 
* Since 1940, the commercial forest area has been decreased 
) by 35,000 acres withdrawn on national forests for recreational 
use. (See table 2.) : 
Ficure 9.—WNearly three-fifths of the State’s area ts still forest land. 
' Virginia Forest Resources and Industries 
Forest-Land Use 
In 1940, commercial forests were growing on 
14,412,000 acres, or 56.5 percent of the land area of 
the State—an area exceeding by more than 5 million 
acres the total acreage in cropland and pasture. Less 
than 19,000 acres was not restocking. The relative 
extent of this and other classes of timberland was 
as follows: 
Percent 
Saw-timber Stand s=-ss oct. ules ban uge es 50 
Cordwood stands 24 sa Bese ae see 45 
Youn; reproductiones saa ie ees 5 
Glear-cut Vareasi= ecm ibm sie Negligible 
AO tall thsi Hatha lige ie none 100 
Tasie 1.—Land area classified according to use, 1940} 
Teanaese Distribution of total 
area 
Forest: Acres Percent 
Commercial Bases Gee ie ee ean Shes 14,412,000 56.5 
Bublic: reserved 2 sates oasis apie a mee 235,900 Be) 
Noncommercial e222 2 eS es ence 184,400 sd 
Totals ee Noe Re NS eRe PSE Ee 14,832,300 58.1 
Nonforest: 
Cropland )s¥ 22 sass hes Se ee ie OS aa) 5,954,700 23.3 
Abandonedicropland]ss2@eaccee = Seen eae 380,100 eS 
IPAStUTe sae Sits Be eet SELES ST acest ae en 3,424,300 13.4 
1 Eber) Veneer ce Bh Re Years one tt ee Cte Pe 272,500 asi 
(OY sich case ee me Ne a ON ~ 671,500 2.6 
Otay ha 2 HEROS EROS ee is en aie ty reaver fee 10,703,100 41.9 
AISUSests oO SR SR Fee ENE Rah aA 28,535,400 100.0 
1 Data obrained by Forest Survey. 
F-441753 
