In 1 88 1 conditions had reached a point which brought about 

 action by the State. A commission was created by the legis- 

 lature to inquire into the extent to which the forests were be- 

 ing destroyed, and into the wisdom or necessity for the adoption 

 of forest laws. 



The report of this commission pointed out that at least half 

 the State was most valuable for permanent timber production, 

 that the great waterpowers within and without the State 

 demanded forest preservation, and that the scenic and recrea- 

 tion value of the region was much too important as a State 

 asset to be recklessly sacrificed. Thus the reasons for pre- 

 venting the evils inevitable under private ownership and 

 unrestricted exploitation of the forests were even at that time 

 recognized. That nevertheless it took a full generation to 

 secure a remedy was not for lack of knowledge of the need to 

 do something, but because a course of action which would put 

 a stop to the admitted evils and which public sentiment would 

 support had not been found. 



In the meantime, destruction of the forest was advancing 

 at a rapidly accelerating pace. In 1850 the reported value of 

 New Hampshire's lumber cut was a little over one million 

 dollars; in 1870, over four and a quarter million; in 1890, over 

 five and a half million; and in 1900, nearly nine and a quarter 

 million. And this progressive drain upon the forest resources 

 of the State was accompanied by a change in the methods 

 used, which made the lumbering more and more destructive. 



First the white pine was cut out. Then the spruce of the 

 lower slopes bore the brunt of the attack. As the demand 

 for lumber increased it paid to cut smaller and smaller trees, 

 with the result that lumbering grew steadily more intensive. 

 In the earlier stages, the cutting was to a large extent a pre- 

 liminary to agricultural development. Since the forest in the 

 lower and less rugged portions of the region was typically 

 mixed hardwoods and conifers, or ''softwoods," and since it 

 was chiefly the latter which the lumbermen sought, the lum- 

 bering in this form of growth did not as a rule strip the land. 

 But as the century advanced towards its close, the loggers 



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