WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



19 



understand better than ever before to what extent we are de- 

 pendent upon it. 



More than half of all our dwellings, churches and schoolhouses 

 are built of wood, and in the other half wood is used as an essen- 

 tial part of the structure. Inside fixtures, such as shelving, ward- 

 robes, etc., as well as all manner of furniture and other articles 

 found in houses, including tables, chairs, beds, stands, desks, 

 dressers, dining room and kitchen furniture, musical instm- 

 ments, etc., are made of wood. Many people still use it for fuel. 



Outside of buildings wood is no less a necessity. Eailroad 

 companies use it for cars, for cross-ties, for trestles, and for tele 

 graph poles ; telephone companies use it for poles, for brackets, 

 and for many other purposes ; mine operators use it for props, 

 and ties, and headers; and oil and gas companies use it for 

 derricks. 



There is hardly a useful article in the manufacture of which 

 wood is not employed or does not enter in, and hardly an occupa- 

 tion which can exist without it. Farmers need it in cultivating 

 their ground, in harvesting, threshing, and marketing their 

 grain; fruit-growers ship their products in wooden barrels, car- 

 riers and baskets; and manufacturers ship their wares in 

 wooden barrels, crates, and boxes. 



The bark of some trees is used in tanning leather, and large 

 quantites of wood are used in the manufacture of paper. Wood 

 alcohol, vinegar, acetates, and creosote, as well as maple sugar 

 and many minor by-products are derived from wood- It would 

 be next to impossible, indeed, to enumerate even the common 

 uses of wood- 

 Forest Industries. 



''The lumber industry now ranks fourth among the manu- 

 facturing enterprises in the United States, and represents an 

 invested capital of about $611,000,000 and an annual outlay of 

 over $100,000,000 in wages. It affords through its tlu-ee great 

 branches — ^the logging industry, the saw miU industry, and the 

 planing mill industry — a means of livelihood to considerably 

 over a million persons."* 



*"Iiifluence of Forestry upon the Lumber Industry" — Overton W. 

 Price. 



