11 



presumption and make one realize the almost inconceivable wealth Pennsyl- 

 vania had in her timber lands. West of the Allegheny River the prevailing 

 timber was largely hardwoods, similar to those in eastern Pennsylvania; 

 but in the central and northeastern parts of the State, in the mountains, 

 is the home of the cone bearing trees, the pine and the hemlock. With 

 these, especially in the northern counties, were associated beech, birches, 

 sugar maple, ashes, the black cherry, and scattered stands of other hard- 

 woods. At first there was an exceedingly limited market for timber, and the 

 gigantic trees that constituted the forests proved a hindrance rather than 

 an asset. The same destructive method of cutting them and rolling the 

 logs together to be burned was pursued in Pennsylvania, with the same 

 zest as in other timbered states. Even the older living citizens recollect the 

 custom of removing timber by fire from ground which was to be used for 

 agricultural pursuits. Farm land was needed above all, but the unabated 

 desire to clear away the timber was not limited to areas suitable for cropping 

 but was extended into thousands of acres that have since been abandoned, 

 after being denuded, as unsuitable for profitable farming. 



In the days of the early settlers of Pennsylvania, there was practically no 

 market for hardwoods aside from what was required for local use. In com- 

 parison with the demand for softwoods to meet the needs for buildings and 

 other structural purposes, the call for hardwoods was very limited. 

 White pine was then regarded as the principal and only desirable lumber, 

 and was the first in demand when the exploitation of the Pennsylvania for- 

 ests began. Large rafts of pine logs were fioated down the Susquehanna 

 River and its tributaries as these streams drained a region abounding in the 

 growth of this wood. About this period, large quantities of timber were 

 sacrificed for the bark, which was peeled for tanning purposes; the logs being 

 left in the woods to rot and burn. Not long after eastern woods had begun 

 to be felled, similar activities were started in the forests of the far western 

 part of the State. Here the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers afforded 

 the means of rafting large quantities of timber from that part, which, 

 after being manufactured into lumber, was taken to market by water through 

 the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The introduction of railroads extended the 

 lumber industry inland, remote from the rivers, where the finest developed 

 stands of conifers and hardwoods were abundant. After the great demand for 

 white pine had considerably increased its price, hemlock began to attract 

 attention. Though at first considered an inferior lumber, this prejudice 

 soon faded away and Pennsylvania was destined to meet a constantly in- 

 creasing demand for this species and has since been among the three States 

 leading in hemlock products. 



The marketing of the stands of magnificent hardwood forests which had to 

 give way to provide room for agriculture and homes for farmers, was for 

 many years an important economic problem in this State. There was little 

 demand for this kind of timber abroad and still less in any of the other 

 States. This presented the situation that if the hardwoods were to be ex- 

 ploited at all, it would be necessary to develop a market at home, by the 

 establishment of factories like those concerned in this report, which would 

 consume this material for making various manufactured products. These 

 wood-working industries though prosperous, developed gradually at the out- 

 set. Later they not only rapidly increased in number, but grew to substan- 

 tial proportions and contributed largely to the industrial expansion which gave 

 Pennsylvania probably her early recognition as one of the leading manu- 

 facturing states. The products turned out by these industries not only 



