DESTRUCTIVE LUMBERING.

How the reckless and destructive methods of lumbering common in America came into vogue, is worth noting.[2]

The great historical fact of the first half century of our country was the conquest of the wilderness. That wilderness was largely an unbroken forest. To the early settler, this forest was the greatest of barriers to agriculture. The crash of a felled tree was to him a symbol of advancing civilization. The woods were something to be got rid of to make room for farms, Fig. 111. In Virginia, for example, where the soil was soon exhausted by tobacco culture and modern fertilizers were unknown, there was a continual advance into the woods to plant on new and richer land. The forest was also full of enemies to the settler, both animals and Indians, and was a dreaded field for fire. So there grew up a feeling of hate and fear for the forest.

Fig. 111. Forest Giving Place to Farm Land. North Carolina. U. S. Forest Service.

More than that the forest seemed exhaustless. The clearings were at first only specks in the woods, and even when they were pushed farther and farther back from the seacoast, there was plenty of timber beyond.

The idea that the area of this forest could ever be diminished by human hands to any appreciable extent so that people would become afraid of not having woodland enough to supply them with the needed lumber, would have seemed an utter absurdity to the backwoodsman. * * * Thus the legend arose of the inexhaustible supply of lumber in American forests, a legend which only within the last twenty years has given place to juster notions. (Bruncken, p. 57.)

This tradition of abundant supply and the feeling of hostility to the forest lasted long after the reasons for them had disappeared. When we remember that every farm in the eastern United States, is made from reclaimed forest land and that for decades lumber was always within reach up the rivers, down which it was floated, it is not strange that reckless and extravagant methods of cutting and using it prevailed.

Following the settler came the lumberman, who continued the same method of laying waste the forest land. The lumber market grew slowly at first, but later developed by leaps and bounds, until now the output is enormous.

Lumbering in America has come to be synonymous with the clearing off of all the marketable timber, regardless of the future. It treats the forest as tho it were a mine, not a crop, Fig. 112. Since 1880 the total cut has been over 700,000,000 feet, enough to make a one inch floor over Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, or one-half of the State of New York, an area of 25,000 square miles.

Fig. 112. Redwood Forest Turned Into Pasture. California. U. S. Forest Service.

Other countries, too, have devastated their forests. Portugal has a forest area of only 5 per cent. of the total land area, Spain and Greece, each 13 per cent., Italy 14 per cent. and Turkey 20 per cent. Whether the destruction of the American forests shall go as far as this is now a live question which has only just begun to be appreciated.

Another reason for the reckless American attitude toward the forest is the frequency and severity of forest fires. This has led to the fear on the part of lumbermen of losing what stumpage they had, and so they have cleared their holdings quickly and sold the timber. Their motto was "cut or lose."

A third incentive to devastative methods was the levy of what were considered unjust taxes.

Hundreds of thousands of acres in the white pine region, notably in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, have been cut over, abandoned, sold for taxes, and finally reduced by fire to a useless wilderness because of the shortsighted policy of heavy taxation. To lay heavy taxes on timber land is to set a premium on forest destruction, a premium that is doing more than any other single factor to hinder the spread of conservative lumbering among the owners of large bodies of timber land. * * * Heavy taxes are responsible for the barrenness of thousands of square miles which should never have ceased to be productive, and which must now lie fallow for many decades before they can be counted again among the wealth-making assets of the nation. (Pinchot, Agric. Yr. Bk., 1898, pp. 184-185.)

On the treatment of the questions of fire and taxes depends the future of American forest industries. (Bruncken, p. 226.)

Undoubtedly much waste has been caused by sheer ignorance of forest conditions and methods, which, if followed, would secure successive crops instead of one, but it is safe to say that the desire for immediate profits has been the dominant cause of reckless lumbering. So short-sighted has the policy of private owners proved itself, that it is a question whether any large extent of forest land can safely be left in private hands. No individual lives long enough to reap more than one forest crop. Only corporations and States can be expected to have an interest long enough continued to justify the methods of conservative lumbering.

As a matter of fact, nearly one-half of the privately owned timber of the United States is held by 195 great holders, the principal ones being the Southern Pacific Company, the Weyerhauser Timber Company, and the Northern Pacific Railway Company, which together own nearly 11 per cent. of the privately owned forests of the country. These large holders are cutting little of their timber, their object, however, being not so much to conserve the forests as to reserve to themselves the incalculable private profits which are expected to come with the future enormous increase in the value of timber.

Over against this policy, stands that of the United States Forest Service of increasing the area of the National Forests in order to conserve them for the public welfare. The pity is that the government ever let the forests pass out of its hands. Only forty years ago seventy-five per cent. of the timber now standing was publicly owned. Now about eighty per cent. of it is privately owned. In the meanwhile its value has increased anywhere from ten to fifty fold, according to locality.[3] Some large corporations, however, like the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Kirby Lumber Company, of Texas, and the International Paper Company, have entered upon a policy of conservative lumbering.

Of the actual practices which distinguish destructive lumbering, a few may be cited. Stumps are cut too high and tops too low. Good lumber is wasted on lumber roads and bridges, Fig. 113. Saplings are torn down in dragging out logs. Slash is left in condition to foster fires and left with no shade protection. Seedlings are smothered with slash. Seed trees are all cut out leaving no chance for reproduction. Only poorer sorts of trees are left standing, thus insuring deterioration. Paper pulp cutting goes even farther than lumbering, and ordinarily leaves nothing behind but a howling wilderness.

Fig. 113. Red Spruce Used in Building Skidway, and Left in the Woods. Hamilton Co., New York.

The production of turpentine from the long-leaf pine, Fig. 114, at the annual rate of 40,000 barrels has meant the devastation of 70,000 acres of virgin forest.

Fig. 114. Turpentine Boxing, Cup System. Georgia. U. S. Forest Service.

In view of this wholesale destruction it becomes of interest to know how much still remains of the timber supply of the United States. The latest and most authoritative estimate of standing timber in continental United States, excluding Alaska, gives a total of 2,800,000,000 M feet B.M.,[4] of which 2,200,000,000 M feet are privately owned, about 539,000,000 M feet are in the National Forests (Fig. 119, [p. 272]), and 90,000,000 M feet are on the unreserved public lands, National parks, State lands and Indian reservations.

Earlier estimates were hardly more than guesses. For example the census of 1880 estimated the stumpage of the U. S. at 856,290,100 M feet, while the census of 1900 gives a total of 1,390,000,000 M feet. The discrepancy appears still greater when it is remembered that in the meantime 700,000,000 M feet were cut. Of this amount 500,000,000 M feet were of conifers or 80,000,000 M feet more than were included in the estimate of 1880. The simple fact is of course that the earlier estimates were gross underestimates, due to the fact that they were based on entirely inadequate data, and therefore can not be used to obscure the now unquestionable fact that the timber supply of this country is surely and rapidly melting away.

The Forest Service estimates that the present annual cut of saw timber is about 50,000,000 M feet. At this rate the present stand would last about 55 years and the privately owned timber only 44 years. This estimate does not allow for growth and decay.

While the population of the United States increased 52 per cent. from 1880 to 1900, during the same period the lumber-cut increased 94 per cent. In other words the yearly increase in use is 20 to 25 per cent. per capita, that is, fast as the population grows, the lumber consumption increases nearly twice as fast. This increase in the lumber-cut far overbalances the growth of trees.

It is also to be remembered that this increase in the use of lumber is in spite of the enormous increase of substitutes for lumber, such as brick, cement and steel for building, and steel for bridges, vehicles, fences, machinery, tools, and implements of all kinds.

How lavishly we use lumber may further be appreciated from the fact that we consume 260 cubic feet[5] per capita, while the average for 13 European countries is but 49 cubic feet per capita. In other words every person in the U. S. is using five times as much wood as he would use if he lived in Europe. It is estimated that on an average each person in this country uses annually the product of 25 acres of forest. The country as a whole, cuts every year, between three and four times more wood than all the forests grow in the meantime. By contrast, the principal countries of Europe, cut just the annual growth, while Russia, Sweden and Japan, cut less than the growth. In other words, the 2,800,000,000,000 feet B.M. of the stumpage of the United States is a capital which is constantly drawn upon, whereas, the 944,700,000,000 board feet of the forest of the German Empire is a capital which is untouched but produces annually 300 board feet per acre.

Fig. 115. (Lumber Production by Regions, 1907).

Southern States include: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma.

Pacific States include: Washington, Oregon and California.

North Atlantic States include: New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.

Lake States include: Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Central States include: Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri.

Rocky Mountain States include: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

One striking evidence of the decrease of the timber supply is the shifting of its sources. Once the northeastern States produced over half of the lumber product. They reached their relative maximum in 1870 when they produced 36 per cent. At that time the Lake States produced about 24 per cent. By 1890 the Lake States came to their maximum of 36 per cent. Today the southern States are near their maximum with 41 per cent., but the center will soon shift to the Pacific States. Their product rose from less than 10 per cent. of the whole in 1900 to 17 per cent. in 1908, Figs. 115 and 116. When that virgin forest has been cut off, there will be no new region to exploit; whereas, heretofore, when a region was exhausted, the lumbermen have always had a new one to which to move. At the annual meeting of the Northern Pine Manufacturers' Association in Minneapolis, Minn., January 22, 1907, Secretary J. E. Rhodes made this striking statement:

Since 1895, 248 firms, representing an annual aggregate output of pine lumber of 4¼ billion feet, have retired from business, due to the exhaustion of their timber supply. Plants representing approximately 500 million feet capacity, which sawed in 1906, will not be operated in 1907.

The shifting of the chief sources of supply has, of course, been accompanied by a change in the kinds of lumber produced. There was a time when white pine alone constituted one-half of the total quantity. In 1900 this species furnished but 21.5 per cent., in 1904 only 15 per cent., of the lumber cut.[6] We do not use less pine because we have found something better, but because we have to put up with something worse.

Fig. 116. (Lumber Production by States).

The present annual cut of southern yellow pine is about 13¼ million M feet, or a little less than one-third of the total cut of all the species. At the present rate of consumption, it is evident that within ten or fifteen years, there will be a most serious shortage of it. Meanwhile the cut of Douglas fir on the Pacific coast has increased from 5 per cent. of the total lumber cut in 1900 to 12 per cent. in 1905. This increase is in spite of the fact, already noted ([p. 262]) that the great timber owning companies of the northwest are holding their stumpage for an expected great increase in value.

Another evidence of shortage is the almost total disappearance of certain valuable species. Hickory, which once made American buggies famous, is getting very scarce, and black walnut once commonly used for furniture, is available now for only fine cabinet work, veneers, gun stocks, etc. Hardwoods that are fit for the saw are rapidly decreasing. The hardwood cut of 1900 of 8,634,000 M feet diminished in 1904 to 6,781,000 M feet.

Fig. 117. (Lumber Production by Species).

A still further evidence of the decreasing supply, is the rising scale of prices. White pine, which sold for $45.00 per M during 1887-1892, sold for $100.00 f.o.b. N. Y., Jan. 1, 1911. Yellow poplar went up in the same period, 1887-1911, from $29.00 to $63.00. Yellow pine rose from $18.00 in 1896 to $47.00 in 1911, and hemlock, the meanest of all woods, from $11.50 in 1889 to $21.00 in 1911, Fig. 118.

Fig. 118. Wholesale lumber prices, 1887-1911.

The qualities of lumber shown in the above chart are as follows:

White Ash, 1st and 2d, 1" and 1½" x 8" and up by 12'-16'.

Basswood, 1st and 2d, 1" x 8" and up by x 00".

White Oak, quarter-sawed, 1st and 2d, all figured, 1" x 6" and up x 10'-16'.

Yellow poplar, 1st and 2d, 1" x 7"-17" x 12'-16'.

Hemlock, boards

Spruce, No. 1 and clear, 1" and 1¼" x 4" x 13'.

White pine, rough uppers, 1" x 8" and up x 00'.

Yellow pine, edge grain flooring. The curve is approximately correct, for the standard of quality has been changed several times.

It is to be remembered, moreover, that as the timber in any region becomes scarcer, the minimum cutting limit is constantly lowered, and the standard of quality constantly depreciated. Poorer species and qualities and smaller sizes, which were once rejected, are now accepted in the market. For example, 6 inches is now a common cutting diameter for pine and spruce, whereas 12 inches was the minimum limit, and on the Pacific coast there is still nothing cut below 18 inches. This cutting of smaller sizes is largely due to the capacious maw of the pulp mill, which swallows even the poorest stuff. Altho the amount of wood used for paper pulp is small in comparison with the total lumber production, being about 5.4 per cent., yet this cutting of young growth keeps the forest land devastated. In 1906 nearly 9,000,000 tons of wood were used for paper pulp in the United States.

No one who is at all familiar with the situation doubts for an instant that we are rapidly using up our forest capital. In fact it is unquestionably safe to say that our present annual consumption of wood in all forms is from three to four times as great as the annual increment of our forests. Even by accepting the highest estimate of the amount of timber standing we postpone for only a few years the time when there must be a great curtailment in the use of wood, if the present methods of forest exploitation are continued. Every indication points to the fact that under present conditions the maximum annual yield of forest products for the country as a whole has been reached, and that in a comparatively short time, there will be a marked decrease in the total output, as there is now in several items. (Kellogg, Forestry Circular, No. 97, p. 12.)

On the other hand, it is to be remembered that there are influences which tend to save and extend the forest area. These will be considered in the next chapter, on the Use of the Forest.

[Footnote 1:]

LOOK OUT FOR FIRE!
Rules and Laws.

Fires for clearing land near a forest must not be started until the trees are in full leaf. Before lighting such fires three days' notice, at least, must be given to the Firewarden and occupants of adjoining lands. After such fires are lighted, competent persons must remain to guard them until the fire is completely extinguished, and the persons starting such fires will be held responsible for all damages notwithstanding notice had been given to the Firewarden.

Fires will be permitted for the purposes of cooking, warmth and insect smudges, but before such fires are kindled, sufficient space around the spot where the fire is to be lighted must be cleared from all combustible material; and before the place is abandoned, fires so lighted must be thoroly quenched.

All fires other than those hereinbefore mentioned are absolutely prohibited.

Hunters and smokers are cautioned against allowing fires to originate from the use of firearms, cigars and pipes.

Especial care should be taken that lighted matches are extinguished before throwing them down.

All persons are warned that they will be held responsible for any damage or injury to the forest which may result from their carelessness or neglect.

Girdling and peeling bark from standing trees on state land is prohibited. Fallen timber only may be used for firewood.

All citizens are requested to report immediately any cases which may come to their knowledge of injury to woodlands arising from a violation of these rules.

Then follow quotations from the laws of the state of New York.

[Footnote 2:] For the common methods of logging see Handwork in Wood, Chapter I.

[Footnote 3:] See Summary of Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Lumber Industry. February 13, 1911. Washington, D. C.

[Footnote 4:] A board foot is one foot square and one inch thick.

[Footnote 5:] 167 cubic feet equal about 1000 board feet.

[Footnote 6:] Forestry Circular, No. 97.

THE EXHAUSTION OF THE FOREST

* For general bibliography, see [p. 4.]

Chapter VIII.