File:Areas of desolation in Pennsylvania (microform) (1915) (20340063001).jpg

Title: Areas of desolation in Pennsylvania (microform)
Identifier: areasofdesolatio01roth (find matches)
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Rothrock, Joseph T. , 1839-1922
Subjects: Forests and forestry; Reforestation; Waste lands
Publisher: Philadelphia : Herbert Welsh
Contributing Library: Penn State University
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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.'J. if â - /â¢'>. '.- ^..:^' ^ -â 4/-/, ⢠./f .-^^â i*?^. ;5rf^^' ^:>. W; 4;:^s# Aâ *^^>«4' 3^^ .: .v>v' Such Hemlock Once Covered Hundreds of Square Miles wHirâ are Now Desolated and Producing Nothing of Value itâand such timber! Soft white pine, the cutting; of which was a hixury; no knot to dull the knife or axe! Who could blame the i)urchaser for refusing all but the best, when it could be had at a reasonable rate? No one wanted inferior grades! The lumberman could hardly be expected to handle them at a loss to himself. There was so much white pine that there was no market for hemlock; when it (the hemlock) was cut, the bark was stripped and sold to the tanner, but the logs were left to bleach and rot where the tree fell. No end of timber; no end of prosperity. Those were great times! lUit an end did come. Those hillsidesâblack with forest wealth, the State sold, timber and all, for 20^^ cents an acreâare lor tlie most part bare now. Fire has swept over them and destroyed the new growth, such as it was, and the snows of winter and the rains of summer have washed the soil away, until many farms that were started where the forests stood have been abandoncMl because of the imj)overished soil. The men who cut the trees and the men who sawed the logs into lumber have left. The countrv is the poorer because they have gone; for they were industri- ous, strong-armed, brave-hearted men. But how about th(^ land'^ Too poor to farm for the most part, oft(^n without mineral resources, it was simply abandoned, practically uncared for. To-day one may safely say there are 3,000,000 acres of such unprotected land in the State of Pennsylvania. Sun^ly tlu^re nuist be fault somewhere; who is to blame? No one in particular! As a people we were dazed over what we thought the inexhaustibh^ stock of timber. The tremendous increase of p()))ulation, the enormous demand to b(^ made upon the forests, k-^ti; '?i42iSI;. 1^

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