Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1902 — THE PASSING OF THE FORESTS [ARTICLE]

THE PASSING OF THE FORESTS

Ths present generation can hare but little idea of what Indiana was when the first white settlers began to invade the territory, now but a century ago. Then it possessed the most magnificent forests on the American continent. This is not speaking wildly, but is sustained by the record. The southern half of the state was unbroken forest, every acre being covered with magnificent trees. There were oa» and elm, popuar and beech, ash and maple, hickory and walnut. Even as lata as 1880 Indiana had 4,835,181 acres of forest land. Since then the work of destroying the forests has gone on .rapidly, and it is doubtful if there are now mors than 1,000,000 acres. Originally the forests in Southern Indiana were so dense that during the summer the sun seldom pierced the shade. It has been said by those who have made a study of such matters that Indiana originally possessed nearly every variety of forest tree known in American. It now contains one hundred and nine species, representing fifty three genera, and twenty-five families. There are twenty-four varieties of the oak family. In e arly days poplars were numerous, that towered nearly or quite two hundred feet high, and so immense in size that one of them would have produced lumber enough for a fair-sized house. So distributed were the trees of Indiana, that alongside of one of the giant populars would be found the tapering ash. the sturdy oak, the magnificent elm. and the beautiful sugar maple. From a series of measurements made by Dr. Robert Ridgway of the Smithsonian Institute, the following table has be?n drawn, which will give some idea of the extent and size of the forest trees of Indiana: Table of Hights. Number of species reaching 100 feet 42 Number of species reaching 105 feet 38 Number of species reaching 110 feet 36 Number of species reaching 115 feet 24 Number of species reaching 120 feet 27 Number of species reaching 125 feet 24 Number of species reaching 130 feet 21 Number of species reaching 135 feet 20 Number of species reaching 140 feet 15 Number of species reaching 145 feet 14 Number of species reaching 150 feet 13 Number of species reaching 155 feet 11 Number of species reaching 160 feet 8 Number of species reaching 165 feet 6 Number of species reaching 170 feet 4 Number of species reaching 175 feet 8 Number of species reaching 180 feet 2 Number of species reaching 190 feet 1 The talest of the forms is the yellow popular, but it has a good second in one of the oaks. In the southwestern counties may be found tne “bald cypress.” It is a large tree from eighty to ono hundred feet high, with a trunk from six to thirteen feet In diameter. Orginally the forests of Indiana had wealth enough to have purchased an empire. For many years the forests furnished almost the entire living pt the people. They abounded in game of all kinds, and the pioneer there found meat for his family, while the peltries purchased all his supplies. Prior to 1883 little or no products of the farms in Indiana found a way to market, except what the forests furnished in the way of peltrlea There was no money, and all values were fixed in skins. Thus, a pound of powder would be rated at so many mink skins; a bushel of salt at so many raccoon skins. Those great forests had to be cleared away before the gruond could be prepared for cultivation, and for many years, at certain seasons of the year. In every direction could be seen the smoke or the ilgnt of burning log heaps, wherein trees of almost incalculable value were reduced to agues, while hundreds of valuable walnuts were made into fence rails, or punoheons for floors. It Is Impossible to oalculsts ths amount of wealth thus destroyed. At first there was but a limited market for ths Umber A little of It could be sold fine building purposes, but only a limited amount wu thus used duriug wM fin* quarter of a century rhfa came a time when notne of this s-agnUtosot ttmbor had a marketable value. Th* first manufacturing entor-

cooperage. For both those purposes the. forests of Indiana furnished aboundant supplies of the best material. Thousands of giant poplars fell to furnish the lighter parte of the steamboats, and acre atter acre was denuded of its oaks for the framework of the boats. Pork packing and whisky-making were among the earlier industries, and for use in that connection barrels were needed, snd hoop-poles, staves and heading for msny years employed a large capital. At first the hoop-poles and the timber for the staves and heading were shipped out the state, to be made into barrels at some other point, and men barrel-mak-ing became one of Indiana’s profitable industries. Then came the era of railroad building, when ties and bridge timber cemmanded a good price, and many thousands of acres of forest went down before the woodman’s ax. Then came the manufacture of vehicles and furniture, followed by the making of plow handles, ax handles and other wooden ware. It was not until the forests of Indiana w?re more than half gone that the people began to realize what a wealth they had wasted. Single walnut trees were worth more than a hundred dollars, yet they had fed the log heap or fenced the (,<rm. Sugar maples, each worth a small fortune, magnificent beech and stately ash had been cut up for fuel. It was waste everywhere. With the passing of the for ests the game disappeared, and there was no longer peltries to be had, or meat for the table without cost except for a little powder and led. With it also went the wealth of mast on. which thousands of hags had been annually fattened. Notwithstanding the Immense amount of valuable timber that has been wasted or recklessly destroyed, still the timber of Indiana has brought great wealth into the state. Up to 1880 nearly all the manufacturing industries in Indiana were engaged in manufacturing wood in some way, and the state furnished nearly if not all the timber. There are still hundreds of woodworking industries yet in the state receiving much of their raw material from the forests cf Indiana. Indiana now ranks as one of the great agricultural states of the union, and all Hoosiers are proud of the thrlfty-looking farms seen tn every part of the state, yet forty years ago as a rule, an Indiana farm, especially in the southern half of the state, was an unsightly looking thing, owing to the hundreds of stumps seen everywhere. When reapers and mowers, machine planters and drills, began coming into use they necessitated the removal of the unsightly stumps. This spirit of Improvement came with the close of the civil war.- During that war Indiana won such a name .for herself, owing to the bravery and steadfastness of the troops she sent to the field, and the remarkable energy displayed In filling all calls for troops, that when the war ended home-seekers from the East came In a steadily Increasing stream. The man whose farm' was clear of stumps and of weeds in the fence corners and whose fences were in good repair easily found a purchaser for his farm at a good price. This stimulated others and as the farms In a neighborhood Improved the shiftless former became uneasy and sold out to * move farther west, letting his farm pass into better hands.