The Aggregate Cut of American Lumber, 1801-1935

North America was blessed with a temperate climate, fertile soils, iron, coal, and other mineral wealth. But if it had been a treeless continent, a land of prairies, steppes, and pampas, the use of the soils and the minerals on the scale we have known would have been impossible. No material but timber could have supplied the houses, the fuel, the tools, weapons, bridges, vehicles, and ships which laid the foundations for national greatness before iron and coal were developed and before oil was discovered. We should, therefore, give the lumberman the credit due him as a pioneer and a nation builder. His was a long and arduous task. It began in a small way with the earliest colonization, and during the 19th century grew to be one of the foremost industries of America. The peak of production was passed in 1907, but even with a diminished output the industry will always be indispensable.