184 
Modern Business Geography 
logs are suspended from the axles between large cart wheels and are 
drawn out by mules, or are transported on narrow-gauge railways. 
In such a region the lumbermen use light steam sawmills that can 
be moved as one part of the forest after another is cut. This is 
advantageous, for boards can be transported much more easily than 
heavy, awkward logs. 
FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES 
Before the early settlers cut many trees in the United States, for- 
ests covered practically all the land, with the exception of the drier 
parts that extend from eastern Washington, Oregon, and California 
to the Dakotas, Kansas, western Oklahoma, and western Texas. 
Even in the drier region many of the mountain ranges bore forest 
growth (Fig. 107). While the different parts of the country were be- 
ing settled, enormous areas of the forests were cleared to make room 
for farming, and use of the forests as timber was only incidental. 
As time went on, a supply of lumber became the main purpose in 
cutting down the forests. Naturally the eastern forests were cut 
first. Then, as settlers moved westward, other forest regions heard 
the ring of the woodman’s ax. If the rate at which our forests are 
being cut continues to increase as it has increased in the past, 
our lumber supply will last only fifty years more. Even with great 
care to conserve the present supply and replanting of as many forests 
as possible, lumber is likely to continue to rise in price. We shall be 
obliged to make increasing use of brick, stone, and plaster. 
ITInited Sintee Foreel Servic: 
Fig. 106. A device used for hauling logs out of the pineries in the southern states.