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Show 532 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT Historical Logging Scene in Michigan, circa 1900 U.S. Forest Service as it destroys the underbrush and light timbers, which are almost indispensable for ensuring a good burning. It is, however, a magnificent sight to see the blazing trees and watch the awful progress of the conflagration, as it hurries onward, consuming all before it, or leaving such scorching mementoes as have blasted the forest growth for years. The author adds, the ashes were scattered abroad after the fire. White Pine and Live Oak for Ships Though prodigal destruction of growing trees to clear land was to continue until well into the 19th century the need to conserve some of these resources was recognized even before 1688. The unusually tall, straight white pine trees of Maine and New Hampshire were admirably adapted by nature for ship masts needed by the British Navy. In violation of the British navigation laws, quantities of mast timber were shipped to countries other than England. To assure itself a sufficient supply, England in 1691 wrote into the new charter given to Massachusetts (of which Maine was a part), a section reserving to the Crown all trees on public lands which were over 24 inches through at a height of one foot from the base. Heavy penalties were prescribed for unlicensed cutting. Later, more stringent legislation provided for marking with a broad arrow the great white pine trees fit for masts. Like other efforts to restrict economic freedom in the Colonies these laws and penalties failed of their objective.3 Trespass was common, enforcement officers few, prosecutors found judges and juries unfriendly and public opinion hostile, a situation that was to be reproduced many times in the future. The new American Republic was less than a decade old when it found it necessary to build a navy. For this task timbers from the huge, sprawling live oak trees found along the coast from North Carolina to Spanish-held Louisiana seemed essential. Since it took 2,000 such trees, or the product of 57 acres, for a ship and since the supply was limited, steps were taken to safeguard that supply. In 1799 Congress appropriated $200,000 for the purchase, prop- 3 Robert Greenhalgh Albion, Forests and Sea Power. The Timber Problem of the Royal Nairy, 1652-1862 (Cambridge, Mass., 1926) , pp. 231 ff.; Joseph J. Malone, Pine Trees and Politics. The Naval Stores and Forest Policy in Colonial Nen< England, 1691-1775 (Seattle, Wash., 1964) , passim. |