WW1 to WW2 era lumber shortages- for the misinformed

["Stanley Barthfarkle" <sbarth@xxxxxxxxx>]

<Excerpted from article>-
http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/aldridge/logging.html

In 1917, Robert W. Wier and the Lutcher and Moore heirs combined resources
to construct the last large mill at the town of Wiergate, with timberlands
covering about 86,000 acres in Newton, Jasper, and Sabine counties. The
Wiergate Lumber Company logged what was perhaps the last great Texas stand
of longleaf pine.

By 1920, many of the lands acquired by the big mills had been cut out,
leaving tangled thickets of second growth hardwoods, mixed with a few pine
seedlings. Foresters and conservationists complained that the practice of
free-range husbandry eliminated pine regeneration and promoted the growth of
hardwood, thereby eliminating the potential for sustained yield logging.
Some companies moved to the West Coast, where large tracts of lands and
forest were available to sustain the cut-and-run method of logging. Others
went bankrupt, letting their lands fall into receivership.

Because Texas had retained its public lands when it became a state in 1845,
the federal government lacked national parks and forests in the state. In
May 1933, the Texas legislature passed a bill, supported by both lumbermen
and conservation groups that authorized the U.S. Forest Service to appraise
and purchase lands. The federal government purchased more than 90% of the
lands that were to comprise the National Forests in Texas from 11 lumber
companies.