an oldie but a goodie

[sullystull]

someone posted a thread on how they grew em in Va. Here's an old pic from the largest tree ever cut in WV (right down the road from my house). The top pic had the following specs:
The tree (white oak) measured 13 ft in daimeter (16ft from the base) and 10 ft in diameter (31 ft from the base). Cut in 1913, the tree was notched on three sides with axes then sawed with a regular cross cut saw.

Enjoy

 

[webbie]

Every single tree in the state of WV was cut down in recent history - there was plenty of virgin forest left in 1900, every bit gone by 1920.

I say "every bit", but they did somehow (by mistake) miss a couple acres. You can see them at a few select state parks....I think it is about 250 acres total, out of 10 million that were there.

The good news is that today, many of the WV forests are better managed. When I was 18 years old and traveling with Martha, we met the guy who was in charge of WestVaCo efforts in eastern WV and he took us on a tour of his operations......seems he wanted to communicate to the younger generation that not all was lost!

Beautiful country, I'll say that. If they stuck with managing the forests as opposed to cutting off the tops of the mountains for coal, it might be sustainable.

 

[woodconvert]

Impressive. That old growth stuff intrigues the hell out of me...dunno why. Maybe because it's rare or so different thant the trees of today. I've come across old growth wood in barn wood. The pine seems like our modern oak, grain so tight it's hard to identify. The local Meijers store near me has some old local black and white photo's blown up hanging in there for decoration. One shows the local saw mill of the time with draft horses dragging wood to the mill. I've yet to come across wood like in those pictures. Not just the diameter but the staight lenght of wood before the branches. And, when you think how they cut it AND got it to the mill.....different breed of people.

 

[DiscoInferno]

I don't think conservation was a familiar concept back in those days. And it's not all bad - Michigan used to be mostly large old-growth white (and other) pines, which were (almost) all cut down for lumber in a 20-year span in the late 1800's. It's a shame more weren't saved, but what grew back was mostly hardwoods, which of course makes better firewood! There are some small remaining stands, like Estevant Pines in Copper Harbor.

 

[sapratt]

When you stand next to a virgin tree and look at the size and height. That is when you realize just how small we really are.
Another thing that amazes me is they used to cut those big trees down by hand.