The Depletion Myth : a History of Railroad Use of Timber

None of these people should be held responsible for my interpretation of their records or of events in which they took part. A John E. Rovensky Fellowship from the Lincoln Educational Foundation, 1963-1964, made the study possible. I want to thank members of the geography department of the Johns Hopkins University-Hugh Raup, David A. Bramhall, and M. Gordon Wolman-for their encouragement and help. I also appreciate the indulgence of the librarians of the Johns Hopkins University. Maps and graphs were prepared by Robert E. Winter. A peculiar responsibility must be attributed to my greatgrandfather, John Pinkney Brown, the "Johnny Catalpa-Seed" of the railroads and author and publisher of Practical Arboriculture (Connersville, Indiana, 1906). I owe him an apology for finding that catalpa plantations were uneconomic investments for railroads. But the railroads found out fifty years ago, and Grandpa Brown did manage to transmit to the third and fourth generations his enthusiasm for trees, railroads, and the making of books. The greatest credit is due John C. Goodlett, much of whose research and writing lie unfinished because of the time he shared with his students and colleagues, the standard of craftsmanship he demanded of them and of himself, and a life so generous, so intense and brimming over, that it called for more years than were given. Acknowledgments Contents Illustrations Figures Tables Chapter 1 "A Timber Famine Is Inevitable" Chapter 2 "The Insatiable Juggernaut of the Vegetable World" Chapter 3 "How Simple It Would Be" Chapter 4 "Let It Rot in the Good Old Way" Chapter 5 "Sentimentalism Joins Hands with Commercialism" Chapter 6 "An Unbridged Cap" Chapter 7 "Use Alone Can Create Value" Chapter 8 "The Perpetual Emergency" Chapter 9 The Myth and the Moral Notes and Index Notes Index