| By about 1670, the Royal Navy started importing timber from the Baltic forests--from Russia, Sweden, Poland, and Germany--to build ships. The navy was even interested in timber from the new American colonies. The tall white pine trees of New England were in great demand for ships masts. This lead to conflicts, because the colonists wanted to cut these trees too. Conflict over control of the forests in the colonies was one factor that lead to the American Revolution in 1776. | As the colonies grew and prospered, they consumed more and more wood--for construction, shipbuilding and fuel. By the time of the Revolution, America was producing as much iron as the British Isles. And from that iron, Americans were also producing their own armaments. |
| By the mid 1800's, most of the timber in the New England States had been used up, and wood cutters had to move on to Michigan and the Great Lakes Region to start on those forests. Eventually, they would have to move again, and again--to the forests of the Southeast, and then to the Pacific Northwest. After the mid 1800's wood was used less and less as a fuel, but many other uses for wood products have been discovered. And of course, the demand for construction lumber has continued to increase. |
Wood buildings do not last as long as stone ones, so we usually don't see evidence of the wood structures from
ancient civilizations. Today, however, many buildings are still being constructed from wood. Photo credit Corel Photo Clipart CD.
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