After the Civil War, logging railroads penetrated previously inaccessible mountain regions. A more significant change, however, was the development of a new chemical process that enabled papermakers to make paper from softwood trees. Suddenly softwoods, especially high-altitude spruce, became valuable. Large-scale logging operations clear-cut huge swaths along steep mountain slopes.

Early in this process, Concord, New Hampshire resident and member of the state’s first forestry commission, Joseph B. Walker spoke out.

What can we do to avert the dangers that impend, for I hold that we cannot afford much longer to do nothing? … We are drifting towards a timber famine.

He called for a “thorough survey of all our forests, making known to us their varying characters, condition, and situation.” Walker was in step with outdoor enthusiasts and academics from Boston who founded the Appalachian Mountain Club in 1876. As they focused on building trails and enjoying the White Mountains scenery, they too became alarmed as loggers stripped valleys and began working on the sides of their favorite mountains.

• The Weeks Act of 1911
• Tourists & Travelers
• Word Gets Out
• The Farmers Left; The Hotels Came
• Private Hands
• Arrival of the Loggers
• Need for Management
• Departure of the Forests
• Logging Photos
• The Tourists Continue to Arrive
• Educated Tramps and ‘Culchowed’ Pedestrians
• Tourist Photos
• The Path of Destruction
• AMC and Hiking Photos
• Suffering the Consequences
• Scarred Landscapes
• Proposals for Public Purchase
• Advocating for the Forests
• A Spokesman for the Trees
• Spreading the Message
• Progress Toward the Weeks Act
• Yet the Destruction Continued
• The Final Push
• Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature”
• Return to Exhibition Info