In the late 1800's the introduction of the steam train to the mountains of Pennsylvania brought about another change in Pennsylvania's lumber industry. The white pine forests had been largely harvested by this time and the lumbermen now sought to gather the vast stands of hemlock. Railroad companies built tracks into parts of the mountains that had been previously impossible to access. The railroads were able to remove more trees faster than the old system floating logs down creeks and rivers. As a result the decline of the old growth forest was increased. In addition to rapidly removing the timber, sparks and embers tossed out by the passing steam engines would land on the side of the railroads causing massive forest fires that devastated the saplings that had risen up to take the place of the old growth forests. The beginning of the end of the lumber industry in Pennsylvania had arrived with the steam trains and other steam powered equipment, but this was not before the rise of many lumber "boom towns" that once peppered the Pennsylvania mountains.
WHAT COULD REMOVE MORE TREES FASTER THAN FLOATING LOGS DOWN CREEKS AND RIVERS ???????
A TEAM OF HORSES = N 40 49.011 W 078 56.432
RAILROADS = N 40 49.739 W 078 56.002
CONGRATULATIONS TO theslipperyweasels..schmuck&puttz..and TheBOZ FOR A SHARED FTF