The Growth of the Timber Industry in the South

Earlier ones, those who came first into these hills could not have known of the fortune that was spilled about them, spill lavishly over each hill and across the level floors of the valley. For the first ones, a growing tree was, in a sense, another enemy lurking in the darkness of his primeval world.

It was a thing that had to be wrestled to the ground before the land was cleared. It stood defiantly in the way of his roads. It matched its ancient strength against his arms, its numbers mocked his solitude.

There was exultation on the sound of a tree crashing to the earth. Each log was a weapon newly forged. Each flickering fire that pushed back the night was a symbol of victory. All that has changed now.

The forests that brooded over these hills have given up their secrets. Fields planted in precise geometry, drink in the sun, where once the sun could never come. Giant highways slashed through valleys that earlier knew only the gentle communication of the wind.

What was once an enemy has become a friend. What once withheld, now lavishly, this dose. But like the magician's gift in an ancient tale, there is a condition to this heritage over the land. Use this gift wisely, we are told, or ever vanish.

Surrender to ignorance or greed, and all the magic in the world will be powerless to bring back a single twig, or summon up the shadow of a shadow. The National Broadcasting Company, in collaboration with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, presents Heritage Over the Land, the story of the growth of the timber industry in the South. It is