Date of Award:

5-1964

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Wildland Resources

Department name when degree awarded

Forest Management

Committee Chair(s)

Dean J. Whitney Floyd

Committee

Dean J. Whitney Floyd

Committee

S. George Ellsworth

Committee

Frank Kearns

Abstract

It has long been realized that the forests and forest products contributed very significantly toward the economic development of the Western United States. However, the extent of this contribution over a relatively small area has never been fully analyzed. Therein lies the primary justification for this paper. The author hopes that the readers of this paper will, through their reading, gain some appreciation of the major role the forest and its products played in the development of the western community.

Because of some important social differences between the area described in this paper and other western communities, the history herein contained will not be completely accurate for every other western community. But, a certain percentage of the history presented for Cache Valley would generally apply to any western community founded near forests.

There are several important questions that this study should try to answer. Among these are: What products were most widely taken from Cache Valley's forests? Which geographical areas were the most heavily logged and for what reasons? To what extent did the early forests contribute to the economic well-being of the early communities? To what extent have these forests been depleted and what were the principle causes of this depletion? These questions and many more are to be answered, though some more completely than others.

The preceding questions alone would justify this paper. But one of the more important reasons, if not the most important, is that by studying and evaluating the past history of lumbering uses and abuses in Cache Valley we can better interpret the present conditions. By looking to the past, it may be that we can learn some of the factors that evoke certain responses and manipulate these factors to evoke the wanted responses. Therein lies the true value of any historical research – a look into the past in order to better anticipate and manage the future.

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