BACK
  
    
The logged out areas would eventually recover, but without the chestnut.  Around 1902 an airborne bark fungus was unknowingly imported to America with some Asian chestnut trees.  The Asian trees were naturally immune, but the blight would slowly kill all remaining American chestnut trees over the next few decades.  And now the hemlock trees are dying, victims of an invading tiny sap-sucking insect also native to Asia.   Even the mighty oak trees are in danger due to a mold that causes the trunks to crack and bleed sap.  It started in the western states, working its way east as warmer global winter temperatures fail to keep it in check.  Scientists are working on these problems, but it's doubtful that anyone will ever again see the grandeur of giants that our forests once presented - at least not for hundreds of years.
  
   

For an even higher resolution version of these pictures and the complete text of the American Lumberman's article in PDF format, visit the Graham County Library.  The publication is available for download to thumb drive or dvd.
 

Thanks to Michael Lowery, great-grandson of William Whiting, for making this material available.