The 'Lumber Era'

Vast expanses of virgin pine and hemlock trees stretching for as far as the eye could see greeted the pioneers who arrived to eke out a living in the region and the lumber barons who soon followed.

By the late 19th century, the forests buzzed with the sound of the crosscut saw and ax. Rugged lumberjacks by the thousands poured into the region to clear roads, build lumber mills, extend rail lines and strip the timber from virtually every mountain and valley.

Lumbering became a large-scale highly commercialized business. The introduction of the logging railroad and geared locomotives drove logging into previously inaccessible areas. Steam-powered log loaders eliminated the backbreaking job of manually loading railroad cars. Band saws -- thin, continuous bands of glittering teeth - enabled mill production to skyrocket.

Woodhicks were housed in shelters near the cutting operation. These camps were temporary, rough wooden buildings that could be quickly dismantled and relocated. With the location of each large sawmill, towns sprang up almost overnight. Pigs'-ears (cheap saloons), stores, churches, schools, and houses all followed the shifting lumber operations.

The region rode high and fell hard. Within two decades, the exploiters had moved on, leaving behind a string of ghost towns surrounded by denuded hillsides and sediment-filled streams. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired much of this wasteland when the original owners defaulted on their taxes.

Mother Nature has gradually restored the area to its natural splendor. A second-generation forest blanketing much of the region includes coveted hardwoods, while providing recreational opportunities on hundreds of thousands of acres of state forest land.