From the time of the first European settlements in the early 1600s, the lumber industry has been vital to the growth of the nation. Lumbering requires three basic components for sustained, long-term success: the availability of woodlands, the development of a market for forest products, and a means by which timber can be efficiently harvested and marketed. Through the 1930s, the history of the American lumber industry was largely one of lumbermen harvesting all the desirable timber in an area and then quickly moving on to the next area—all the while trying to keep costs to a minimum. This usually meant clear-cutting the land, moving lumber to market quickly and cheaply, and then selling or abandoning the land.
The ever-growing demand for more wood pushed lumbermen to continually improve harvesting and delivery methods. The technological improvements in saws and transportation developed to increase the output of the woods, in turn guaranteed a continual search for new timber supplies. Until the late 1800s, the ready availability of more woodland led many to believe the timber supply to be unlimited. But in the 1910s and 1920s, dwindling timber stocks and excessive production caused lumbermen to reassess how they did business, leading in some instances to cooperative efforts between private industry and government. With its tentative embrace of sustained-yield management and regeneration by the 1940s, the lumber industry signaled its willingness to adapt in order to assure future timber supplies.
The Northeast, comprised of New England plus New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware, was the center of America's early lumber industry. Lumbermen had to meet not only domestic demands, but also early industrial needs. Iron furnaces, which required huge quantities of wood charcoal to smelt ore, on average consumed 20,000 acres of forest over about a dozen years. Furnace operators found themselves competing with urban households for fuel wood. Besides wood for home construction, furnishings, and tools, it took between 10 and 20 acres of forest to supply the fuel burned by one home fireplace annually. By the 1780s, competition between iron furnaces and home consumption in urban areas had drawn farmers into the lumber supply trade. Farmers clearing land up to 100 miles away could profitably deliver lumber to urban markets, despite the expense and difficulties of transporting to market.
Regional and overseas trade developed soon after settlement. The first supply of New England white pine, used mostly for masts, reached England in 1634, and trade was well established within 20 years. Blessed with vast stands of highly coveted white pine, and good rivers and ports, Maine became the leading lumber producer in the years following the American Revolution. It sent white pine to Boston and other eastern port cities and competed directly with Canada's New Brunswick in exporting to the British colonies in the Caribbean. The fierce competition led to a brief armed standoff in 1839 between New Brunswick and Maine lumbermen in what became known as the Aroostook War. War was narrowly avoided, but the dispute has colored lumber trade relations with Canada, historically the largest exporter of lumber to the United States, ever since.
By 1820, though Maine outpaced all others in lumber production, its days as leader were already numbered. As settlers moved into western New York and Ohio, they turned to cheaper local supplies instead of importing lumber from back east. New York eclipsed Maine as the leading lumber producer by 1839, and Pennsylvania soon replaced New York as the lumber industry followed settlers westward. The Northeast led the nation in lumber production until 1879, when the lake states region overtook them.