Dominic Green Dominic Green

Into the woods of 19th-century America

The pressing need for timber in the 1830s led to tree-felling on vast scale – and the displacement of countless Native Americans

The Onandaga chief Ut-ha-wah, by William John Wilgus, 1838. [Alamy] 
issue 06 May 2023

Early American settlers said that a squirrel could climb up a tree on the coast of Massachusetts, set off westwards and not touch the ground until it reached the Ohio river. The squirrels, like the Native Americans, were pushed out and west. Timber was the settlers’ main resource, and they stripped New England of wood for their farms, buildings and fuel.

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