Charles Maurice and Charles W. Smithson THE TIMBER CRISIS AMERICA’S FIRST OIL CRISIS

According to the doom merchants, the railroads, the driving force behind the industrialization, were doomed. After all, the railroads accounted for 20-25 percent of annual timber consumption. Most of this wood was used to replace crossties; 15-20 percent of the crossties had to be replaced every year. You simply couldn’t run a railroad without wood.