Matt Carfaro, COO of Fortress Forest, on the History of Lumber

Humans have been dependent on wood since the dawn of time — whether for creating heat-giving fires, building shelter, or crafting early modes of transportation like covered wagons and carriages. Seeing as the lumber industry is one of the oldest in the world, it should come as no surprise that it has undergone the greatest amount of evolution.

With that in mind, let us explore the ways in which the lumber industry has changed over the years.

Lumber Settled the New World

Manufacturing in England was booming by the time that the first settlers arrived in Jamestown. In fact, the iron industry and others placed such a huge burden on forests that England lawmakers passed a law limiting the number of trees that could be cut and making prices for wood exorbitant.

Archdeacon of London's Westminster Abbey Richard Hakluyt convinced King James I that the answer lies in importing lumber from the New World as opposed to importing it from the Baltic. King James I gave Hakluyt and six other men the First Charter of Virginia, and soon men representing the company arrived in the New World.

By 1650, however, the first settlers realized that lumber was very precious and refused to ship any more of it to England. The settlers, however, continued to export to the Canary Islands, Portugal, Spain, Madeira and the Azores. Yet, just two years later, England sent their own workforce to harvest trees for lumber.

Exporting to England and Beyond

Boston and Charleston soon became important shipbuilding areas after the arrival of master builders from England. Many pieces of lumber were not suitable for shipbuilding, so early settlers built sawmills were soon exporting more than 36 million feet of pine boards annually. From 1790 to 1840, over 8.7 trillion board feet of timber were exported from the port at Bangor, Maine.

Railroad's Demand for Lumber

After the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first railroad to be chartered to transport passengers and freight in 1827, the need for lumber in the United States grew very quickly as railroads demanded it to build train cars, power trains and build stations. In fact, the railroad brought 25 percent of all lumber being produced. As the railroad continued to move west, the demand for old-growth forest began to outstrip demand. By the time the Roaring Twenties arrived 30 percent of the lumber was already coming from the Pacific Northwest.

Logging Industry Today

Today, the logging industry exports more wood than it imports. This wood is often returned to the United States as finished products. In many cases, the health of the lumber industry follows that of the housing market. Over 90,000 people are employed in the industry creating a payroll of over $3 billion. New growth currently exceeds the demand for lumber allowing the future to look extremely bright.

Matt Carfaro is the founder and COO of Fortress Forest, an international supplier and importer of lumber products. While the company was established only five years ago, it has seen great success in all of its ventures, and looks forward to collaborating with a number of businesses in the new year. To learn more about Matt Carfaro and Fortress Forest, please visit Matt’s website.