General Christopher C. Andrews: Leading the Minnesota Forestry Revolution

In the nineteenth century, America's burgeoning population certainly did grab all the timber it could. Vast pine forests stretched from Maine to Dakota, and the lumber industry voraciously consumed them from east to west. In 1800, the Minnesota territory was sparsely sprinkled with fur traders and American Indians. By 1850, its bounteous forests attracted lumbermen, then settlers who hoped the plow could follow the ax. Railroads, farms, towns, and even statehood sprang from the lumber industry. Minnesotans loved this prosperity, so they left lumbermen unchecked. But forests fell quickly, leaving stump-covered wastelands, so littered with scraps that fires were a constant menace. Christopher Andrews, a retired Civil War general, tried to awaken sentiment for responsible forestry, but was ignored until a catastrophic fire garnered public attention. Andrews used fire prevention as a catalyst for his scientific forestry revolution. He insisted forestry would renew Minnesota's ravaged timberlands, and make them fire resistant. At first, Andrews campaigned alone, but persistently, over twenty years, he convinced most Minnesotans, even lumbermen, that forestry benefited the environment and economy. Not only was the lumber industry reformed, but state and national forests were created. Most importantly, Andrews planted the seeds of scientific forestry so that a century later, Minnesota forests still flourish.