Fletcher W. Hewes & Henry Gannett, Forestry, Ratio of Estimated Timber Supply, In Cords, to Total Area (1883)

Published in Scribner’s Statistical Atlas of the United States (1883) and created by Fletcher W. Hewes and Henry Gannett, this thematic map shows the distribution of forests and the estimated timber supply across the United States. During the 19th century, timber was an essential resource for economic growth. Wood supplied fuel and building materials and helped expand transportation networks like railroads. This map showcases the contrast between the heavily forested areas in the eastern United States and the largely treeless Great Plains. The atlas explained, "the rainfall of this region [the Great Plains] is not sufficient for forest-growth, and, with the exception of narrow belts of timber along some of the main streams, or an occasional pine on the face of a rocky bluff, the whole area is treeless" (p. xxiii). This visualization helps explain why the economic activity developed differently across regions of the U.S. and how areas with forests supported lumbering and manufacturing industries, while the Great Plains were more suitable for agriculture and ranching.