Railroads and Clearcuts

'Railroads and Clearcuts" explains in a straightforward, factual manner how a well-meaning piece of legislation from 1864 led to the current crisis in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. That legacy is one of corruption, abuse and lies. Authors Derrick Jensen and George Draffan use extensive historical research to illustrate how millions of acres of timberland that were supposed to be opened to homesteaders instead fell into the hands of huge lumber corporations. The land in question involves alternating square miles in an 80- to 120-mile-wide swath from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast – a strip marred today by clearcuts and forest devastation.

The resulting checkerboard system has left ecosystems in disarray and forests irreparably fragmented. However, the authors claim that Section 20 of the 1864 legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln kept the door open for Congress to alter, amend or repeal the legislation. In effect, the United States could reclaim the land from the corporate timber giants who "inherited it" from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. The book cites the U.S. government’s investigation under President Calvin Coolidge and a resulting settlement as a possible precedent for action today.

A book that has surely stirred controversy, "Railroads and Clearcuts" finds a wide audience among those with concerns about the environment or the astounding abuse of an historic government program intended to help settle the West. This is a book that helped renew the debate about the use and preservation of the once-rich forests of the Pacific Northwest.

What they said about Railroads and Clearcuts
"This is the story of the biggest land grant in American history, larger than 10 Connecticuts, and how the timber companies got hold of huge forests to clearcut ... A revealing report of government giveaways and corporate action." –Ralph Nader

"A worthy contribution to the continuing debate over use of public lands." –Publishers Weekly

"Here at last is a book which documents in detail the abuses of public trust which have so scarred the wilderness legacy of our Pacific Northwest states, and which at the same time offers some hope for redressing and making right, at last, these ancient wrongs." –Brock Evans, conservation activist

"Railroads played such an important role in the making of the Pacific Northwest – far more than in other parts of the United States – that no one can hope to understand the modern region without comprehending the railroad impact on the land and its settlers." –Carlos Schwantes, author and professor of history

"This valuable account is essential information for all those who want to see jsutice done in the deep woods of the northern tier." –Charles F. Wilkinson, author and professor of law