The Forest Primeval of Marion and Johnson Counties, Indiana, in 1819

The original forest of eastern North America has been acclaimed the most magnificent deciduous forest the world ever produced, but agriculture encroached very rapidly on this forest so that today in whole counties one cannot find a good representative stand of timber of the primeval forest. This is particularly true for states like Indiana where many counties were blessed with excellent soil, suited to agriculture. Marion and Johnson counties, Indiana are good representatives of such conditions. Fortunately, the original forest has, even though in a meagre way, been recorded both qualitatively and quantitatively by the surveyors working on the original U. S. land survey before the state was divided into county units. For the two counties considered here the record dates back to 1819