Why I liked WHEN MONEY GREW ON TREES

Part 2 - Why I liked WHEN MONEY GREW ON TREES: A. B. Hammond and the Age of the Timber Barons

There’ve been a lot of ruthless, unscrupulous robber barons in our country’s history, and A. B. Hammond, while lesser known than people like Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Morgan, stole natural resources with wild abandon. He and his partners had received the contract to build the Northern Pacific railroad in Montana, and in the book I learned how much wood laying track ties and building bridges would take and how with no mind to conserve he started taking timber. The estimated number of railroad ties per mile of track amounted to 2,640 ties fashioned from thirty-three trees per mile. Some laws were on the books, but these he ignored as he stole timber off public lands to finish his project. He began acquiring private lands and clear-cut them. It was said he was the worst enemy a redwood tree ever had. 

Other authors and books have added thought to the conservation movement, but I doubt whether the definitive book has yet been written about all the straws sucking oil out of North Dakota ground. In such a short few years they have marred the pristine view we native North Dakotans loved, but most importantly this activity forestalls the development of practical alternative energy sources. Arguments arise in support: look at how many jobs are created by this activity. (that would be the Captains of Industry argument). Yes, in the short term I would agree, but I believe global warming is real and fossil fuels contribute to the problem. Alternative energy needs to be in the forefront.

I think of many other endangered components of this life we share on our little planet: national parks, wildlife, waterways, endangered species, plastic afloat in ocean waters, and (what have I forgotten…). It takes a book like WHEN MONEY GREW ON TREES to make me think about such things.