Large lumber companies, land holding companies and private individuals once held the major tracts that now comprise the Moshannon State Forest, in central Pennsylvania. White pine and hemlock stands occupied the shady slopes and moist plateaus in the earliest recorded forests of the area. Many areas were covered with a mixture of beech, yellow poplar, birches, maples, oaks, cherry, hickory and chestnut. Some of the best white pine areas of the U.S. were located here and contained upwards of one hundred thousand board feet per acre.
