Solving History's Mysteries: -- The Saga Of The Million Lost Pennsylvania Pines
Nov. 1, 2000
Mont Alto, Pa. --- Whatever happened to the million pine seedlings sent by Pennsylvania forestry students to help with the reforestation of the French countryside after World War I?

Eighty years later and after finding references to this humanitarian effort, those at the site of the forest academy (now the Mont Alto campus of The Pennsylvania State University) want to know. Solving the mystery has become a campus goal as members begin preparing for the school's 100th anniversary.

The saga of the lost pines remains a mystery because the students of 1919 never heard if the pine trees survived the transatlantic shipment. Where the seedlings planted? And, if planted in Europe, where might they be today?

"Many of the academy's forestry students and faculty served in World War I," said Dr. David Goldenberg, Penn State Mont Alto CEO. These students saw the devastation to the French countryside first hand. When they returned to the academy campus, they met in Emmanuel Chapel, a creekstone chapel at the entrance to the academy grounds. There, Dr. Edwin Ziegler, the academy chief admininstrator and World War I veteran, led a discussion of what the academy community could do to help war-torn Europe.

Across the creek from the chapel lay the academy nursery where the students grew from one to three million seedlings yearly to plant along the Eastern seaboard. The academy, founded by the great conservationist Joseph Rothrock of McVeytown, Pennsylvania, was the first public forestry academy in the United States. Only Yale University and Biltmore were teaching an academic curriculum in forestry when the academy at Mont Alto was founded in 1903. The nursery was in place to teach these young foresters how to grow and plant tracts of trees, as well as to research specie adaptability to different climates.

"So it was natural that the Mont Alto students in 1919 would look to share their expertise and their abundant natural resources with the people of France. On that day in the chapel, the students voted to bundle and ship one million pine seedlings, perhaps as much as one-half to one-third of the nursery's output, we don't know exactly, and ship them to France," said Goldenberg.

The fate of the pines remains a mystery today. In her book "The History of the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy, 1903-1929," author Elizabeth Thomas notes that the Mont Alto students never heard if the seedlings were received.

"So we are on a quest to determine their fate," Dr. Goldenberg said. "We have talked to retired forestry faculty, retired alumni, and our representative, U.S. House Congressman Bud Shuster, to enlist his help in uncovering clues," Dr. Goldenberg said.

Congressman Shuster has contacted the USDA library in Beltsville, Md., and is arranging a meeting with staff of the French Embassy so the Mont Alto officials can enlist the embassy's help.

Mont Alto Advisory Board member Robert Rumler of Chambersburg, himself a leading figure of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has provided a contact with the USDA's agricultural office in Paris.

"Should we find locations where these pines were planted and should they now be mature forests in France, we will request from the French government the opportunity to provide recognition for the hard work and valor of the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy students of 1919. Recognition may be in the form of a plaque or other marker, or a decree. And, Mont Alto alumni and friends may wish to join us on a tour of this area," Dr. Goldenberg said.

"Given that we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy in 2003, we think it fitting that we solve this mystery in honor of the 100 years of conservation and natural resource management that Mont Alto alumni have contributed to sustaining America's great natural resources," Dr. Goldenberg said.

Contact: Holly R. Yingling Public Information Coordinator Penn State Mont Alto Mont Alto, PA 17237 717-749-6112 (phone) 717-749-6111 (fax) http://www.ma.psu.edu