Asa Packer Home
Photo Maralyn D. Hill
Although the epithet “Robber Baron”
was freely tossed around in the
late 1800s and early 20th century,
I never heard it aimed at Asa Packer.
Gifford Pinchot
The father of Gifford Pinchot had
acquired enough wealth in New York
City to allow retiring, at least for
summers, to Milford, Pennsylvania.
There, he built a mansion reflecting
extensive French influence. His oldest
son, Gifford, was born in 1865.
View from
Asa Packer’s home.
Photo: Maralyn D. Hill
The older Pinchot was very
concerned about large scale forest
destruction and resulting soil
erosion throughout the U.S.,
a practice sometimes called
indiscriminate “clear cutting.”
He instilled this concern in his son,
born in 1865. From then on, Gifford
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Pinchot worked tirelessly to promote
scientific forestry and conservation
of natural resources. One technique
may be known as “thinning,” by
which older trees are cut to make
way for younger trees to thrive.
Pinchot always stressed that a
reasonably long time horizon in
forestry management was more
profitable than seemingly mindless
cutting for the sake of cutting
In 1905, under sponsorship of
President Theodore Roosevelt, he
became head of the new United States
Forest Service. Although part of the
Department of the Interior, this new
federal agency grew in size to control
more than 170 million acres. Logging
by private companies would be
permitted, but on a strictly controlled
fee basis that would preserve overall
forest size. The so called thinning
approach would be followed.
Pinchot thus did not advocate an
eternal “state of nature”, untouched
by human hands. This evidently led
to debates with John Muir, another
naturalist, who evidently did not
ALL PHOTOS BY LEAH WALKER.
The Asa Packer mansion in the town
of Jim Thorpe is considered an
outstanding example of Victorian
architecture. It is faithfully
preserved, both inside and outside,
and is considered one of the
outstanding sites in the Poconos.