Today, the numerous relics of old railroad tramways are found in the Sabine National Forest, lasting evidence of this boom period of the early logging industry in Texas. Soon, the lack of conservation practices and the increasing effectiveness of railroad-based logging led to virtually complete exhaustion of the timber resource in east Texas, and the industrial timber operations moved to new areas. By the second decade of the 20th century, highly efficient railroad logging was at full-scale operation in the forests of east Texas. Little concern for forestland conservation was shown during these early days, as only prime logs at least 24 inches in diameter at the butt with 75 percent heartwood were utilized. In the late 19th century, commercial timber operations moved into the pineywoods seeking to replenish their profits by tapping the unharvested stands of virgin pine found here. This route has been recommended for designation as a National Historic Trail because of the important role it played in opening up the settlement of eastern Texas. Many historical markers line present day State Highway 21, designating this route as the "El Camino Real de los Tejas," the main travel route between the easternmost Spanish settlement at Los Adaes and the missions in present-day San Antonio. Lasting evidence of these settlement efforts may be found in place names like Nacogdoches and San Augustine and going eastward along the "El Camino Real" to Natchitoches and Los Adaes in western Louisiana. By the beginning of the 19th century, the more than two dozen tribes that had comprised the Caddoan Confederacy had been reduced to a single tribe, which was relocated to neighboring Oklahoma shortly after Texas gained statehood. Spanish efforts to establish missions among the Tejas (known today as the Caddo) and settle east Texas in the 17th and 18th centuries were largely unsuccessful, as there were few conversions and frequent conflicts between the native inhabitants and the European immigrants. When the first Europeans ventured into this area in the late 16th century, they encountered an agriculturally dependent people (whom the Spanish called "Tejas") inhabiting large villages, with complex religious and social orders governing their way of life. By the beginning of the first millennium, influences from the Mississippi Valley and southeastern woodland cultures were becoming more dominant. The earliest inhabitants were nomadic hunters, traveling in family-sized units and seasonally exploiting the diverse fauna and flora found in this and adjacent regions. This ecologically diverse and rich forest environment has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years. The forest is situated on the western slopes of the Sabine River watershed within Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby, Jasper, and Newton counties. Located in the pineywoods of east Texas, the 160,656-acre Sabine National Forest is the easternmost of the four national forests in Texas and forms part of the boundary between Texas and Louisiana.
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