Our Natural Resources (1955)

America is rich in natural resources that have provided us with great wealth and a good way of life our natural resources are things of great value that were here long before we came into being we will see how these riches can be of lasting benefit [Music] for example our living forest mineral wealth in rocks and metals petroleum and natural gas and our waters that nourish the soil and support life itself [Music] trees are the oldest living things in the groves of giant sequoias are sturdy old trees that have been growing for several thousand years one of the first things the early settlers made use of was the timber in colonial times virgin forests covered most of the land the settlers needed timber for homes and barns and needed to clear the land quickly for space to grow crops this wood from the native forests was of lasting value we can still see old houses bridges and mills that were built from a hundred to two hundred years ago supplies of wood are always needed so we are harvesting trees not only for lumber but also for plywood and paper and for the many byproducts of wood [Music] the underground wealth of our nation is not visible like the forest for example many of our western lands look barren but are rich in minerals like gold silver copper and bled a copper mine is an example of how the underground is obtained the bodies of ore are reached by stripping away the surface earth and also by tunneling underground the ore is crushed at a mill then through a series of electrochemical processes is transformed into sheets of copper [Music] the resulting metal makes millions of miles of wires and cables and goes into hundreds of products from telephones to television sets another desert region yields limestone rock that is the main component of cement the quarrying requires heavy equipment and transportation and milling the products result in such things as sidewalks and silos buildings and highways grain elevators and concrete pipe and bases for bridges building stone is obtained from a number of our state's for example the quarries in Indiana have furnished limestone for many years cut into many shapes and sizes you see them in the walls of houses and large public buildings iron ore the basic material for the steel industry is one of our most valuable minerals a constant stream of ships bring the raw ores down the Great Lakes from northern mines trains also bring iron coal limestone and other ingredients of steelmaking to mills located in many of our states [Music] in the furnaces the ores are converted into the hard metal steel to be rolled into many shapes for thousands of products [Music] we have many rare minerals too from a mine in Arkansas bauxite is being obtained it is processed into alumina in powder form then to the aluminum metal which goes into airplanes and houses and many new products coming into daily use uranium the mineral from which atomic power can be made for industry as well as bombs is being mined in numerous places a typical source is haystack mountain in New Mexico where this valuable ore has been found in large quantities who can tell what future mineral wealth is still to be unearthed [Music] about a hundred years ago a California prospector found oil seeping from the ground and collecting in a large natural fooled he scooped up a sample and sold it to a nearby mission to be used for healing oil and to burn in labs this was at the time of the gold rush and the prospector did not realize that the ultimate riches of oil would far exceed all the gold ever taken from the Western mines now the oil producers are drilling as deep as five miles into the earth and bringing up the petroleum which formed in hidden pockets in the strata of age-old rock and sand today production is largest in Texas California Louisiana and Oklahoma but also is important in the Pennsylvania hills on the plains of the Dakotas Wyoming and Montana and even in the wheat fields of Kansas petroleum along with natural gas is now the leading natural resource in the total value of its products our way of life has been greatly changed by this resource of oil because it is the fuel for most of our modern transportation [Music] in addition petroleum science is creating an increasing number of new chemical products besides oil and gasoline snow-covered mountain peaks are the source of much of that most valuable resource water trickling down from the melting snows the stream winds its way toward the sea [Music] the stream becomes a river it may become a great river of navigation and commerce some rivers are used as sites for giant dams where the water drops through pipes to revolve turbines and create power in electric generators much of this same water is turned into irrigation canal and gives life to former wasteland where fabulous crops are now grown while using the products from such resources it is well to consider how we can assure future supplies of timber minerals of what true conservation does not mean locking up our natural resources it means wise use and replenishment for maximum human benefit we can assure future supplies of wood by the kind of forest management which keeps timber always growing for later uses one way is to select and harvest individual trees that have reached their most useful size and value leaving younger trees to mature another way is when cutting entire areas of trees to leave blocks of standing trees to receive the cup over lands in some places large areas of wooded land are being set aside as tree farms for harvesting at future times when the trees will be of greater value [Music] adequate and constant fire prevention is most important in forest management [Music] in many places groups of young people are assisting government and Lumber Company foresters in replanting Baron or fire-swept areas we can assure future mineral supplies by constant exploration for new sources and by efficient production methods the search for oil is never-ending petroleum geologists with the latest scientific equipment are exploring all possible areas sometimes a device towed by airplane charts the magnetic field over large areas then with other equipment the oil bearing strata are located in the mining industry also modern processing is designed to extract the greatest possible amount of metal from the ore that is mild we can conserve water resources by protecting them at the source and providing for storage safeguarding the supply and purity of our waters begins in the woods where we need to preserve the ground litter to help retain the water [Music] in protecting our lakes forests and rivers we are also fostering one of the finest byproducts of such natural resources the enjoyment of beauty recreation and sports the havens for wildlife are also perpetual joys to mankind