In 1912, the Japanese colonial government began a large-scale logging program in Taiwan. Anywhere a railway could be built became a logging ground. Seemingly inexhaustible numbers of false cypress logs were transported down from Mt.
大而美的檜木，在一九一二年日本殖民政府時代開始砍伐，當時凡鐵路所經之處都是檜木林區，阿里山、太平山、八仙山林場，檜木源源不絕出山，跨海送往日本。