東勢鎮從清領時期派軍工匠伐木採料建庄，至日治八仙山林場的開發，以及民國政府時期八仙山林場以及大雪山林場的經營，使得東勢儼然呈現台灣林業開發史的縮影。而其中八仙山是明治44 年（1911）日軍在討伐泰雅族發現的，在大正4 年7 月（1915）營林局開伐，開始了台灣的日式伐木作業系統。到民國政府來台之際，八仙山林場因已砍伐殆盡，八仙山林場亦想有一番振作，關愛的眼光投向後方因為地勢較陡峭而尚未被開發的大雪山區。在韓戰爆發後，美援大量作業及利用均採用美式（鏈鋸伐木造材、高曳集材、聯車運材），以擺脫日人舊制作業。因此，東勢鎮在兩大林場的歷史發展過程中，分別有日式伐木系統與美式伐木系統的特色，具有台灣林業文化史上具象徵指標意義，故希望盼藉此研究的進行能深入探討其不同，有助於對台灣林業的認識。

Having long historical roots in forestry, Taiwan’s Tungshih Township has been continuously affected by the lumber industry throughout its history. Extending from the Qing Dynasty, when soldiers were sent to harvest wood for use in construction, to the development of the Basianshan timberland during the Japanese Occupation period, to the operation of the Basianshan and the Dasyueshan timberlands beginning in the Nationalist Government era, Tungshih has veritably epitomized Taiwanese lumbering history.
Throughout this history, Basianshan, Alishan, and Taipingshan have ranked as the three largest forest farms on the island. Japanese soldiers discovered Basianshan during the 44th year of the Ming-Zhi Era (1911) when battling against the Atayal Tribe. In July of the fourth year of the
Da-Zheng Era (1915), the Forest Bureau began to log trees in areas near the Li De River, thereby inaugurating the Japanese lumbering system era in Taiwan. By the time that the Nationalist Government moved to Taiwan, the supply of logs from these three forest farms had been almost depleted. While the Basianshan Timber District tried to regain its glory, attention was drawn to the the Tashushan area behind it, which had not been developed due to the steep terrain. When the Korean War started, American operational support and equipment (chainsaw logging, hauling via high-steel cables, transportation by trailer trucks, manufacturing in batches, and preliminary processes) were quickly moved in, thereby enabling advancement from the old-fashioned Japanese logging operations.
As a result, Tungshih Township, which has experienced a history from military logging to the development of two big forest farms, encompasses characteristics of both the Japanese and the American logging systems and also serves as both a symbolic and defining role in Taiwan’s lumbering past. Consequently, in an attempt to elevate an understanding of Taiwan’s forestry industry,this research seeks to analyze the differences between the two systems.