254 FERNOW 



cheerful; for, while in certain favored spots good enough 

 material can be secured, most of this material is not of a 

 superior quality, and the larger portion of the area does 

 not contain trees fit for lumber. 



Leaving out of consideration the two cedars, which are 

 found only in limited quantities and will soon be exhausted, 

 the other two species, spruce and hemlock, are, by their 

 nature, not capable of furnishing high class lumber. The 

 hemlock furnishes a material which would answer very 

 well for house-finishing purposes, but it is objected to be- 

 cause it is difficult to work and has the bad reputation of 

 its eastern congener, which the writer believes it does not 

 deserve. Enormous quantities, too, of far superior de- 

 velopment are now going to waste in the forests around 

 Puget Sound, because its value is not known or appre- 

 ciated in the market. The spruce, being a rapidly-grown, 

 coarse-grained wood, even where it is best developed on 

 the Oregon coast, makes indifferent lumber, fit only for 

 packing cases, boxes, and common building material, un- 

 desirable as long as better material can be had. 



In addition to the small value of these woods and their 

 comparatively unsatisfactory development, the conditions 

 under which lumbering on the rugged slopes would have 

 to be carried on are extremely difficult; add to these de- 

 tractions the distance from market, and we may readily 

 see the reasons why this reserve will, for an indefinite 

 time, be left untouched except for local use. 



So unfavorable is the combination of conditions, natural 

 and economic, at present, that it pays to import lumber 

 from the Puget Sound country or other points of the lower 

 coast. The builders of the Yukon and White Pass railroad 

 across White Pass found it to their advantage to import 

 the railroad ties, as well as all trestle and bridge timbers, 

 although the road passes through a forested country; and 

 even the timber used in the cannery establishment at Orca, 



