272 GANNETT 



have been recorded, a range of 147. Again contrast this 

 with Sitka, where 90 is the extreme range record. 



The rainfall in the interior is light, ranging at various 

 places and in different years from 10 to 25 inches. With 

 the cold climate and consequent slight evaporation, it 

 is probably sufficient in the majority of years for agri- 

 cultural requirements. Differing radically from the coast 

 climates, this climate is bright and sunny. There is 

 little dull, cloudy weather, and practically no fog. There 

 is more sunshine here in a month that at Sitka in a year. 



FORESTS 



The coast, as far to the westward as Cook Inlet, is 

 densely forested up to the timber-line, which ranges with 

 the latitude from 3,000 to 2,000 feet above sea-level. The 

 timber is mainly, indeed almost entirely, Sitka spruce. 

 There is some hemlock at higher levels, and in the 

 southern part a little cedar also, but these are of little com- 

 mercial importance. Red or Douglas fir, which forms the 

 bulk and principal value of the forests of Washington, 

 disappears in British Columbia. The spruce is large and 

 fine, as judged by eastern standards, but as compared with 

 the timber of Oregon and Washington, which is the 

 standard on the Pacific coast, it is inferior, and little use 

 is at present made of it, most of the timber needed being 

 brought from Puget Sound. On Kadiak and the adjacent 

 islands there is little timber, and farther west on the 

 Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands, none what- 

 ever; nor are there any trees on the islands in Bering 

 Sea. Why the timber should thus suddenly disappear on 

 the peninsula and islands is an open question. The rain- 

 fall is ample, and the climate little more severe than at 

 Sitka, and less severe than about Prince William Sound. 

 The suggestion that high, cold winds prevent tree growth 

 is negatived by the fact that such winds occur all along 



