26 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



SITKA SPRUCE IN THE TONGASS NATIONAL FORI':ST 



The most important species in Alasl<a is tlie Sitka spruce. Single trees reach a diameter of over seven feet and a height of 200 

 feet. A single log lirought to one of the local mills was 154 feet long and scaled 18,000 hoard feet. Many parts of the forest 

 run from lifty to seventy-live thousand feet per acre, limited areas carry one hundred thousand feet per acre. 



feet in diameter. But this comparison indicates an 

 extraordinary development of the Washington forests 

 rather than a small yield in Alaska. 



The coast belt extends from Dixon's entrance west to 

 Kenai Peninsula, a distance of about 1,000 miles, inter- 



rupted at several points where the mountains extending 

 to the sea are so rugged and rocky or have such a cover 

 of ice and snow that tree vegetation is prohibited. Just 

 as the Alaskan coast forests have a smaller development 

 than the coast forests further south in the States, so the 



