APPENDIX. 443 



FOREST RESOURCES OF OREGON. 



By Martin W. Gorman. 



The value of our forests is three-fold, viz : First, as a source of lumber 

 supply ; second, as a source of fuel supply ; and third, as the prime factor in 

 the conservation of the flow of streams by retarding- the melting of the win- 

 ter's snow, thus preventing freshets with their accompanying erosion in 

 spring, and the drying- up of streams and desiccation of the soil in summer. 

 It is only within the province of this article to deal with the first two of 

 these questions however; and, with this object in view, let us first consider 

 the forest as to its lumber capacity. 



The fact is not generally known, even in this state, that Oregon possesses 

 a much greater amount of standing timber than any other state in the union 

 at the present time, viz, two hundred and thirty-four billion six hundred and 

 fifty-three million feet, board measure. 



This estimate, let me say, is not mere guesswork, nor the theorizing of an 

 optimistic logger or lumberman, but the result of a series of thorough and 

 systematic cruisings carried out under the direction of the United States 

 Geological Survey, the collecting and tabulating of the data being done by 

 Mr. Henry Gannett, Chief of the Division of Geography and Forestry. 



To more fully comprehend the enormous value of this forest wealth, let 

 us compare it with the amount of lumber cut in this state in the course of 

 the past year. 



During the year 1899, the sawmills of Oregon — of which there are now 

 more than three hundred — cut six hundred and sixty-nine million six hundred 

 and fifty thousand feet, valued at $6,228,250. At this ratio the value of our 

 present standing- timber, when cut into lumber, would equal the enormous 

 total of $2,182,000,000. Nor is this all, for the above estimate only includes 

 the seven leading timber trees, viz, Douglas spruce or red fir {FseudotsugOi 

 mucronata), Tideland spruce (Ficea Sitchensis), Pacific red cedar [Thuja 

 plicata), sugarpine [Pinus lavibertiana), western yellow pine [Pinus ponder- 

 osa), noble fir (Abies nobills), and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophyUa), while 

 there are fifty-four other trees of economic value occurring in this state. 



Of the above immense quantity of standing timber in our state, consid- 

 erably more than one-half is contained in seven counties (all of which, with 

 the exception of Klamath, are in the humid region west of the Cascade 

 Range), as follows : 



