February 23, 1016 



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Some Pacific Coast Hardwoods 



Editor's Note 



The Pacific const region is enormously ricti in softwoods but poor in liardwoods. No broadleat tree west of the Rocky 

 Mountains furnishes lumber lu large amounts nor is it in general use. The product of several species is in local demand, 

 and in the aggregate considerable quantities are cut ; but none of it is a commercial commodity in the sense that some of 

 the eastern hardwoods are. A number of the trees of the Paciflc coast are scarcely known, even bv name, in the East and 

 the lumber cut from them never crosses the Rocky Mountains ; but thev mav be locally important in the regions where 

 they grow, and to a small extent they are competitors of eastern hardwoods which are shipped to the far West. 



The Pacific coast has four oaks, one maple, one ash, and one cotton- 

 wood which may properly be classed as its most important hardwoods, 

 and the other broadleaf trees of that part of the country are the 

 minor hardwoods, and are so considered in this article. Most of 

 them have no near relative among the commercial woods of the 

 East. Brief accounts of some of these minor woods follow: 

 The Heath Family 



The Pacific coast has interesting trees belonging to the heath 

 family, and rather closely related to the huckleberries. The largest 

 is the madrona (Arbutus menziesii) which ranges from Oregon south- 

 ward through California. The casual observer would scarcely take 

 it for a cousin of the diminutive eastern huckleberry which is seldom 

 more than knee-high. At their best, madrona trees are 100 feet high 

 and four or five feet in diameter; but the usual size does not exceed 

 a foot in diameter and forty feet high. The reddish bark attracts 

 the easterner's attention as far away as he can see it, and its ragged, 

 papery appearance reminds him of the river birch when it is shedding 

 its outer covering on the bank of some southern or eastern stream. 



The wood is a little stronger than white oak and a little lighter. 

 It is inclined to warp and twist in seasoning. Though it is of redder 

 color than sugar maple, the quarter-sawed stock looks like quarter- 

 sawed maple. "When the lumber is sawed in the usual way it might 

 be mistaken for applewood. The tree is an evergreen, and the shape 

 and texture of the leaf betrays its kinship to the huckleberry. The 

 ripe fruit is a small red berry, and may some time in the future be 

 a rival of holly for ornamental purposes. 



The wood has a number of uses, but the supply has always been 

 greater than the demand. Fifty years ago California powder mills 

 were making gun powder of madrona; and the wood, burned in pits, 

 supplied blacksmiths with charcoal, while tanners ground the thin 

 bark for making leather. 



The wood has been put to good use in furniture factories. The 

 product is attractive when the lumber is carefully selected; but it 

 occasionally contains hard streaks which do not polish well. In this 

 respect, the wood resembles that of southern evergreen magnolia. It 

 exhibits great beauty when a perfect polish is obtained. In a small 

 way it has been used for interior finish, newel posts, stair work, 

 grilles, panels, molding, balusters, and raUing. 



Manzanita (Afctostaphylos mamanita) is a diminutive kinsman of 

 madrona and bears unmistakable family resemblance in bark, leaf, 

 and fruit; but it is a dwarf, and is the most crooked, elbowed, and 

 kneed tree that grows. No trunk, fork, branch, bough, or twig is 

 straight. Its wood is among the most brittle known. A limb when 

 sharply bent may fly in pieces. Some people refuse to dignify the 

 manzanita by calling it a tree, but class it as a shrub. In spite of 

 that handicap, it may be safely said that the wood is more widely 

 known than that of any other Pacific coast hardwood. Most tourists 

 returning from California carry manzanita souvenirs with them, as 

 canes, paper knives, napkin rings, pen racks, button boxes, and 

 numerous others. These articles are quite generally sold as ' ' curl- 

 leaf mahogany," but nine times out of ten they are manzanita. 



The fruit of manzanita resembles the huckleberry in size, but in 

 taste is more acid. Indians formerly made cider of it, which was a 

 tolerable substitute for a stronger drink that was not always obtain- 

 able by the children of the forest. The tree 's name, though coined 

 in languages both living and dead, refers to the fruit. Arctostaphylos 

 in the Greek language means ' ' bear grape, ' ' and manzanita is 

 Spanish for "little apple," 



Manzanita can never be sawed into lumber, but its deeply colored 

 wood is well liked in the novelty shop. There is plenty of it. 



Western Sumac 



The somewhat scarce California or western sumac can never cut 

 much figure in shops or mills because it is too hard to locate, but 

 some use is found for the wood which as often as not passes by the 

 name mahogany. It possesses good working qualities, and the largest 

 trunks may be two or even three feet in diameter, though very short. 

 The largest specimens grow on islands lying off the southern Cali- 

 fornia coast. The wood is hard, heavy, and red. Formerly the bark 

 and branches were employed in tanning, and Indians split the wood 

 in fine ribbons, colored them with the tree's black sap, and made 

 beautiful baskets, interwoven with quail feathers as ornaments. 



Western Alders 



In the East the alders are bushes and have no commercial value, 

 but on the Pacific coast they are tall, graceful trees with trunks as 

 straight as pines, and of size suitable for sawlogs. There are two 

 kinds, white and red. The latter is the more valuable. It is more 

 abundant than the other and the wood is preferred, though white 

 alder is by no means a poor wood. The red alder is best developed in 

 Washington and Oregon, the white along the western foothills of the 

 Sierra Nevada mountains in California. The trees bloom in midwin- 

 ter and the fruit remains on the branches a full year. 



The western alders follow the custom of all other alders and grow 

 in damp ground. In the rainy Northwest the trees may thrive on high 

 land, but in California they occur in the bottoms of gulches where 

 water is abundant most of the year. Largest trees are two or three 

 feet in diameter and may be 100 feet high. The wood is about 

 twenty per c§nt heavier than yellow poplar, ten per cent weaker than 

 white oak, but is stiffer and more brittle. It is soft and works 

 easily, taking a beautiful polish. The color of red alder is expressed 

 in the name. The white alder is of paler tone. The wood is not 

 durable when exposed to dampness. A log a foot in diameter, and a 

 fence post of usual size, may fall to pieces by decay in a year or two. 



Alder is of more value in the West than it would be if its range 

 were in the eastern states where other hardwoods are abundant. It 

 is put to many uses, and is probably the best material in the western 

 forests for hollow woodenware. Indians were using it for dishes 

 and troughs before white men knew of the existence of the wood. 

 Several million feet of alder are used annually. The largest quan- 

 tity goes into furniture, and interior finish comes next. Much is 

 converted into broom handles. The smooth polish which it takes 

 makes it highly desirable for this household article. 



Wild Lilac 



A few novelties and souvenirs made of the wood of wild lilac in 

 California have brought that rare wood into notice recently. It can 

 never become important because trunks of tree size are hard to find. 

 In some situations the full grown tree is only a foot high, but among 

 the redwoods on the Santa Cruz mountains trees attain a height of 

 thirty -five feet. It is not closely related to the common lilacs which 

 are not natives of America. The California tree is Ceanothus thyrsi- 

 fiorus and locally is sometimes known as blue blossoms. Its relatives 

 are scattered all over the Pacific coast and are known as blue brush, 

 snow brush, deer brush, or chaparral, which names are quite loosely 

 applied. 



Western Dogwood 



The shuttlemaker who scours the eastern forests for shuttlewood 

 has not yet turned his attention to the Pacific coast where dogwoods 

 grow which surpass in size any ever seen in North Carolina; but 

 they are a different species, and in several points the wood does not 

 measure up to the white-flowered eastern dogwood. It is a little 



