GOG JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



narrow valleys of the Coast Range of Oregon. Here this little under- 

 story tree, rarely over 12 inches in diameter and 60 feet high, reaches 

 its prime and becomes a conspicuous member of the forest on the 

 moister bottoms and benches, where the shade of Douglas fir is not 

 too dense. From this region comes the majority of the world's supply 

 of this highly prized medicinal bark. 



The gathering of "chittim bark," as it is called locally, is distinctly a 

 home industry. The tools are an ax, a hand-made spud, and a few 

 gunny sacks. The work is done by the settler alone or with the help of 

 his children during the spring months, when the bark will slip. The 

 trees are first felled, then peeled, even to the smaller limbs ; the bark 

 is allowed to dry a day or two and is then tied into bundles, like 

 wall paper, and back-packed to the nearest road or trail, whence it 

 can be loaded on a horse or wagon and taken to the settler's shed, to be 

 further dried, cleaned of moss, broken up fine, and sacked. It is 

 rare for a single tree to yield as much as 100 pounds of dry bark, 

 though yields of 250 pounds do occur. The bark shrinks about one- 

 half in drying. 



At the local store it is sold or bartered for necessary staples or 

 wares. To many Coast Range settlers it is their chief source of ready 

 cash during the first years of land clearing. The price paid peelers 

 for dry bark has recently ranged from 6 cents per pound to about 

 13 cents, and there is a resultant activity in the industry. The price 

 fluctuates widely because of inevitable over-production at each marked 

 increase in price and a subsequent cessation of production when the 

 price is low. 



The best tracts of accessible cascara bark stumpage, both on private 

 land and on the Siuslaw National Forest, have been cut and it is neces- 

 sary now for peelers to go farther back into the hills and away from 

 trails. 



Recently a tract of 20,000 pounds of rather inaccessible bark on the 

 Siuslaw was advertised for sale — the first tract of National Forest 

 cascara bark to be advertised, so far as known. Five bids were re- 

 ceived, with the result that the price was run up from 3 cents, as ad- 

 vertised, to 5.1 cents a pound for dry bark. 



On the Siuslaw some of the rangers are kept busy in the spring and 

 summer looking after sales of cascara bark stumpage. Most of the 

 transactions are for a few dollars' worth only, though about 100,000 

 pounds were sold on that Forest last year, and over half of that in 

 Ranger McCaskie's district alone. 



While the accessible and well-stocked stands of good-sized trees 



