CONSERVATION OF THE TIMBER OF BRITISH 

 COLUMBIA 1 



By R. W. Hibberson 

 Ryan-Mclntosh Timber Company 



To the average man in the street, British Cokimbia is all timbered. 

 He travels by train through the interior of British Columbia, or by 

 steamer up the Coast and the country everywhere looks green ; there- 

 fore it must be timber. If you told him there is every danger of a 

 timber famine in British Columbia within 15 years, you would be 

 ridiculed; but there is a very decided danger of a timber famine, 

 and before many years lapse, we will all begin to feel it. 



Ten years ago, the center of the logging industry was within a radius 

 of 50 miles of Vancouver. Today, it is from 150 to 200 miles from 

 Vancouver, and in some cases operators are towing logs as far as 600 

 miles to their mills, and an average tow of 200 miles is quite common. 



Ten years ago, the average cost of logging was $5 per thousand 

 feet ; today it is nearly $20 per thousand feet and in some of our 

 cedar camps last year, the cost was over this figure. 



Ten years ago, most of our logging was done within a mile of the 

 salt water; today we are hauling by railroad 10 to 20, and in some 

 cases more miles by railroad to salt water, before we commence to tow 

 logs to the mill. 



The interior of British Columbia has the same conditions, where 

 formerly saw mills were built in the heart of the timber, today, logs 

 are brought distances up to 70 miles by water and by rail. This 

 means heavy expense and conditions are getting worse every day. 

 The general public is clamoring for cheap lumber. There can be no 

 cheap lumber in the future, if the logger and mill man are to make a 

 fair profit on their investment. Lumber will steadily rise in price 

 as the timber recedes farther and farther away from centers of 

 population, and the cost of getting the logs to the mill increases year by 

 year. 



Formerly a logger with a capital of $5,000 to $6,000 could open up a 

 camp and produce logs; today his machinery will cost him approxi- 



^ Address recently delivered in Vancouver before the Associated Boards of 

 Trade of British Columbia. 



776 



