Alaska Woods. 187 



Timber Cut on the Tongass Forest During Fiscal Years igoQ to 



igi2, Inclusive. 



Year. Ft. B. M. Cords. Linear Feet- 



1909 5.611,940 1,858 60,433 



1910 10,569,180 1,211 397,126 



191 1 23,019,560 1,911 627,978 



19 1 2 35,132,710 2,150 2,206,960 



The mill methods are very wasteful and a prodigality in the 

 manner of working up material has been engendered by the easy 

 way in which logs have been obtained. The ordinary mill in 

 operation at present has a daily capacity of about 30,000 board 

 feet, the main saw is a circular, cutting f inch kerf, and where 

 box shooks are manufactured, a band resaw is operated ; many 

 inexperienced men are employed and no attempt is made to 

 utilize the excessive amount of waste. Practically all of the 

 timber is used locally the only outside shipment last season 

 being made to the States and included about 800,000 board feet 

 of first class, clear spruce lumber. Out of all the timber sawn 

 by the mills of southeastern Alaska during the calendar year 

 191 2, approximately 52 per cent, was construction material, 12 

 per cent, mine timbers, 30 per cent salmon cases, 4 per cent, 

 herring and halibut cases and 2 per cent, shingles. The rapid 

 growth of the fishing industry largely accounts for the large 

 cut of saw timber and piling during the last few years, especially 

 the season of 1912 which was one of exceptionally great activity. 

 Although seasons of such great activity may not occur frequently, 

 it is expected that the annual consumption of piling will seldom 

 become lower as long as the supply of fish remains good. In 

 each of the past two years the salmon canneries of southeastern 

 Alaska have used very nearly fourteen million board feet of saw 

 timber for cases, not over two-thirds of which was supplied by 

 local mills, the remainder being shipped from mills of the Pa- 

 cific Coast States. Even though boxes can be landed in this 

 region by Puget Sound mills for the same prices demanded by 

 local millmen, the business rightfully belongs to Alaska and could 

 be kept there if the local mills were equipped to produce the 

 necessary number of cases used. 



The lumber industry on the Chugach Forest has developed 



