STEEP TRAILS 



in these cool, moist northlands that it reaches 

 its finest development, tall, straight, elastic, 

 and free from limbs to an immense height, 

 growing down to tide-water, where ships of 

 the largest size may lie close alongside and 

 load at the least possible cost. 



Growing with the Douglas we find the white 

 spruce, or "Sitka pine," as it is sometimes 

 called. This also is a very beautiful and ma- 

 jestic tree, frequently attaining a height of 

 two hundred feet or more and a diameter of 

 five or six feet. It is very abundant in south- 

 eastern Alaska, forming the greater part of the 

 best forests there. Here it is found mostly 

 around the sides of beaver-dam and other 

 meadows and on the borders of the streams, 

 especially where the ground is low. One tree 

 that I saw felled at the head of the Hop-Ranch 

 meadows on the upper Snoqualmie River, 

 though far from being the largest I have seen, 

 measured a hundred and eighty feet hi length 

 and four and a half in diameter, and was two 

 hundred and fifty-seven years of age. 



In habit and general appearance it resembles 

 the Douglas spruce, but it is somewhat less 

 slender and the needles grow close together 

 all around the branchlets and are so stiff and 

 sharp-pointed on the younger branches that 

 they cannot well be handled without gloves. 



230 



