Forest Resources oj the Pacific Northwest 



69 



products. For the other States, the percentages were: 

 Washington, 71; Idaho, 63; and Montana, 10. 



Table III. — Total tonnage of various products carried in inland 

 navigation on rivers, harbors, and canals in Pacific Northwest, 

 1929 



[Id thousand short tonsi 



Source: Annual Report of Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, 1930. 



The predominance of forest manufactures is most 

 striking in the comparison of rated capacity of prime 

 movers (power developed within the plant). The total 

 for the entire Region, in 1929, was 643,936 horsepower 

 in forest products' manufacturing plants, and only 

 69,505 for all other manufacturing concerns. By this 

 measure, the importance of forest products is nine times 

 that of other manufacturing. This great disproportion 

 in capacity of prime movers may be explained by the 

 common practice of lumber mills of using waste 

 materials for power generation. 



Even on the basis of capacity of motors driven by 

 purchased energy, power in forest products' manufac- 

 turing is important; although it outranks all other man- 

 ufacturing by this measure onh^ in Oregon. For the 

 four States, the percentages of rated capacity of all 

 motors driven by purchased energy found in forest 

 products' manufacturing plants are: 59 for Oregon, 48 

 for Idaho, 47 for Washington, and only 3 for Montana. 

 For the entire Region, 41 percent of motors using 

 purchased power in manufacturing plants were found 

 in the forest products' industries. Except in Montana, 

 the total purchases of electricity by forest products' 

 manufacturing plants are probably not much less than 

 the ])urchases of all other manufacturing industries 

 combined. The process of reducing wood to useful 

 products is one of the important sources of demand for 

 the output of electric generating and distributing 

 sj'stems in the Pacific Northwest. 



Importance of Forest Products Industries 

 to Pacific Northwest Cominunities 



One further method b}' which the economic impor- 

 tance of forest industries might be studied would be to 

 observe the effects on economic life of communities of 

 the rise and fall of forest industries. Particularly 

 where the forest industry lUsajJiicars, the effect on eco- 

 nomic and social conditions in the locality may give a 

 good picture of the importance of the industry. Some 

 attempt has been made in this study to approach the 

 problem from tliis direction, and it has been discovered 

 that there arc at least 76 instances in which towns 

 devoted to wood products industries have completely 

 disappeared. Another list of 77 towns was comjiilcd 

 of mill towns in which decline in population has been 

 associated with the abandonment of mil's. 



To secure an accurate picture, however, of the im- 

 portance of the mills in the lives of these towns and of 

 other communities would require a series of case studies. 

 Such studies, if properly conducted, could, in all likeli- 

 hood, reveal far more a])out the full effects of the rise 

 and fall in the rate of cxploitafioii of our lumber re- 

 source than can be secured b}- any other means. Figures 

 of numbers gainfidly employed, of significance in tlie 

 export balance of the Region, and of importance to 

 transportation agencies, emphasize the importance of 

 the forest resource in the economy of the Pacific North- 

 west. They provide, however, entirely inadefpiate 

 bases for judgment as to the effects of depletion of this 

 resource on the livelihood of the people. Where 

 forests are treated as exhaustible resources, many of the 

 communities started are doomed to be short-hved. It is 

 impossible under such conditions to pro'S'ide the types 

 of social services, housing, and other facilities necessary 

 for a satisfactory social environment. There is also 

 some reason to believe that with the passing of an in- 

 dustry, population does not decline as rapidly as em- 

 ployment, and tends to linger on at a reduced standard 

 of living. 



The cost involved in this process of buikhng up and 

 then abandoning temporary communities is veiy dilli- 

 cult to determine. There can be no question, however 

 that they arc very real and tliat the economic impor- 

 tance of the forest industries to the ])opulation of the 

 Pacific Northwest can be greatly increased if a forest 

 program can be developed which will make possible 

 stable populations in stable communities. 



