The Future of British Columbia Lumbering. 



By Judson P. Clark, Ph.D. 



British Cohiiiibia is still distinctly 

 in the pioneering stage, the stage 

 when the disproportion of natural 

 resources to jxipulation intoxicates 

 the mind and holds out opportunit- 

 ies for the capable and enerjjctic 

 which are hut dreams and memories 

 in the ohh'r provinces and states. 



In no department of industry are 

 the opportunities for nu'n with 

 brains and capital, or even with 

 brains without the capital, greater 

 than in the line of forest products. 



In the development of the lumber 

 industry in the neighboring state of 

 Washington we see the promise of 

 the future of the industry in British 

 Columbia. In 1880 the value of the 

 prodtict of the lumber industry of 

 Washington was $1,700,000; in 1890, 

 $17,500,000; in 1000, $30,300,000; in 

 1907, $100,000,000. The value of our 

 forest products will be about $18,- 

 000,000. or equal to that of Wash- 

 ington in 1890. In seventeen years 

 (1890-1907) . Washington increased 

 her lumber output sixfold and rose 

 from a very minor position as a lum- 

 ber-producing state to a position at 

 the top of the list as the greatest 

 lumber-producing state in the world, 

 a position of distinction which she 

 has since retained and is likely to re- 

 tain until displaced by British Co- 

 lumbia about ten years hence. 



British Columbia's advance to a 

 pre-eminent position among the lum- 

 ber and |)aper producing countries 

 of the world is assured by its forest 

 resources and by the develonment of 

 its markets and transportation facil- 

 ities. These same considerations 

 also assure a much more rapid de- 

 velopment than was realized in the 

 State of Washington. 



Important Commercial Woods. 



British Columbia's resources in 



standing timber, taken in all three 

 aspects of quality, quantity and 

 price, defy competition. As in Wash- 

 ington, the Douglas fir is the most 

 important tree on the southern por- 

 tion of the coast. It frequently ex- 

 ceeds two hundred and fifty feet in 

 height and reaches fifteen feet in 

 diameter. In general, however, it 

 runs from three to six feet in diam- 

 eter and cuts from one hundred to 

 two hundred lineal feet of logs. In 

 quality of wood it resembles the 

 southern yellow pine, but, of course, 

 gives much larger dimensions and a 

 much larger proportion of clear 

 lumber. 



Next to the fir in importance i« 

 the giant arbor-vitae, or red cediar. 

 It reaches a height of about one 

 hundred and seventy feet, and aver- 

 ages three to six feet in diameter, 

 though occasionally much larger. 

 Already it supnlies about seventy 

 per cent of the shingles consumed in 

 Canada and the United States. 



The spruce, which replaces the 

 Douglas fir on the northern coast, is 

 at least equal to the best spruce else- 

 where for pulp purposes, and, on ac- 

 count of its large size, gives a very 

 much larger proportion of clear 

 lumber. The Western hemlock and 

 the balsam fir are trees of great size 

 and beauty, and! further excel their 

 eastern cousins, the former by an 

 entire ab.sence of shake and brashi- 

 ness of grain and the latter by its 

 uniform soundness. 



The sixth and only other import- 

 ant tree of the coast forests is the 

 cypress or yellow cedar. It has all 

 the good qualities of the cedars, in- 

 cluding great durability and even- 

 ness of texture, and po.ssesses, in 

 addition, a degree of strength and 

 elasticity not to be found in any 



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