4 REDWOOD LUMBERING. 



and speedy and comfortable passage by land made a trip to 

 the Pacific slope one more of pleasure than a tedious journey, 

 did tourists and sight-seers investigate for themselves the 

 wonderful field that had been so enthusiastically praised by 

 the Argonauts of California. 



Of all that has been told or written by travellers and cor- 

 respondents concerning California scenery, its huge growth 

 of beets, melons, squash, pears, and fruits of all descriptions, 

 the least attention has been called to our grand forests of 

 Redwood. This, however, is not much a matter of surprise, 

 as the facilities for a careful inspection of this favorite build- 

 ing material are quite or nearly as primitive as during the 

 early settlement of the State. Especially is this the case in 

 the northern section of the State, where the redwood belt has 

 greater width, and from climatic causes has developed a 

 heavier growth of timber. Not only are the trees in this 

 northern section larger in circumference, but they attain a 

 much greater height, and withal give a product to the millmen 

 that is far superior in quality to that obtained in the southern 

 extremity of the redwood belt, where the fogs, which is the 

 principal promoter of redwood growth, are not so heavy or 

 continuous during the summer or dry season. While the 

 lumber from the redwoods of Monterey, Santa Cruz, San 

 Mateo, Marin, Sonoma and the lower or southern portion of 

 Mendocino is hard, flinty and springy, that of Humboldt and 

 the northern portion of Mendocino is particularly soft, and 

 runs to a much higher average in clear stuff. Carpenters 

 and other wood workers are especially particular in selecting 

 the northern coast product, when procuring lumber for finish- 



