THE NATIONAL FORESTS OP ALASKA 91 



it will be a long time before lumber from this 

 forest will be exported. 



The timber in the Tongass National Forest 

 runs 60 per cent, western hemlock and 20 per 

 cent. Sitka spruce. The other 20 per cent, con- 

 sists of western red cedar, yellow cypress, lodge- 

 pole pine, cottonwood and white fir. The yellow 

 cypress is very valuable for cabinet making. 

 All these species except the cedar are suitable 

 for pulp manufacture. Peculiarly enough, con- 

 siderable of the lumber used in Alaska for box 

 shocks in the canneries and in building work is 

 imported from the United States. The local 

 residents do not think their native timber is as 

 good as that which they import. 



Alaska will probably develop into one of the 

 principal paper sources of the United States. 

 Our National Forests in Alaska contain approxi- 

 mately 100,000,000 cords of timber suitable for 

 paper manufacture. Experts report that these 

 forests could produce 2,000,000 cords of pulp- 

 wood annually for centuries without depletion. 

 About 6,000,000 tons of pulpwood annually are 

 now required to keep us supplied with enough 

 paper. The Tongass National Forest could easily 

 supply one-third of this amount indefinitely. 



