PRODUCTION OF TANBARK. 9 



last 17 years the chief source has been the Mendocino district, along 

 the coast to the north of Sonoma, where tanbark has been outranked 

 only by redwood as a valuable forest product. This region has 

 furnished probably more bark than all others put together, but 45 

 per cent of the stand has been peeled now and a considerable portion 

 of the remainder is, under present conditions, too inaccessible to be 

 of value. The stand in the Santa Lucia Mountain region, along the 

 coast in Monterey County, which, though of excellent quality, was 

 never large, is now almost exhausted. In the isolated Santa Bar- 

 bara district and in the Sierra Nevada territory the trees are few and 

 scattered. 



The most extensive bodies of virgin tanbark oak now are in the 

 north in northern Mendocino and Humboldt Counties and because 

 of accessibility to shipping the main sources of supply are in the coast 

 region of Mendocino, southern Humboldt, and, to some extent, 

 Sonoma Counties in California, and in southwestern Oregon. The 

 Sonoma and Mendocino areas have been drawn upon from the inte- 

 rior, also, by a railroad which follows the valleys of Santa Rosa, 

 Russian River, and Little Lake northward, and has now reached 

 the center of Mendocino County. The most northern part of the belt 

 has not been much disturbed, since the railroad has not reached it 

 and its distance from the ocean necessitates a long haul. The tan- 

 neries at Humboldt Bay have been supplied from Kneeland Prairie 

 and the Acorn region in the Bald Hills country. 



STAND AND YIELD. 



It is estimated that 'there are now 1,425,000 cords of standing bark 

 in the Pacific coast forests, distributed as follows: 



Counties. 



Cords. 



California: 



San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Monterey 



Marin, Sonoma, and Napa 



Mendocino . : 



Humboldt, Trinity, western Siskiyou, and Del Norte 



Oregon: 



100,000 



70,000 



320,000 



87,5,000 



Curry and Coos. 



60,000 



Total.. 



1,425,000 



At the present rate of consumption, this is enough to provide for 

 the needs of the leather industry in California for a little less than 

 half a century. 



The average yield of bark is from 200 to 350 cords per "claim," 

 or quarter section (from 1J to 2^ cords per acre). From 350 to 640 

 cords (from 2J to 4 cords per acre) is considered a particularly good 

 yield, and exceptionally fine quarter sections yield from 640 to 1,200 

 cords (from 4 to 7J cords per acre). The highest yields are not 

 89446 Bull 7511 2 



