FLYING ON WINGS OF SPRUCF 



137 



spruce is probably not over 3 per cent. Thus to get a 

 million feet (enough for 500 airplanes) means cutting 

 and sawing some 20 million board feet. Assuming a 

 high average of 5,000 feet of select logs per acre, this 

 means cutting 4,000 acres of forest, or 8 acres for every 

 airplane. Then we read that 16 were shot down in one 

 day, and that their average life is two months. 



Using the above figures, nearly a half million acres 

 of eastern spruce forest would have to be cut to pro- 

 duce the aircraft lumber now ordered and needed. The 

 obvious impossibility of this led to the early utilization 

 of the Sitka spruce for by far the greater percentage 

 of the aircraft lumber. 



in Graham Island, of the Queen Charlotte group, logging 

 facilities and transportation are inadequate ; where these 

 are present as in Washington, the spruce is not uni- 

 formly distributed and the best spruce areas often be- 

 yond the reach of existing logging roads. From Graham 

 Island the spruce logs for the British Government are 

 towed 86 miles to Prince Rupert, or 500 miles to Van- 

 couver to be sawed. 



In size the western spruce averages 3 to 4 feet in 

 diameter and 100 or more feet high, with trees 6 to 8 

 feet through not uncommon. The bark of the mature 

 trees is thin flanked and of reddish-brown color, giving 

 a beautiful effect where the straight, clean columned 



Photogr a ph by Underwood & Underwood 



A BIG SITKA SPRUCE READY FOR SHIPMENT TO A SAWMILL 

 This tree, which was cut in the Gray's Harbor region of Washington, contains 8,500 feet of lumber of the kind used both for aircraft and ship- 

 building. This is by no means the maximum size, spruce trees having been measured which scale 35,000 feet, or on the usual average of 10 

 per cent aircraft stock, enough for nearly two machines. 



Distinctly a Pacific Coast species, the Sitka spruce is 

 found from central California to Alaska, and rarely more 

 than 50 miles from the Coast. It reaches its best de- 

 velopment in Washington, northern British Columbia, 

 the Queen Charlotte Islands, and in spots on the lower 

 Alaska coast. 



Rarely forming extensive forests in the lower part of 

 its range, and usually comprising not over 10 per cent 

 of the total stand, it is not easy to produce Sitka spruce 

 in large quantity. When found in large, pure stands, as 



trunks are grouped under the moss festooned tops. But 

 now their utility, rather than their stately or picturesque 

 beauty appeals to our sentiments. 



And to think that after hundreds of years of quiet 

 growth, the fabric they have built will soon serve a vital 

 purpose for humanity over the war-scarred fields of 

 Europe, six thousand miles from where they found en- 

 vironment for their growth. They will not only save 

 lives, but perhaps nations, and America should be 

 more appreciative of her forest resources after the 



