FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



289 



waters of the Pacific Ocean, promotes a 

 more perfect growth and development 

 of the different species. Here is found 

 not only the valuable Red Fir, or Ore- 

 gon Pine, generally distributed through- 

 out the entire province along the coast 

 and on the mountains, but also the Red 

 Cedar, the Western Spruce, the Yellow 

 Cedar, the Hemlock, the Balsam Fir, 

 the Western White Pine, the Western 

 Yellow Pine, the Maple, and the West- 

 ern Oak in such quantities as to make 

 this, perhaps, the most valuable timber 

 belt on the North American continent. 

 This belt extends from the forty-ninth 

 parallel north to the sixtieth parallel, a 

 distance of some 770 miles, and is from 

 200 to 300 miles wide. The best timber 

 does not extend to the extreme north. 

 That portion is covered with Black and 

 White Spruce, and constitutes a very 

 extensive pulp-wood range. 



Dr. Dawson, in describing the Red 

 Fir, or Oregon Pine, says : 



The best grown specimens are found 

 near the coast, in proximity to the 

 waters of the many bays and inlets 

 which indent it. Here the tree fre- 

 quently surpasses 8 feet in diameter at 

 a considerable height above the ground, 

 and reaches a height of from 200 to 300 

 feet, forming prodigious and dark for- 

 ests. The timber is used for house- 

 building, shipbuilding, wharves, piles, 

 masts, furniture, fencing, etc. 



Next in importance to the Oregon 

 Pine is the Red Cedar. Mr. J. R. An- 

 derson, deputy minister of agriculture 

 for the province, says : 



"The tree is very generally distrib- 

 uted in Vancouver Island and on the 

 coast of the mainland to the westward 

 of the Coast range. Scarce in the dry 

 central plateau, it again occurs in con- 

 siderable quantities in the Selkirk and 

 Gold ranges of the mountains. 



' As in the case of the Douglas, or 

 Red Fir, the finest specimens are to be 

 obtained in proximity to the seacoast. 

 Here the tree attains an immense size, 

 an idea of which may be formed from 

 the fact that some of the native canoes, 

 which are all hewn out of the trunks, 

 are 6 feet and more from the level of 

 the gunwale to the bottom. 



"Although second in importance as 



regards its economic value, it is a more 

 valuable wood than the Oregon Pine, 

 being used principally for interior fin- 

 ishing, cabinet-making, doors, shingles, 

 and posts." 



But this region, by reason of its great 

 distance from the markets of the East 

 and the lack of cheap transportation, 

 will remain comparatively in its prime- 

 val state until the eastern forests, which 

 are more accessible, are nearly exhausted 

 or until better transportation facilities 

 are afforded. 



The northern belt is perhaps greater 

 in extent than all the other timber belts 

 and reserves of Canada combined. Ac- 

 cording to the best authority, it extends 

 from the eastern coast of Labrador north 

 of the fiftieth parallel in a northwesterly 

 direction to Alaska, a distance of some 

 3,000 miles, with an average width of 

 perhaps 500 miles. This vast strip of 

 timber land, if placed upon the territory 

 of the United States, would extend from 

 Maine to California, and from the south- 

 ern shore of Lake Erie to the northern 

 boundary line of Georgia. It is known 

 as the spruce forest of the Dominion, the 

 great bulk of the timber being of that 

 species black and white the other im- 

 portant trees being Larch and Poplar. 



Although this region has been but 

 partially explored, it is claimed that 

 many of the trees in the southern por- 

 tion are of a lumber-producing size, but 

 the greater portion is fit only for pulp. 



When it is considered that spruce is 

 distributed in vast quantities through 

 all the forests of Canada, and that an 

 almost incalculable amount will be pro- 

 duced in this great northern belt, it is 

 hardly exaggeration to say that the Do- 

 minion possesses an inexhaustible sup- 

 ply of pulp wood. 



Dr. Bell, of the Geological Survey of 

 Canada, says of the forest : 



" In our northern or spruce forests, 

 a bird's-eye view of the country would 

 show a patchy appearance, due to the 

 fact that these different areas have been 

 burnt over at different times. 



"The White Spruce attains its full 

 growth in about one hundred and fifty 

 years, and there are second- growth 

 patches of this tree of all sizes and all 

 ages, up to one hundred years or more, 



