WESTERN RED CEDAR 



(Thuja Plicata) 



IN the eastern markets the lumber from this tree is usually called 

 western cedar without further description, but that name does not 

 always sufficiently identify it. There are other western cedars, notably 

 incense and yellow; but they have not generally appeared in eastern 

 markets. Western red cedar is the name given it when the purpose is to 

 separate it from other western cedars. It is the only red cedar in the far 

 West, except the scarce junipers which are totally unknown as its com- 

 petitors in lumber centers. Gigantic cedar is a name which takes size 

 into account. It is the largest of American cedars. Trunks fifteen 

 feet in diameter and 200 feet high are sometimes seen, but the usual size 

 is 100 high, from two to four in diameter. Canoe cedar is a name bestowed 

 upon this western tree for the same reason that canoe wood is one of the 

 yellow poplar's names in the East. It is one of the best woods for 

 dugout canoes. Botanists have called the tree giant arborvitae, but 

 the name never got beyond books. When the people of Washington and 

 Oregon speak of cedar without a qualifying term, they mean this species. 

 It is widely known as shingle wood or shingle cedar, because more 

 shingles are made of it than of all other kinds of timber in the United 

 States combined. 



The western red cedar's range covers 300,000 square miles, not 

 counting regions of small or scattered growth. For a timber tree, that 

 range is large, but not nearly as large as some others. It exceeds one- 

 hundred fold the commercial range of redwood, and probably a thousand 

 fold that of Port Orford cedar, but its range is not one-third that of the 

 eastern red cedar, though in total quantity, of available lumber it sur- 

 passes the eastern tree a hundred fold. Its range begins in Alaska on the 

 north, and follows the coast to northern California, and extends eastward 

 into Idaho. The best development occurs in the regions of warm, moist 

 Pacific winds, but not in the immediate fog belts. The largest quantity 

 of this wood, and probably the largest trees also, are in Washington. 

 Abundant rainfall is essential to western red cedar's development. It 

 would be difficult to approximate the amount of the remaining stand. 

 This cedar does not form pure forests, and estimates of so many feet per 

 acre or square mile cannot be based on fairly exact information as may be 

 done with redwood, and some of the southern pines. Though the drain 

 upon the cedar forests is heavy, it is generally believed there is enough of 

 this species to meet demands for a long period of years. 



Nature made ample provision for the spread and perpetuation of 



115 



