122 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



One of the first uses to which the people of the Pacific coast put 

 Port Orford cedar was boat building. The industry was important at 

 Coos bay at an early day, and vessels constructed there sailed the seas 

 thirty or forty years. Trunks of this cedar turn out a high percentage of 

 clear lumber. The wood takes a good polish, and is manufactured into 

 furniture, doors, sash, turnery, and matches. The latter article is 

 esteemed by many persons for the peculiar odor of the burning wood. It 

 has been found practicable to finish this cedar in imitation of mahogany, 

 oak, and several other cabinet woods. In its natural state it sometimes 

 bears some resemblance to yellow pine, and sometimes to spruce, there 

 being considerable variation in the appearance of wood from different 

 trees. When the visible supply of Port Orford cedar has been cut, the 

 end will be reached, for not much young growth is coming on. Sixty- 

 eight varieties of Port Orford cedar are recognized in cultivation. 



YELLOW CEDAR (Chamcecyparis nootkatensis) describes this tree 

 quite well. The small twigs are of that color, and so is the heartwood. 

 Many give it the name yellow cypress. Others know it as Alaska cy- 

 press, Alaska ground cypress, Nootka cypress, or Nootka sound cypress. 

 The name of the species, nootkatensis, was given it by Archibald 

 Menzies, a Scotch botanist who discovered it on the shore of Nootka 

 sound in Alaska. 



Yellow cedar's geographic range extends from southeastern Alaska 

 to Oregon, a distance of 1,000 miles. It does not usually go far inland, 

 and consequently the range is narrow in most places. North of the 

 international boundary the tree seldom reaches an altitude of more than 

 2,000 or 3,000 feet, but in Washington and Oregon it is occasionally met 

 with at elevations of 4,000 and 5,000 feet. The species reaches its best 

 development on the islands off the coast of southern Alaska and British 

 Columbia, where the air is moist, the winds warm in winter, the rainfall 

 abundant, and the snowfall often deep. Well developed trees under such 

 circumstances are from ninety to 120 feet high, from two to six in 

 diameter. The blue-green leaves remain active two years, and then 

 die, but they do not usually fall until a year later. The presence of 

 the dead leaves on the twigs tones down the general color of the tree 

 crowns. 



The cones are about half an inch long and have four, five, or six 

 scales. From two to four seeds lie beneath each scale until September 

 or October when they ripen and escape. Their wings are large enough to 

 carry them away from the immediate vicinity of the parent tree, and 

 reproduction under natural conditions is generally good. Yellow cedar 

 is abundant within its range, but nature has circumscribed its range, 

 and it shows no disposition to pass the boundary line. 





