OREGON ASH 



(Fraxinus Oregona) 



THIS tree is unusual in that it has only one common name, and that 

 is a translation of its botanical name which was given it by Nuttall 

 who visited the Pacific coast several years before the discovery of gold. 



The moist bottom lands of southwestern Oregon are best suited to 

 its growth, and here the best individuals and most abundant stands are 

 found. Moist soil and climate are essential to proper development of 

 this tree, and in such environment it is found from Puget Sound south- 

 ward along the coast to San Francisco. A little further from the coast it 

 grows along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, to the low 

 mountains in San Diego and San Bernardino counties, California, in the 

 southern extension of its range occupying a rather dry region. 



The trunk grows to a height of eighty or 100 feet, and is often three 

 feet in diameter. It is covered with a gray-brown bark, exfoliating in 

 flaky scales. The leaves are from five to fourteen inches long, and 

 have five or seven firm, light-green leaflets, finely toothed and bluntly 

 pointed. The flowers appear in April and May and are in compact 

 panicles; the fruit in dusters, broadly winged and round pointed, and 

 from one to two inches long. 



The scarcity of good hardwoods on the Pacific coast gives this ash 

 more importance than it otherwise would have, and the importance 

 which it possesses has been frequently overstated. It is not abundant 

 of form and size fitting it for lumber. It has long been cue in small 

 quantities, but never in large. The census returns for 1910 show that 

 less than 400,000 feet per year are reported in its entire range. Three- 

 fourths of this is sawed in Oregon, the remainder in Washington. 

 Though the species has a range of 800 miles north and south through 

 California, no sawmill reported a foot of it. However, it is probable that 

 census returns fail to do this wood full justice; for it is well known that 

 considerable quantities are manufactured into articles without passing 

 through sawmills. Chief among such commodities is slack cooperage. 

 Butter tubs of Oregon ash are common. Much goes to wagon shops, and 

 some of it without aid of sawmills. 



Little or none of this wood is shipped outside its range, and its use 

 is local. Boat builders work it into finish for cabins and upper parts, 

 and some serves as ribs. It is often seen as handles for picks, shovels, 

 spades, pitchforks, and rakes. A little finds place, combined with other 

 woods, in office and store fixtures. Its grain resembles that of white 

 ash. It is not as heavy, and it is not believed to be as strong. It is 



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