196 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



mills operated their own camps on their leases, others cut timber 

 wherever they felt inclined, no one then placing any value on the 

 standing timber. Oxen were the motive power used for the 

 transport of the logs to the water, and the most important man 

 in the camp and the one getting the highest wages was the ' 'bull 

 puncher," or teamster, who gained the above name from driving 

 with a goad stick, in the end of which was inserted a brad which 

 was liberally used, along with a good deal of strong language to 

 make the cattle exert themselves. When moving from camp to 

 camp, a teamster generally carried his goad stick as a sort of 

 insignia of office, and it may be a surprise to hear that $5.00 was 

 an ordinary price for a good hickory goad stick. The teamster's 

 wages ran as high as $125.00 per month without any deduction 

 for lost time, and it was a sight to see their skilful manoeuvring 

 of a team of twelve and sometimes fourteen "bulls" in the dense 

 woods. At this time there were also a number of what were 

 called hand-loggers, who finding a locality where the timber grew 

 on a slope close to the beach, with the aid of a jack screw, wedges, 

 an axe and a crosscut saw, put in the water no inconsiderable 

 part of the log supply. Later on the camps substituted horses 

 and mules as being faster than oxen, but all these methods have 

 practically been superseded by the use of steam haulers, with 

 fully equipped railways for the main roads where the operations 

 are of sufficient magnitude. 



Until comparatively recent years,the only lumber manufactur- 

 ed by the mills was the Douglas fir, which I regret to say is known 

 abroad more generally under the commercial name of "Oregon 

 Pine." How it received that name it is difficult to account for, 

 as the first shipments were sent abroad from Puget Sound, then 

 Washington Territory, but the name has remained and it is most 

 difficult to change a name which by use has became a familiar 

 commercial term. Our B. C. product, I am pleased to say, has 

 in many instances a preference as having a closer grain, and in 

 Europe at least, is frequently referred to as "Columbian Pine "in 

 contra-distinction to the other. Our other woods of commercial 

 use are cedar, spruce and hemlock. Our cedar furnishes the 

 material for our large shingle trade, and is in request also for fin- 

 ishing lumber and the manufacture of doors and sash. Spruce 

 is*not so plentiful, but the upper grades find a ready sale in 

 various forms, while the lower furnish the material for box-making. 

 The last wood I have mentioned is hemlock, and hitherto hardly 

 any use has been made of it except for piles and for no other 

 reason that I know of than its name. The hemlock of the Pacific 

 Coast is a very different tree from that in the east, being much 

 longer'^in fibre', it is somewhat harder and heavier than spruce, 

 though less than fir ; experiments with it have proved it a first 

 class wood for interior finish and I fully believe that its use will 



