Lumbering Conditions on the Coast oj B.C. 197 



quickly increase when prejudice is overcome, and will be esteemed 

 as highly as our fir is at present. From a forestry point of view, 

 I am sure it will prove of the highest value, as it rapidly repro- 

 duces itself and flourishes well in heavy shade. A walk through 

 our park will furnish our visitors interested in forestry with 

 examples without number of this tree having reproduced itself 

 amongst dense underbrush, on fallen and partially decayed trees, 

 and even on the tops of stumps of fir trees which have been felled, 

 and it has been described by one of the timber experts connected 

 with the University of Washington as an "ideal tree for re- 

 afforestation on account of its ability to exist under the con- 

 ditions just mentioned." 



Logging operations on the coast of British Columbia will 

 always be expensive and rapidly increase in cost from the general 

 characteristics of this country. This generally rises sharply 

 from the sea shore without an}'' large area of fairly level land; 

 this necessitates constructing roads from the shore at several 

 different points to obtain the timber from one moderately sized 

 limit, and it becomes a question whether there is enough timber 

 tributary to any one road to justify its construction. As the 

 timber within easy reach of the shore becomes exhausted, this 

 condition will be intensified in proportion to the length of the 

 roads necessary and only large compact areas of timber will 

 justify the expense of building railroads many miles inland. 

 The cost of working small areas will rapidly increase and I am 

 therefore of opinion that the price of the raw material will have 

 to increase accordingly. If my view is correct, it follows as a 

 certainty that the price of the manufactured article must increase 

 also, and this I think will be the case generally on the Pacific 

 Coast. The rapid exhaustion of many former sources of supply 

 of constructional timber, leaves practically but two large areas 

 available for future supplies, these are the yellow pine region of 

 the South and the Pacific Northwest, and when I tell you that at 

 a Convention of Lumber Manufacturers at St. Louis, which I 

 attended last spring, it was stated by Mr. Long of Kansas City, 

 a recognized authority on the subject, that the standing timber 

 in the Southern states represented but fifteen years consumption, 

 you may realize what the future value will be of the almost virgin 

 forests of British Columbia. In my opening remarks I referred 

 to the Ltmiber Manufacturers as destroyers of the forests, but 

 Mr. President, there is one agency which yearly takes a greater 

 toll than the Manufacturers, I refer to fire; each year we see large 

 areas of timber destroyed, the ultimate value of which is certainly 

 not realized by the public. I trust that the Forestry Association 

 will, as one of their first and most important duties awaken 

 public sentiment to the necessity of protecting the timber supply 

 which we possess whilst preparing for the reproduction of our 

 forests in the future. 



