} 
Z . 
EVERGREEN TREES. 149 
are used, and brick and stone will form the bulk of all the 
better class of buildings; but if there is no cheap inter- 
mediate material between mud and stone, then the poor 
classes will have to take the former and the rich the lat- 
ter, as is seen in most parts of Europe, where the two ex- 
tremes of rich and poor stand out prominently. 
The growth of most of our Western cities, especially 
along the great lakes and rivers, has been the wonder of 
the civilized world, and deservedly so, and their progress 
has been generally attributed to the cheap and productive 
soils in their immediate vicinity, and doubtless in a great 
measure this is true; but-any one who has ever studied 
closely the more prominent elements that have contributed 
to make them great, has found that cheap lumber has been 
the greatest among them all. 
Fifteen years ago, when Milwaukie and Chicago were 
making such wonderful strides toward becoming what they 
now are—opulent cities, pine and hemlock lumber could 
be had there for from five to ten dollars per thousand feet. 
At such cheap rates for building materials there was no 
reason why dwellings, stores, and warehouses should not 
spring up on every hand as if by magic. The same ma- 
terials are now quadruple their former price, and those 
cities continue to grow for the reason that they have be- 
come rich and able to pay more. But they had the bene- 
fit of a cheap material at the beginning, and it is this 
start in the world which cities and nations, like individ- 
uals, require, and when once obtained, it only needs a 
steady hand and ordinary talent and judicious expenditures 
to reach the highest position in wealth. 
