612 FORESTS OF ALASKA. 



der notice, remarks, that each successive winter drives the camps far- 

 ther back and up the streams, which has led to a careful investigation 

 of the facilities for floating the logs to the mills, and here is found about 

 the only dark prospect for lumber operations in the Territory. There 

 are but five streams on the south of the feJound in a distance of ninety 

 miles, on an average distance of eighteen miles, the smaller streams not 

 being available, being mountain torrents or rills. 



The amount of lumber products shipped from Puget Sound and 

 Oregon to San Francisco, in 1876, amounted to 125,258,520 feet of rough 

 pine; 22,399,121 of dressed; 13,307,703 of pine fencing; and 372,197 

 pickets. A considerable business was done in spruce, and 474,424 feet 

 of cedar were delivered. The red- wood trade amounted to 120,000,000 

 feet, and hard wood to 50,000 feet. 



The Pacific coast of South America is almost wholly dependent upon 

 our supplies in Washington and Oregon for the timber and lumber used 

 in building. In 1869, tbey were drawing heavily upon these resources 

 to rebuild the wharves and public works destroyed by earthquakes the 

 year before.^ England, France, Australia, China, Japan, Mexico, and 

 the Sandwich Islands have also been and still are drawing heavily upon 

 that region for timber supplies. 



ALASKA. 



Conflicting accounts of the forest resources of this region have been 

 published, some attributing to it extensive and valuable forests of easy 

 access, while others deny that there are any considerable supplies of tim- 

 ber in the immediate vicinity of the coast and in the southern part. A 

 ^'■Sketch of the Flora of Alaska,''^ by Prof. J. T. Eothrock, presents a state- 

 ment drawn from many sources concerning the vegetatien of this region, 

 which, if it does not afford statistical estimates of the amount, gives at 

 least some idea of variety of forest trees in this region. 



Of the Conifers eight species are mentioned : the Abies Canadensis, 

 A. Mertersiana, A. Sitchensis, A. alba, Pinus Cembra, P. contorta, Thuja 

 excelsa, and Juniperus nana. Of the Betulace.^ there are six species : 

 Bttula glandulosa, B. nana, B. Ermanii, Alnus viridis, A. rubua, and A. 

 incana. The Salicace^ are represented by 18 species, all willows, ex- 

 cepting one poplar, the Populus balsamifera. 



The Rosacece, embracing 29 species, the CORNACE^ 4, the Caprifoli- 

 ACE^ 4, and Myrtace^ 1, are represented by some woody plants and 

 shrubs, but none of them that are of importance in^ forestry. At the 

 head of Norton Sound a forest of spruce extends nearly to the coast, and 

 occasionally trees are seen on the immediate shore. They are usually 

 from 20 to 45 feet in height, and not more than 1 foot in diametei'. 

 Trees 80 to 100 feet occur at the lower Kvichpak, and a little lumber 

 has been sawn at Fort Saint Michaels. The Abies Bouglasii, A. Men- 

 ziesii, A. Thuja gigantea, and Acer macrophyllum occur in British Co- 

 lumbia, and doubtless extend into southern Alaska. 



About the beginning of the present century, a few Sitka spruces were 

 planted on an island in Iliuliuk Harbor, Unalashka, and in seventy 

 years have become nearly a foot in diameter. Some thirty years later, a 

 few more were planted on another small island in the same harbor, but 

 with poor success. With these feeble exceptions, there has been, it is 

 believed, no attempt at planting in any part of Alaska. 



1 Transactions of California, State Agricultural Society, 1868-'69, p. 29. 

 ^Annual Report of Smithsonian Institution 187G, p. 433. 



