RESULTS OF OUR FOREST POLICY 321 



panj about 2,000,000 acres, and the Northern Pacific over 3,000,000 

 acres. 



Stumpage figures for these three great holdings are more significant 

 than acreage figures, because the average stand of timber is far heavier 

 in the Pacific Northwest than in the Lake states or in the South. ^ The 

 total stumpage owned by these three holders amounted to over 237,- 

 000,000,000 feet — 11 per cent of all the non-reserved timber in the 

 United States, and nearly 25 per cent of the privately owned timber 

 in the entire Pacific Northwest, where over half of the country's tim- 

 ber supply stands. This was more than double the entire timber supply 

 of the Lake states, over three times the total stand of Florida or Texas 

 or Alabama. 



The Southern Pacific Railroad, with over 105,000,000,000 feet of 

 timber, standing on 4,500,000 acres of land, was the largest timber 

 owner in the United States, before the forfeiture of its Oregon hold- 

 ings. This one corporation owned more timber than is found in the 

 three Lake states, or in any state in the South, except Louisiana ; but 

 in 1916, Congress forfeited over half of this, so that its present 

 holding is less than that of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, or 

 perhaps even the Northern Pacific. 



The Weyerhaeuser Timber Company owned about 2,000,000 acres, 

 the main bulk of which was in Washington, though the company had 

 also 380,000 acres in Oregon, and smaller tracts in Idaho and in the 

 Lake states. This did not include further interests of the Weyerhaeuser 

 family and their associates. Perhaps it should be stated also that the 

 Weyerhaeuser Timber Company had apparently some friendly rela- 

 tion at least with the Northern Pacific, and some connection with 

 various timber companies in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. 



While the Northern Pacific owned a much larger acreage than the 

 Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, the quality of its lands was rela- 

 tively so much poorer that its total stumpage was less than half as 

 great— about 36,000,000,000 feet. The Northern Pacific originally 



3 The average stand per acre is about 32,000 feet in the Pacific Northwest, 6100 

 in the southern pine region, and only 5600 in the Lake states. Even Montana has 

 an average stand of 7300 feet per acre, which is above that of the Lake states and 

 above that of any state in the 8outh except Louisiana and Mississippi. Oregon has 

 the heaviest stand, with an average of 39,500 feet per acre, and Washington and 

 (lifornia rank only slightly lower. 



