FOREST CONDITIONS. 



359 



700,000 million feet. It must be understood, that 

 especially on the Pacific coast, where lumbering is 

 carried on not merely to supply local wants but for 

 export, the most wasteful use of the timber is 

 forced upon the lumberman by the destructive 

 competition, the distance from market, with high 

 freight rates, reducing the material actually market- 

 able by 50 to 80 per cent and more below Eastern 

 standards, the merchantable diameter limit in the 

 Puget Sound regions being at present twenty-two 

 inches. Even in the Black Hills, in lumbering the 

 pine of the forest reserve, mostly for local use, it 

 has been estimated that 50 per cent of each tree cut 

 for lumber is left in the woods, fully one and one- 

 half cord for every thousand feet utilized. 



Throughout the Rocky Mountain forest the hard- 

 wooded Yellow or Bull Pine is the most important 

 tree, often occurring in pure stands as on the plateau 

 forest of Arizona. To this are joined the Douglas 

 or Red Fir, becoming more prevalent and better 

 developed toward the north, the Engelman Spruce 

 and several other inferior spruces and firs, and 

 occasionally a hemlock. 



Toward the north, in Idaho, where the timber 

 improves in development and the forest in density, 

 a white pine, the Silver Pine, and a larch of pro- 

 digious dimensions, form most valuable stands, 

 together with the Giant Cedar. Thousands of 

 square miles are covered with the Lodge-pole Pine 

 in pure stands almost entirely useless for timber, 



