2 BULLETIN 1060, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



reached by lumbering operations ; hence until recently the cut of this 

 timber had been relatively small. It was not well known in the 

 world or national markets until an extraordinary demand for it 

 arose during the war because its wood was found to be superior for 

 airplane construction. Within the space of a few months in 1917 

 this species, which had been of decidedly secondary importance iri 

 the lumber industry, became one of the woods most eagerly sought. 

 To effect an enormous increase in the production of Sitka spruce 

 and to obtain lumber of the quality needed for airplane wing beams. 

 a special organization of the War Department — the Spruce Pro- 

 duction Division — was created. The great activity of this organiza- 

 tion in promoting the lumbering of this needed Sitka spruce air- 

 plane stock in conjunction with the local lumber industry is one of 

 the interesting chapters in the history of the war industries. 1 



Although Sitka spruce may never again be so eagerly sought and 

 so extensively cut as during the war, it has so many superior quali- 

 ties in the estimation of foresters and lumbermen that it will always 

 play an important role in the forest management of the Pacific 

 coast region. It has a habit of rapid growth, makes a large yield 

 per acre, lends itself fairly well to forest management, and produces 

 a wood which has large value for many special purposes, prominent 

 among which is the manufacture of paper. 



GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION AND ALTITUDINAL RANGE. 



The botanical range of Sitka spruce, as shown in figure 1, lies 

 along the north Pacific coast, roughly between 40° and 60° of lati- 

 tude, and in that narrow strip of shore line often described as the 

 fog belt. Its width is nowhere more than 200 miles from the coast 

 line eastward, and usually much less. 



In Alaska this species occurs as far north as the west shore of 

 Cook Inlet, the north end of Kodiak Island, and along the Lynn 

 Canal, and is generally abundant southward, on the islands and 

 mainland near the coast of southeastern Alaska. In British Colum- 

 bia it is found chiefly along the shore line and on the lowlands of 

 the large rivers like the Fraser. 



In the United States it is found in the western part of the State 

 of Washington on the lower benches and bottomlands of the rivers 

 along the Pacific coast, and less commonly about Puget Sound, oc- 

 curring sporadically in the foothills of the Cascade Range. In 

 Oregon it is found under similar conditions but almost exclusively 

 west of the crest of the Coast Range; it extends up the Columbia 

 River only 50 miles from its mouth, and farther south not more than 



1 " History of Spruce Production Division, United States Army," issued by the United 

 States Spruce Production Corporation. 



