8 BULLETIN 1060, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The pulp, paper, and board industry of the West, a long-established 

 one, is confined practically to the Pacific coast, with the pulp mills 

 largely confined to the States of Oregon, Washington, and the 

 province of British Columbia. Alaska has one pulp mill, established 

 in 1921. There is every indication that this industry will grow 

 rapidly in the next few years, with an abundant supply of pulp- 

 wood, waterpower, and coal, taken in connection with the fact that 

 the pulp-wood supply in the East is approaching depletion. 



LOGGING AND MILLING. 



The occurrence of Sitka spruce on the lowlands near tidewater, 

 and along navigable or drivable rivers, on the benches and gently 

 rolling country of the lower foothills makes logging relatively easy, 

 and a mild climate permits year-long operation. As the species 

 occurs largely in association with Douglas fir, hemlock, and cedar, 

 the method of logging is identical with that universally used in the 

 heavy forests of the Pacific coastal region. Here large operations, 

 powerful steam machinery, and heavy capital investments are the 

 distinctive features of logging operations. (Pi. II.) These are 

 required by the large size of the timber, the ground conditions^ and 

 the enterprise of the industry. 



Trees 6, 8, or 10 feet in diameter, standing on rough steep ground, 

 are felled and converted into logs in such a way that the minimum 

 of waste results; and logs, some of them scaling 10,000 feet and 

 weighing 30 tons, are dragged with great dispatch over the ground 

 or swung down steep slopes and over deep canyons on overhead 

 cables. The greater part of the timber is transported from the woods 

 to the mills or waterside over standard-gauge logging railroads for 

 distances ranging from a few miles to 30 or more. (PI. III.) To a 

 limited extent motor trucks (PI. IV) are used in conveying logs, and 

 in some cases in the Grays Harbor and Willapa Harbor regions of 

 Washington logs are transported by driving streams. A large per- 

 centage of the cut of Sitka spruce reaches the waterside along the 

 Columbia River and in Puget Sound, Grays Harbor, and Willapa 

 Harbor, where the logs are made into rafts and towed" to the mills. 



Logging with animals in Oregon and Washington is confined to 

 small operations getting out ties, shingle bolts, piles, and poles. 

 In Alaska, operations are found only along the shore line, and there 

 both hand and machine methods are employed. If the latter method 

 is used the donkey engine is mounted on a float, the hauling line is 

 led inshore a thousand feet or more, and the logs are skidded directly 

 to the water to be towed to the mills. 



The sudden and urgent demand in 1917 for high-grade spruce 

 timber for airplane material, which existing logging operations were 



