sitka spruce: uses, growth, management. 9 



unable to meet, caused the Spruce Production Division to encourage 

 small isolated operations to rive out by hand cants of clear spruce 

 from selected trees. By means of wedges and jacks huge logs were 

 split to obtain cants of clear, straight-grained wood, which were 

 dragged from the woods, usually by horses, and sent to resaw plants. 

 (PI. V, fig. 1). That method of logging was discarded later in 

 favor of a plan of logging selected trees on a larger scale, and this 

 method resulted in a more rapid production of high-grade spruce.* 

 In logging selectively an area was combed of all trees which were 

 of airplane quality, and the others were left standing. This method 

 avoided the cutting of low-grade spruce and other timber for which 

 there was no market. 



The cost of logging Sitka spruce has varied widely, more particu- 

 larly during and since the war. Before the war the average cost of 

 logging was about $5.50 per thousand feet; in 1919 it amounted to 

 approximately $11 per thousand feet; and in 1920 it was somewhat 

 higher. 



Sitka spruce timber is normally cut into logs ranging from 32 

 to 40 feet in length. As about 40 per cent of all timber cut on the 

 Pacific coastal region is logged by operators engaged solely in log- 

 ging, who sell their logs in the open market, logs are graded accord- 

 ing to size and quality into No. 1, 2, and 3 logs. It is estimated that 

 Sitka spruce timber as logged will grade: Twenty per cent No. 1 

 logs, 40 per cent No. 2, and 40 per cent No. 3. Prior to the war 

 Sitka spruce logs sold for about $12, $9, and $6 per thousand for; 

 No. 1, 2, and 3 logs, respectively. In 1920 they sold for $30, $24, and 

 $18 on this basis. At the height of war-time operations in 1918 la 

 price of $35 for No. 1 logs was reached. 



Most of the Sitka spruce lumber that is manufactured in the 

 United States is cut in the large band sawmills of the Coos Bay 

 district of Oregon and the Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay districts 

 of Washington. The sawmills of Alaska, with a daily capacity of 

 25.000 to 40,000 board feet of lumber, are smaller comparatively. 



The cost of manufacture before the war was a little less than 

 $5.50 per thousand feet; in 1919 it amounted to about $12, and in 

 1900 it was a little higher. 



Although exceedingly high prices were paid in 1918 for clear 

 lumber suitable for aircraft construction, the average wholesale value 

 of mill-run Sitka spruce in that year varied from $20 to $27 per 

 thousand board feet. (See table 2.) Before the war an average 

 price of about $14 obtained. Prices on January 1, 1919, are given 

 in table 3. 



4 •' History of spruce Production DiTiiion," 1910. 

 666 22 2 



