LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION. 3 



Sitka spruce, being used extensively in the manufacture of aero- 

 planes, is attracting more than ordinary attention at present. Its 

 chief assets are strength and lightness, and lack of color and odor. 

 For these reasons it is of great value in box and cooperage manu- 

 facture. It ranks with Cottonwood as the best pulp^ood in the 

 region. Spruce confines itself to the vicinity of the coast, extend- 

 ing only along arms of the ocean and the courses of streams. 



Western hemlock ranks next to Douglas fir in point of quantity, 

 comprising about 10 per cent of the timber in the region. It is not 

 confined to the forests of any one portion. On the west slope of the 

 Cascade Mountains and the east slope of the Olympics and Coast 

 Range it occurs most commonly in stands in which Douglas fir is 

 the principal species. Here the percentage of hemlock varies from 

 5 to 60 per cent of the stand. On the western slopes of the Olympic 

 Mountains and the Coast Range it is found with Sitka spruce, west- 

 ern red cedar, and Douglas fir, at times forming more than half 

 of the stand. 



After a thorough trial, hemlock wood has been found to be of 

 excellent character. Unfortunately, its merits are too little appre- 

 ciated as yet, the result being a weak demand for hemlock lumber 

 and relatively poor utilization of hemlock in the woods. Western 

 hemlock is utilized for rough lumber, all the principal planing-mill 

 products, many of the manufactured products, pulpwood, piles, 

 posts, and ties. It ranks fourth in the region in point of production. 

 As time goes on this species will be in increasing demand for pulp- 

 wood. 



There are several other trees in the region that will ultimately 

 prove of great commercial importance. Noble fir, for example, has 

 been utilized to a small extent within the last few years. It is a 

 mountain tree, which has long, clear boles that yield a high per- 

 centage of clear lumber. 



AMOUNT AND OWNERSHIP OF TIMBER. 



Though more than 90 per cent of the region is potential timber- 

 land", no such area was timbered when white men started to utilize 

 the land in 1850. Insects, winds, and fires set by lightning had 

 denuded a perceptible area, and the Indians kept a small portion 

 burned over. At present, about TO per cent of the productive area 

 in Oregon and Washington is timbered. This timber, with that 

 in parts of British Columbia, constitutes the finest body of general- 

 purpose timber known to exist. Large trees rise to a height of from 

 175 to 250 feet, or even more, and form very dense forests, which 

 yield from 25,000 to 60,000 board feet per acre, and occasionally as 

 much as 100,000 feet. Small tracts frequently cut out more than 

 this. 



