THE F0EE8TS OE ALASKA. 15 



Near Wrangell three Sitka spruce logs averaged 32 inches in diameter 

 at the butt inside the bark, with 262 annual rings. Two examples of 

 extreme age in Sitka spruce were noted in Portage Bay between 

 Petersburg and Juneau. A section of a log 54 inches in diameter 

 taken 25 feet above the ground had 600 ring-: another log 54 inches 

 in diameter 8 feet above the ground had 525 rings. Both were 

 entirely sound. 



LOGGING. 



Logging in southeastern Alaska employs the crudest of methods. 

 It is now carried on entirely by hand, though logging machinery was 

 used in a few earlier operations. Only the best spruce trees at the 

 edge of tide water are cut. The logs are frequently made the entire 

 length of the tree, and are jacked up and rolled into the water, where 

 they are tied into rafts and towed to the sawmill by tugs. It is a 

 common thing, for instance, for a man to buy 100.000 feet of stump- 

 age from a National Forest. 'and with two companions to work at it a 

 couple of months or so until it is all rafted. The sawmill owner 

 usually advances the stumpage price, si per thousand, to the cutter.-. 

 and in addition pays them from S3. 75 -to Si. 50 per thousand for the 

 logs in the raft. The operator tows the raft to the mill and there 

 cuts the logs into suitable lengths. Under these circumstances the 

 men who buy stumpage make little but wages. A typical raft of this 

 character is shown in Plate III. figure 1. This raft was cut 16 miles 

 from Wrangell. on the shore of the Eastern Passage, about -1 miles 

 from Sawmill Creek. 



The logs in this raft were peeled, and represented approximately 

 the used length of the tree-. They averaged 7 X feet long. 37 inches 

 in diameter at the butt, inside the bark, and 21 inches in diameter 

 inside the bark at the top. 



UTILIZATION. 



The annual lumber cut in the coast forests of Alaska is about 

 27.000.000 board feet. This consists almost entirely of spruce, since 

 hemlock is but little used. There are about 25 sawmills on the 

 coast, at Cordova. Douglas. Juneau. Katalla. Ketchikan. Peter-burg. 

 Seward. Sitka. Valdez. Wrangell, and other points, most of them 

 rather crude in character and of small capacity. A large pro- 

 portion of the output, probably more than one-third, is used for 

 salmon cases, and much of the best lumber goes into them. They 

 are usually made to hold -18 1-pound cans. The ends of the case- or 

 boxes are of f-inch stuff, and the tops, bottoms, and sides of f-inch 

 material. It is commonly figured that to make a box requires 5 or 6 

 feet of lumber. The usual price received at the sawmills for salmon 

 cases is about 10 cents each, equivalent to about 820 per thousand 



