VI. 
Forests of Alaska—Varieties of Timber. 
Speaking of the resources of Alaska, Mr. Petroffsays: 
The timber of Alaska extends over a much larger area than a great many 
surmise. It clothes the steep hills and mountain sides, and chokes up the 
valleys of the Alexander archipelago and the contiguous mainland; it stretches, 
less dense but still abundant, along that inhospitable reach of territory which 
extends from the head of Cross Sound to the Kenai Peninsula, where, reaching 
down to the westward and southwestward as far as the eastern half of Kadiak 
Island, and thence across Shelikof Strait, it is found on the mainland and on 
the peninsula bordering on the same latitude; but it is confined to the interior 
opposite Kadiak, not coming down to the coast as far eastward as Cape Douglas. 
Here, however, it impinges on the coast or Cook Inlet, reaching down to the 
shores and extending around to the Kenai Peninsula. From the interior of 
the peninsula, above referred to, the timber line over the whole of the interior 
of the great area of Alaska will be found to follow the coast line, at varying 
distances of from 100 to 150 miles from the seaboard, until that section of 
Alaska north of the Yukon mouth is reached, where a portion of the coast 
of Norton Sound is directly bordered by timber as far north as Cape Denbigh. 
From this point to the eastward and northeastward, a line may be drawn just 
above the Yukon and its immediate tributaries as the northern limit of timber 
of any considerable extent. 
The trees, adds Mr. Petroff, are mostly evergreen, the spruce 
family preponderating to an overwhelming extent. Boards of the 
spruce are not adapted for nice finishing work in building, or in 
cabinet ware, or, indeed, in anything that requires a finish; for 
under the influence of slight degrees of heat, it sweats, exuding 
minute globules of gum or resin, sticky and difficult to remove. 
The white birch is found throughout the region that supports the 
spruce—scattered or in small bodies—chiefly along the water 
courses. The alder and willow are found on all the low lands, 
reaching far beyond the northern and western limit of the spruce. 
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