ALASKA. 
36 
A poplar, resembling our cottonwood, attaining great size under 
favorable circumstances, is also found in nearly all the timbered 
sections of Alaska south of the Arctic Circle. 1 o the westward 
of the one hundred and forty-first meridian, no timber grows at an 
altitude higher than 1,000 feet above the sea level. A slightly 
curved line, beginning at the intersection of the coast hills of the 
east shore of Norton Sound with the Unalaklik River, pass¬ 
ing across the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, the mouth of the 
Nushagak, across the Alaska Peninsula, and impinging upon the 
North Pacific in the vicinity of Orlova Bay, on Kadiak Island, 
will serve as the western limit of spruce forest in Alaska. 
With reference to quality, continues Mr. PetrofF, the trees may 
be divided as follows: 
1. Yellow Cedar (Cupressas nutkanensis ).—This is one of the most valua¬ 
ble woods on the Pacific Coast, combining a fine, close texture, with great 
hardness, durability, and a peculiar but pleasant odor. The Russians named it 
“dushnik” (scented wood) on account of the last-named quality. In the 
immediate vicinity of Sitka, on Baranof and adjoining islands, this tree was 
nearly exterminated by the Russians, but on the Kehk Archipelago (Koo 
Island), and on Prince of Wales Island and a few others of the Alexander 
Archipelago, near the British Columbian frontier, considerable bodies of it can 
still be found, and beyond the line, in the Nass and Skeena River valleys, it is 
also abundant. 
2. Sitka spruce (Abies sitkensis ).—This is the universal forest tree of Alaska, 
and is found of gigantic size on the islands of the Alexander Archipelago and on 
the shores of Prince William Sound. Its medium growth it appears to attain 
in the valleys of the Yukon and the Kuskokwim, while on the east side of Cook 
Inlet and on the more northern uplands, it is quite stunted and dwarfed. The 
Sitka spruce is most closely connected with the various requirements of all 
Alaskan natives in their domestic economy, as its timber is used in the construc¬ 
tion of nearly every dwelling throughout the country, and even those tribes which 
inhabit barren coasts far removed from the limits of coniferous trees are sup¬ 
plied with it through means of freshets and ocean currents. The sappy outer 
portion of the wood furnishes splinters and torches that light up during the long 
months of winter the dark dwellings of interior tribes of Tinneh stock, who 
know not the oil lamp of their Innuit neighbors. The same material is also 
used for sledge runners on loose but crisp-frozen snow, over which iron or steel 
would drag with difficulty, as over deep, coarse sand. The Thlinket and the 
