The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-03-22
TIE wgENLY IyTELLlGENCE.;
County and City Official Press
Thursday, March %, 1877.
CORD WOOD.

The last Published annual report Of
tue U. s. Commissioner of Agriculture
gives a. the average yield Of the fir for
es,s of Puget Sound. 100 to 500 cords
per acre. Per contra. the average Of
the mesquite lands Of Arizona is five
coris; Of the cottonwoods Of Dakota.
80 20 30 cords. The average yield per
acre in several of the older States is
thus reported: Maine, 20 to 40 cords;
New Hampshire. % to 60; Massachu-
set.s. Is to %; Rhode Island, 80 cords.
worth ~ per cord standing, New York.
80 to GO cords average. worth so cents
standing; loo cords may be cut in
some counties. and in Washington coun-
~ exceptional lots may give 200 cords
per acre, hard wood, bringing s. per
cord neutrality-suspicious.. % to IS
cords; best timber lands of Virginia. 80
TO 300 cords; Georgia. % to - cords;
ouibs - W ~oo epIu., nsti1SHs aDcus
40, Indiana. % to 100 cords; Illinois, 20
to so cords; and California, all the way
from cords in some counties to 200 in
others.
From the showing of thu. report,
Warrington Territory evidently leads
by large figure all the States aud Ter
ritoriea in the Union in the amount OF
its timber product per acre-to the ex-
tent, in fact. of nearly ten to one on the
average, Of the whole Union. And yet
the average of those lands as reported
above arc rated at figures ranging in
the majority Of cases--for the northern
States at from $50 to $500 per acre.
Considering the fact that California
is almost treeless country, 50 much 50
that the people are devoting their at
tention very generally to the planting
out Of infantilc groves Of blue-gums
and the like, the not-doubtfnl question
arises whether Puget Sound by little
pains may not obtain the trade of fur
nishing Sap Francisco at least, with a
large part of her supply of wood for
ordinary purposes Of fuel. Our trade
with that city in lumber, shingles, la,hs.
piles. spars, poles, bolts and hardwood
timber for furniture, as we'll as coal. is
rapidly growing. Gould we not in
crease the Income from that quarter by
including also cord-wood A late issue
Of the Post states on the authority Of
the Coos Bay Noes. that most Of the
wood used in the San Francisco facto-
ries is shipped from that bay. The
cost Of shipment from Pugc. Sound
need not greatly exceed that from Coos
bay. il Ut all The cutting of the wood
here costs only about 81 100 per cord,
whether FIR or hard wood, though our
hard woods are altogether too valuable
To be used for that purpose except in the
case of waste staff Abundance Of each
kind may be found convenient for ship
ping. The usual owners stumpage is
only IS cents per cord. In San Fran
cisco, it brings Fs to &!2 per cord. which
leaves very fair snargin for freights
aud profits. Probably the most practi.
cable way would be to employ small
class of vsessels, chartered for this
particular trade. and th.s make .
special business 1T it. In this way em
ploymeut might be given to large mum
beers OF men in the immediate ncighbor-
hood Of this city and no harm done to
the country either The cleaning up
incident to removing all the cord wood.
woald leave the land much more nearly
IA condition for permanent use in orch
ards ard fields than il is after the Gull
ing process of logging, merely for the
saw-logs. is completed.