Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-12-05

before time of his departure, the bus
mess was Oh stills, and speculation
had given place to great extent to
operations that ut the outset went no
farther than the natural lines of le-
climate business. The redwood belt
of the Pacific, and it is the only red
wood belt in the world, extends
through Sonoma county, which has
been numbered, and also through Men,
docino, Humboldt and Del Norte coun-
ties, where but little inroad has been
made upon this wonderful body of
timber, in what is known as the fog
belt, in fact redwood is never found
outside of the district of country
where fogs are prevalent during a
considerable portion of the year. The
climate in this fog belt, it is said,
closely resembles that of England and
Ireland, and the prolific growth of
this redwood is shown in the fact that
in some parts of Sonoma county, lum-
bered since 1913, many of the second
growth trees have already reached a
diameter of over two feet, and are
tall enough to warrant the second
numbering of the land. The redwood
in Humboldt county will, according to
Mr.. Johnson's estimate, 60 70 per
cent. to uppers, as lumber is inspected
in Michigan, and in Mendocino coun-
ty 40 per cent. to uppers. Many trees
are eighteen feet through at the butt,
from $50 to 275 feet in height and of.
ten 200 feet of clear body before a
limb is reached. 1t is species ofred
cedar, with something of the odor of
ordinary red cedar, shrinks but very
slightly when worked in a green state,
and that only endwise, is indestruct-
able so far as decay is concerned, is
slow to burn, and the fire thereon
easily extinguished, is free from pitch
and as easy to work as cork pine. The
best timber, in the opinion of Mr..
Johnson, grows on the hills, though
some arc of the opinion that the
best is found in the bottom lands.
The redwood belt does not extend in
to Oregon, and though several other
varieties of timber are found to some
extent intermingled with it, there is
none that is at present Of any mater
ial value. Forest fires do not harm
redwood, it is never troubled with in
sects or borers, it does not decay, dead
or alive, the trunks of trees which
have apparently lain a hundred years
being as sound as the day they fell.
LAST YEARS CROP.
There are several large mills at Eu-
reka and many small mills at various
points in the interior, the cut whereof
is shipped by rail to the bay. The
cut of redwood lumber for last year
was, we think, estimated at 250,000,-
900 feet, of which 100000 went to
San Francisco, considerable amount
to the Sandwich Islands, some to San
Pedro and down the coast, and the
deals, which constituted a considerable
portion of the product, were shipped
to Australia. With the completion
of the Isthmus canal, which it is
thought will surely be effected in a
few years, lumber can be shipped by
q route which is reasonably direct,
without break of cargo to eastern
ports Of the United States, and to all
European ports, and in view of its en-
tire safety as an investment to hold,
and its certain and prodigious adj
vance in price as soon as the best
markets of the United States and the
world are opened to it without the
detriment of killing freights, is I'M
questionably the inducement which
has sent thither this Alpena capital,
but they must needs be stayers who
have so invested, for there may be
many tiresome contingencies in the
way. A cargo was recently shipped
direct to Scotland as an experiment,
the result whereof will be made APP
parent sometime next spring.
At San Pedro, 400 miles north
from Eureka, connection is now made
with the Southern Pacific whereby
is distributed to local
ports but no considerable market
reached.
laundering is done entirely in the
summer, the winter being a rainy sea-
son, wherein the rivers are flooded
and the woods so wet and slippery
that the timber could not be handled,
but would get away with any of the
power that is now applied to urge or
restrain its motion. The plan now is
to cut down the trees, cut the logs to
the required lengths, II, IA or 16 feet,
peel them, then range them in loads,
so called, five logs in line with no
trucks, bobs or drays, then the track
is wet just enough to make them slip
easy, and a stout team does the haul
H. lxo.&I. rrl,n lo~, a,a el,I