Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-01-19
DAILY
POST INTELLI GENCER,

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POST. INTELLIGENCER.
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cAaaeoRSlA RoRgsr DGvAyTAIlOS.
One of the interesting subjects dis
euaeed in the admirable report Of State
lGinsralogist Hanks, says the Alto, Is
that Of the destruction Of the forests on
the Sierra Nevada mountains, and IN
other parts Of the State, viewed in re'a-
tioa TO our permanent timber supply.
He shows BY apparently conclusive a.
eupeuts that, while there are good res-
sons for preventing unnecessary waste
Of our forest resources, the fears OF their
speedy exhaustion have been grossly
exaggerated. Comparatively speaking.
the Sierra Nevada forests are yet almost
untouched. II has been cheaper for San
Frsncisoo and those parts TO which she
4 . distributing center, to obtain their
timber supplies from the North Coast,
and consequently the heaviest drafts
vt made ON California's mountain tim
her have been for the supply OF the
State Of Nevada, q quantity estimated
It thousand million feet being used
on the Comstock lode alone. Professor
Hanks estimates the quantity Of timber
now annually cut in California and
shiped eastward at about -O,oOo,W
fest, besides cord wood amounting 70 az
much moro. Along the eastern face OF
that portion Of the mountains which
liss within the limits of Nevada tn.
timber has been mostly cut away, but
this vas only narrow fringe, and the
timber there was not of such good quail
ity ~ higher up.
Truckse basin. and tho region around
Lake Taho, are the localities in which
the heaviest raids have been made on
the timber in this State, and they repre-
cent but n small fraction Of the whole
extent of timber-bearing surface OF the
mountains- amounting to more than
5000 acres ont of a total of several mil
lions, all lying 70 the east Of the main
summit Of the range. In the region
which has already been stripped Of it,
timber, the devastation has not beer
complsts, the larger trees being ont and
the smaller ones left. In the many mil
lion acres On both sides Of the range,
the 1000 acres already cut make bat y
small hole. Il has been calculated by
statisticians familiar with the country
that there y timber enough on the east
ern slope Of the mountains, between
Hope Valley and Bsckwith Pass, TO sup
ply Nevada and Utah for the next fifty
years; and allowing for reproduction OIL
the land which 10 stripped, 1t Is not likely
that the exhaustion will be complets
within any time which we can now fore
see.
An even more vital question than that
Of the quantity Of timber in our Sierra
Nevada forests il that Of their power OF
reproduction. This is something con-
cerning which numerous contradictory
statements have been made, some rep
resentinR the cutting Of these forests as
equivalent 10 their extinction. 1t has
been asserted that the pasturage Of
sheep upon lands from which the timber
II cut away sdectually prevents new
growth Of trees by tho destruction of the
tender sprouts, and alarming conse
qusnces in reference to the climate and
physical condition of the State have
been pictured as the result Of allowing
the present rate of progress in stripping
the mountains of their shaggy robe.
Professor Hanks's statements are reas-
surfing. He says: Touching the re-
productive powers Of these timber
lands, il should be observed that their
energies 10 this direction manifest
themselves In diminished force as we
20 east from the main crest Of the Sierra
Nevada, being much weaker on the
eastern than on the summit and along
the western slope of these mountains.
In these latter localities, immediately
the original forest ia cut away or much
thinned ont, the growing trees spring
mn avnPvw hare aud chook nhaad pnsidlc.