Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-03-21

sky, all join to make 1t possible for us
to compete with the world in the ship
building industry. The day is coming
when you will hear the hum of the
engine-shOps, the roar of the furnace,
the heavy thud of the trip-hammer,
the noise of the saw-mill, the song of
the carpenter, mingling with the
music of the pick and the hammer as
the miners stroke vibrates through
the valleys, and from Washington's
own resources, constructed by Ameri-
can labor, every article needed in ship
building will be obtained. We have
commenced TO build in Puget Sound,
for the various avenues of trade have
enlarged so much that we find, unless
we supply the tonnage, our exports
will suffer, the demand for our pro-
ducts being greater than our available
means OF transportation. Therefore
we are undertaking to construct the
vessels that are used in our Sound
traffic, leaving the sea-going vessels to
be utilized in the carrying of products
to foreign land. Up to date, the
Sound fleet numbers about one hun
dred and fifty-three vessels, and of
this number seventy-six were con-
structed in Washington waters and
built from home material. This shows
that we can build ships, and further,
that We can create from our own soil
all that ship requires, from her keel
to her anchor. If the ship-builders of
Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, and
your own city OF Boston, were alive to
the inevitable current that is to make
Puget Sound the greatest American
shipping port, they would be sending
their skilled men to the West to in
vestigate the cause Of the shadow that
is casting itself before the coming
events. But few people realize the
immensity Of our timber tracts.
Not only do we claim that nature
has been kinder to us in giving us a
large number of gigantic trees, but
that our general timber area is the
most extensive in America, and that
for general utility our many varieties
are of more commercial value than
can be found in any other location
and that capital judiciously invested
in our lands will reap larger reward
than can be obtained in any other like
investment. To understand some
thing of the magnitude of the inn
mense timber tracts, it is only neces-
sary to say that 100000 acres of
our land are covered so heavily with
timber that careful estimates place the
average yield OF the acre at $4,000
feet. There are many acres that will
average over 100, 900 feet, and we have
trees that will cut $4,000 feet each;
but even at $4,000 feet to the acre it
aggregates 100000, 900 900 feet, which
is sufficient to supply America for
generations. The Washington timber
is the most desirable that grows, and
can to-day be found in almost every
country on the globe. We cut last
year more than 10000 900 feet, of
the value OF $13,OOOOOO, and actually
sent over S0,OO0,OOO feet to foreign
lands, many millions of which went
into China and Japan, while the
countries of South America are now
regular consumers of the products of
our forests.
1 have heard many people speak re-
garding the great timber OF California,
and ask me what the effect would be
when the two States compete. The
two States have been competing, and
the result has shown the, survival OF
the tittest. The State of California in
1888 shipped by rail and boat but 2s,-
100000 feet of lumber, while we ship
ped to foreign lands II ,OOO, 900 feet in
the same year, and California herself
consumed nearly 100000, 900 feet of
the timber of the State Of Washington.
Consequently, there is no need of a
further argument regarding the great
timber tracts of Washington. Mime
sofa, Wisconsin, and Michigan will
never be competitors for the Asiatic
trade, for the reason that those States
can scarcely supply the Middle and
Eastern States with timber. Besides,
they would not be able, ii they had the
same quality, to stand the cost OF
transportation from their State to the
Pacific Coast.
No lumber grows that is more in
demand than the fir and cedar, that
grow in such luxurious profusion in
the western portion of our domain.
1t is sought after by. all countries, and
whenever an entire is effected to any
port, we know that the demand will
increase. 1t is specially valuable in
the construction of buildings or YES
sells, on account of its greath strength
and durability; in fact it can be util-
lied in almost every avenue of trade.
Its great strength comes from the
fact that a majority of the trees are
destitute of limbs for from 100 to $50
feet above the ground, great advant-
age, as it leaves the lumber free from
knots. The scarcity of limbs near the
surface is possibly caused by the thick
growth. At the top the limbs seem to
cluster, and each tree takes advantage
of the opportunity to spread its
branches towards the blue of heaven,
and the limbs of one tree twine them
selves round the other like lovers
bound in holy wedlock. So dense is
this top foliage that there are places
in these primeval forests where the
rays OF the sun can never kiss into
life the golden forest flower; scarce a
raw ever penetrates to the ground: all