The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-07-28
WASHINGTON FORESTS.
Magnificent Trees of Great Height and Size
Why Long Sticks Shipped to the
Chinese Markets-An Increasing Trade
With the Eastern States.

Why Long Sticks are Shipped to the
Chinese Markets-An Increasing Trade
With the Eastern States.
The last of the great forests of the
United States are those of the Pacific
coast, and UNNECESSARILY the greatest of
them is what is known as the Puget
Sound forest, extending from the British
Columbia line on the north to the Column
bia River on the south, and from the
Cascade Mountains on the east to the
Pacific Ocean. Where the forests are at
all dense the average amount per square
mile is greater than in any other forest
in the world. This is largely due to the
extreme hmidity of the atmosphere and
the character of the soil, which is one of
the richest anywhere found.
At the foot of Mount Tacoma there are
trees that by actual measurement by one
of the best surveyors on the coast, Prof.
Fred G. Plummer, have been found to be
$50 feet high. Prof. Charles F. Sargent,
who prepared many of the articles on
the forest trees of America for the cen
sus of $780, stated that the Douglas fir
had a trunk from 0.S3 to 1866 meters, or
from feet, Z inches to - feet in diane
ter
The red cedar is of still larger growth
and is often found to exceed 20 feet in
diameter, and on Joen's River, which
flows into Gray's Harbor, is red cedar,
apparently sound all through, that meas
ures SO feet in diameter at the butt two.
feet from the ground, and 81 feet in
diameter at six feet from the ground.
This is, of course, exceptional, but ce-
| dars, 20 feet in diameter, or 81 feet in
| circumference, are very frequently met
with in the State.
The tide-land spruce (Picea Sitchursis)
| found only in close proximity to the Pa
| cific Ocean, is also tree of noble growth
and can often be found measuring Is to
20 feet in diamer. The noblest tree of
all, because the most generally valuable,
is the Douglas fir (Pseudotsoga Doug
lasii.) 1t grows with straight stem to.
an average height of over 200 and per-
haps $50 feet, and even, as stated before,
sometimes attains a height of $50 feet.
A tree of this kind measuring Is feet in
diameter, where cut from the stump and
there would be twenty good ones, would
contain over 100000 feet of lumber
| (board measure) if it could be brought to
| market, which would weigh over $50
| tons. This size is not merchantable now
| because of the difficulty of handling it.
| Seven-eighths of the forest growth of
| the State of Washington consists of this
Douglas fir, so often in California mis-
called Oregon pine, because when the
| first mill was established in what is now
| Washington, Immediately under the
| bluff on which the present State House
| now stands at Olympia. Oregon and
Washington were one Territory under
| the name of the former. Its economic
value can hardly be overestimated. 1t is
not only
Of Immense Growth,
| but under every variety of test has been
| found to possess the greatest strength of
any timber grown in the United States.
| Some of these tests have been made by
railway men and government experts,
and the results have been most remarka-
| BILE.
One of these was made in May, 1889, by
| Jonas Land, a skillful engineer, assisted
| by FL. FL. Warner, master mechanic for the
| Northern Pacific railroad, in accordance
| with special instructions from Principal
| Assistant Engineer H. S. Huson of that
road 1.-THE engineer who designed and had
charge of the building of the Cascade
Tunnel) The object of these tests was
| to ascertain beyond question if the wood
was thoroughly adapted for bridge pur-
poses, and if it would stand the neces-
| sary strain.
The experiments were made with by
| 4 inch sticks feet long, laid edgewise
on supports feet, inches apart, Gn
| clear) being in proportion one-fourth OF
regular bridge stringer. By applying
concentrated weight in the centre they
were all loaded down until breaking.
The result showed that the fir is about
half as strong again as oak when green,
and that it gains enormously in strength
by seasoning. A partially decayed strip
| of fir was shown to be capable of stand
ing strain greater by one-fourth than
sound green oak and soft, sappy yellow
| fir stood an equally great strain.
| A fourth series of experiments was
made in Tacoma some two years ago, as
result of which the Chicago, st. Paul
and Kansas City Railroad, whose officials
made the experiments, adopted the
| Douglass fir grown in certain districts as
the standard to be used in all bridges
built for the company and also for all
| freight cars and passenger car sllls.
They have given large contracts already
to several firms for both bridge and car
purposes, and their example has been
| followed by several other railway COM
panies, though not as yet to the extent
of it's exclusive use for bridge building
and repairs.
AS these tests show the great economic
value of the timber and other tests have
proved it's lasting powers, whether in
the ground or out, in fact making it the
ideal tree for the idolator who ''chooseth
| him tree that will not" and it's tenac-
ity is everywhere conceded, for nail or
spike once driven in it is almost impossi-