The morning call., 1893-05-21
in A HOLLOW TREE
The Queer Home of a
Pioneer Farmer.
WHERE SHIP TIMBER GROWS.
A Rich Gold Mine Which Was
Discovered With
Spyglass.
WHERE SHIP TIMBER GROWS.
Correspondence o, THE MORNING CALI.

Correspondence OF THE MORNING CALI.
saw cedar stump the other day on
which a crowd of seventy-two people
stood and sat while a photograph was
taken OF them. 1t was so large that cot
tage could have been built upon il, and the
height of the tree before il was cut. l am
told, was 800 feet. The greatest industry
ot this Puget Sound region Is its timber.
The trees Eere turn out logs from 100 to
200 feet in length. and Washington has
now at the Chicago exhibition n log four
feet sQuare which is 120 feet long. From
tree cut here the other day six big saw
logs were taken, each thirty feet long, and
the tree was five feet in diameter at the
base and its first branch started out 10
feet from the ground.
farmer NOT far from Tacoma lived in
hollow cedar tree while clearing his home
stead. The cavity was % feet in diameter,
or as big az large parlor His ceiling
was 40 feet above the ground and a knot
hole Just below this formed his chimney.
BE put in floor feet above the earth
and on this he built stone fireplace with
a stick and clay chimney. Under the floor
he kept his horse and COW, and he lived
on the second stpry of the tree hole.
The best ship timber of the world comes
from Washington, and masts and spars are
sent from here n Australia. China and
different parts OF Europe. Asia and Africa.
The timber resources are practically un-
limited, and l am told that there are over
three hundred billion feet of standing TIM
ber in this State. At the present time a
cut every year, and at this rate there Is
enough left for three centuries to come
Sume OF the largest sawmills In the world
are located near Seattle ana Tacoma. and
more than two million feet OF timber are
now cut every day.
During my stay in Minneapolis | was
told that the red shingles of WGshln gton
were fast driving the pine shingles out of
the market. And | learn here that shin
giles arc being shipped in vast quantities
all over the United States. | was shown
In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Office
cedar shinge which has been on a roof
forty years and which was still In good
condition, and l saw yesterday photo
graph of fir tree the marks upon which
show II 10 be more than 200 years OLD, and
In the roots of this tree was fastened
cedar log which must have been lying on
the ground when the first sapling grew
over it. The 200-year-old cedar log was
examined and found to be perfectly sound,
although it has reached that vast age.
talked last night with Mr.. Shelby, the
general manager of the Great Northern
Railroad on the Pacific Coast about the
sEingla trade of this section. lie tells me
that it is growing rapidly ard that he ex-
poets to he able to puteedar shingles down
IN New York, Ohio and Indiana at about
the same rate as pine shingles. he pre-
diets that within few years the pine
shingles will practically 20 ont of the
market. He tells me that 1000. O00. .Oo0
shingles will be turned out from this region
this year. Said he:
There is no comparison between the
two products. A roof of pine shingles has
while one of cedar is good for forty or
fifty years. At the present price and
rates Of transportation we can ship
shingles from here to Buffalo so That for
$50 man can obtain enough Puget Sound
shingles to cover ten-room house, and
the East are giving up pine and taking TO
cedar. 1t wonld surprise you 10 know
how much traffic there is in this form of
lumber. 1t will take 5000 cars to
carry the shingles which Washington will
send to the East this year. and when you
remember that the first car of these shingles
that was ever shipped to Chicago went
East In 1887 YOU will see how great the
growth has been. | expect to see this
trade rapidly increase, and within two
years three-quarters OF the entire prodnc-
tion OF shingles in the United States will
now use about 10000. coo. coo of shingles IN
this country every year, and the day will
come when the whole OF the Union will be
rooted with Washington cedar"
"Can you give me some idea Of tho ex-
tent of the lumber regions of Puget
Sound? ?" / asked.
I'VE have" replied General Shelby,
"nearly as much as. all the rest of the
United States put together 1t is low
estimate to put 1t at 800. Oo0 900. 600 feet
Or. to give more practical Idea of IT. it
would take train of cars long enough to
this lumber. Already there are 10000
men employed in the wood d-workIng Indus
tries OF this State. and we spend more
than S10.000000 In wages for lumber
workers every year. Lumber is sent from
here to Duluth and comes right into COM
petition there in the midst of the pine re-
gions of Minnesota and Wisconsin. We
get ont class OF logs here that you can
not find anywhere else. and the long tim
bers from forty feet and upward) which
we send ont cannot be found In the Eas'-
ern States"
last night at the Rainier Club in Seattle,
and had chat with him about Washington
and its possibilities. Governor McGraw is
one nf the brightest Young executives of
the Union. He is just about 40 years of
age, and he came here from Maine eight or
tou Jcdlo dRO' I1Ib CaIcoT IeauS Ike
romance.
He was the son of lumberman of Maine,
and his father died willis he was still
small. His mother m7rried again and his
stepfather did not cradle him in the lap OF
luxury. The boy had, to a large extent,
to take care Of himself, and his schooling
was confined 10 about six months In all.
One story | heard here was that the old
man made young McGraw wear his boots
TO school. These were number twelves.
and when little McGraw wore them they
caused him no end of trouble.
1t was the custom there to make ths
scholars toe the mark. There was chalk
iine drawn upon the floor, which the boys
had to toe when they stood MP In their
classes TO recite. McGraw's boots were so
large that with his toes on the chalk his
body was thrown far back of the line of
the rest OF the class. The TEACHER could
not at first understand it. He thought the
boy was cutting up. and he would 90 be-
hind and line up the class. hitting little
McGraw for getting out of the line. and
then going In front and seeing his feet
over the chalk line he would be driven
back, fying thus between Scylla and
CharybdiS the greater part of this time.
MeGraw's boyhood was spent in hard
work and by the time he was young man
he had saved enough to go into business
He failed, however. and awake one morn
ing to find til at he had n wife and family
on his hands and only S142 in his pocket.
He decided 10 leave Maine and 60 West.
Saying good-by TO his family he struck