The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-17
WESTINGHOUSE WOOD
Article by Mrs. Alice Houghton in the
December Irrigation Age"
NEARLY 100000 ACRES
Total Number of Standing Feet Is
.ooO.ooo.oOO. and Its
Valuation Is $780,
100000.

100000.
Mrs. Alice Houghton contributes to
the December number of the Irrigation
Age the following article on the forests
of Washington:
This is the forest primeval. The muir
muring pine and the hemlock,
Bearded with moss, and in garments
green, indistinct i'm the twilight,
Stand like Druids of old, with voices
sand and prophetic
Stand like harper's boar. with boards
that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns the deep
voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and In accents disconsolate an
swers the wall of the forest.
-Evangeline.
Longfellow shows in these lines an
intimate knowledge of nature that
amounts almost to divine intuition. His
keen appreciation unrolls before us
grand panorama of forests, with tall
hemlocks and waving pines towering
like great cathedral spires above the
domes nodding and swaying in the
breeze, until they seem like human
souls pluming for flight to heaven in
search of the mysteries of the vast in
finite.
One can fancy the author having
ington forests and to have drawn his
inspiration from the wealth of timber
that possesses that country. What a
wonderful growth of forestry Is here
nearly 24,000,000 acres of the finest tim
Der in the world. On Puget sound
trees grow 275 feet high and average
in diameter from IL to 20 feet. The
leading varieties are fir, spruce, cedar,
tamarack, pine, alder, maple, ash,
larch, cottonwood, yew and oak. There
al r.xf2k L..4 - I4-.A
prises about all that are found in large
bodies. The best timber does not grow
directly along the coast, but begins a
few miles back, and becomes larger in
size as 1t reaches the base of the Cas-
cade mountains, diminishing as it
creeps to the summit. increasing again
as the descent is made on the eastern
slope.
The timber of Washington is pretty
equally divided between the eastern
and western portions of the state. The
density, however, is largely in favor of
Puget sound, owing to a lesser acreage
of land. The divisional point is the
Cascade range of mountains, and from
that point to the eastern boundary of
the state IL is 300 miles; while from the
Cascades to the western boundary il is
only 100 miles. Yellow and red fir,
known as the Oregon fir. is in great
demand for ship timbers and bridging,
owing to its strength, fiexibility, light
ness, tenacity and evenness of fibre
and nail-holding qualities, and it's free
dom from knots and defects. The
world is drawing it's supplies of masts
and ship spars from there. Some of the
woods are specially adapted for sound
ing boards of pianos, and trees being
sufficiently large to cut them all in one
piece, and thus avoid splicing. They
are used as well for violins. guitars
and other musical instruments, and
such instruments are found to be su-
perior, both in quality and tone. Spruce
and larch are very large trees, and,
with the maple and oaks. furnish beau
tiful stuff for furniture and ornamental
work.
1t is estimated that the total number
of standing feet is 500, 900, 000, 000 and its
valuation amounts to $500, 000, 000 More
than one-half the lumber and shingles
cut in Washington are shipped to for
eign points and eastern markets. In
1898 ships carried cargoes to different
countries, from Australia in the far
south to England in the far north.
Transportation facilities are excellent,
water being plentiful, while the rail-
road accommodations are ample and
complete. In time shipbuilding is sure
to become a great industry in that
state. The bark obtained from the
hemlock trees is estimated to be from
10 to Is per cent. stronger in tanning
properties than the eastern barks and
and tanneries can be made to pay well
Not less than third of the popula-
ton of Washington are dependent for
their support upon the saw and shingle
mills, sash, door and blind factories
and other woodworking establish
ments. The yearly capacity of those
mills amounts to about 1000 000. 900 feet
II is among the workers in these saw
mills that the farmers find a ready
market for great quantities of their
agricultural products. With the in
crease of saw mills will come an in
creasing demand for vegetables and
fruits.
All these wonderful forests. with
their impenetrable depths, rising like
''pillared colonnades" above the sur
rounding country and guarding IL with
the vigilance of an army. They ever
challenge the sun to reach their mys-
terious realms. Although he glints and
shifts and coquettes with them daily
he rarely obtains more than a passinf
glimpse of the waving branches higf
up at the top.