The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-01-25
I'm the Wof1d derland
OF North America.
Twenty.tf1ird Letter of Northwestern Travel.
Puget Sound and Its Adjacent Timber Land.

great sights In 'this my own. my ma
tive land"
Prior to the purchase of Alaska, In
1867, Washington was the extreme
northwest territory of the United
States, although now comparatively
new state, 1t has already achieved
prominence throughout the world that
many Of the older states envy. The
chief industry Of Washington is lum-
bering. Statistics show this to be the
greatest lumber section on earth. The
Puget Sound Lumberman Journal says:
This immense forest belt comprises
123, ,OS9, ,142 acres OF timber land, the most
remarkable timber body in existence.
The government estimates the standing
timber in Western Washington alone
at 300, ,S55, ,29A 900 feet on l1.971 ,s92 acres.
while Eastern Washington has 1876
700 acres. with LOG. .s7s, ,O41, 900 feet, total
OF 4lO. S3S. .SS5. 900 feet Of standing timber.
25.339 feet on an average to an acre,
valued at s269. .561. .S29. No estimate has
ever been made Of the standing timber
of British Columbia, but as the timber
area is larger than Washington and
Oregon, the amount must be still larger.
Add to this the forests of Alaska. those
of Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada and
the red wood forests of California, and
1t can readily be seen that the most
valuable heritage a bounteous Provi-
dence has bestowed upon the Pacific
coast, consists of her timber wealth."
When compared with Washington
the nine Southern timber states are not
to be mentioned. The census reports
give them only 2SO.0OO,00o,0O0 feet.
Neither are the White Pine states OF
Michigan. Minnesota and Wisconsin,
which contain. according to the same
report, less than $4,000, 100000 feet Of
stumpage. Oh, what timber! These
forests are so vast that although the
saw mills have been ripping from
4,OOO, ,Oe0, 900 to 5000, 900, 900 feet Of lum-
ber out of them every year for the last
fifteen or more years, the space made
by these inroads seems no more than
garden patches, and there is left a
thousand years supply, even at the
enormous rate the timber is now being
felled. No one who has not seen a
primeval forest. where trees of gigantic
size have grown and fallen undisturbed
for ages, can form any idea of the coll
lection Of timber. or the impenetrable
character of such a region. This local
ity, so inexhaustibly rich in lumber and
coal, is called the Pennsylvania of the
Pacific coast.
Some Big Western Trees.
The trees on Puget Sound are noted
M nj, fnp ole h,tf or Ut Tbav
mainly fir-spruce and cedar-the latter
produces the best shingles in the world,
that will outlast pine two to one under
any and all circumstances. The bulk
Of the fir Is red Douglass, though yellow,
noble and white fir is found on higher
ground and in the mountains. The pro-
portion. Of fir Is about five-eigths of the
forest growth of Western Washington
and grows on low lands often to the
height of 800 feet. 1t Is quite equal to
the white pine Of Michigan and Penn
sylvania for ease OF working, yet
stronger in grain than oak and ex-
ceedingly rich in grain and finish.
The Puget Sound Lumberman says:
'In order to grasp the magnitude of
these figures, let the reader, In his
minds eye, imagine solid train, $1,000
feet of lumber to the car, stretching
1900 miles, or six times around the
earth, and then enough cars left to
make a train stretching from Puget
Sound across the continent to the middle
of the Atlantic. Or, taking twenty-five
cars for train, 1t would take LOSS. 500
trains to transport the standing timber
of Washington alone. Out of the stan
ing timber In Washington, 100000 cot
tages could be erected. Say every cot
tage occupied a frontage of twenty
Ave feet, the cottages would make a
street $500 miles, both sides Oh which
would be solid row Of cottages"
Hon. 8. Garfielde, of Washington,
says: 1.-The size Of the fir tree and the
number growing upon given areas, in
good lumber districts,are almost incred-
ible to residents upon the Atlantic
slope. Here trees often measure 500
feet in length, and more than three
fourths of which are free from limbs.
Fifty. sixty and sometimes eighty Of
these great timber trees grow on an acre
of ground One berth of timber, so
called, covering about 5000 acres, was
carefully examined, and found to con-
tain on an average eighty such trees
to the acre throughout this berth. Our
loggers work no berth Of timber pro-
ducing less than 10000 feet to the acre;
from 10000 to 10000 feet being the
common YIELD, and over hundreds of
square miles Of area does this un-
equaled timber exist"
On the British Boundary,
Through the courtesy OF the general
passenger agent of the Seattle, Lake
Shore and Eastern. railroad, branch
Of the Northern Pacific, we took a ride
UP the coast to Sumas, at the British
Columbian boundary line, a distance of
LES miles. The route is not much more
than an iron trail cut through the for
est. but 1t gives one just apprecia-
ton of the extensive area of tree land
on the coast line. What we see In our
wanderings through these dense and
almost unbroken forests may be If in
terest to our readers, especially those
who are acquainted with and interest
ed in timber. The railroad, instead Of
a logging road that we expected to
find, was flrst-class in all respects, and
as we whirled through small clearings
and many little parks, and around love-
ly lakes and the dense forests Of these
giant trees, standing in their grandeur
to the height often Of 800 feet. waiting
for the harvester: also through miles
of stumps and fallen monsters going to
decay, which the ruthless lumberman
had left behind, our appreciation Of
these wonders of the forest can be bet
ter imagined than described; and to see
them fall under blows Of steel or under
the ravages Of fire, Is to experience a
pang of sorrow.