The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-04-14


The hewing of a yellow fir log. so
inches square and 80 feet in length
at Buckley recently excited consider
able comment. but the annals of the
lumber industry in Washington con-
tain many more remarkable Incl
dents.
When President Taft was in the
Panama canal zone recently his at
tention was called to several spud
sticks in the big dredges and he asked
where it was possible to obtain such
timbers These sticks, each 36x4O
inches and more than 80 feet in
length. the superintendent told him,
were shipped from Bellingham last
summer.
Many Specimens Arc Narvcls.
The recent challenge of Portland,
for the distinction of producing the
biggest timbers sawed in the world.
has been answered from many parts
of Washington. Portland mills sawed
two sticks sc inches square and GO feet
in length. Bellingham came back with
a sawed spud stick ror a dredge 40
inches square and 80 feet in length,
and boosted having furnished timbers
125 feet in length.
Largest Tree i'm America
There is a cedar tree in Snohomish
county which is declared to be the
largest tree on the continent, exceed
ing in girth by three inches the larg-
est of the trees of the famous redwood
forest of California. This tree meas
ures 104 feet inches in circumfer-
ence and it is more than $50 feet to
the first limb. which IS five feet in
diameter
On the west slope of the Cascade
mountains a giant red fir was recent
ly blown across the tracks of the
Northern Pacific railroad. Traffic was
blocked by the monster log. which
measured eight feet in thickness.
Saw Mills Too Small.
There was no saw within miles that
was big enough to cut the timber. and
as the railroad company coulG not
wait the five days required to say
section from the huge log dynamite
was placed in deeply bored holes and
the aged tree blown to splinters. II
was easier to repair 10 rods of road
bed than to saw through eight feet of
solid red fir.
cial measurements, the timbcred area
runs 2O,oo0,000 feet to the square
mile. The stand on smaller areas is
even more dense. one acre recently
showed 100000 feet of standing tim
Der.
Wonderful Section.
40-acre tract in Clallam county
contains 100000 feet of timber
There are $500 900 feet of fir. $50 000
feet of spruce and 10000 of hem
lock. The quarter section of which
the tract is a part contains 100000
feet of fir, 100000 of spruce and
100, 600 of hemlock
A Pacific county mill cut 500. 900
feet from little less than two acres
The logs averaged from 1900 to IA
600 feet each.
The prize winner according to Spo-
kane millmen. should be a log sent
from Puget sound to San Francisco.
This was so big that no mill could saw
Ii, the trimming having to be done by
hand with axes The log measured
"a inches by "a inches and was 104
feet long when hewn into shape. The
largest log ever cut in any mill in
Washington was - inches in diameter
at the smaller end.
House From Il Single Tree
The remarkable feat of erecting a
14-room house from the lumber of a
single yellow fir was recently accom-
plished at Elma. There was nearly
So, 600 feet Of lumber in the logs Of
the tree. Six logs, % feet in length,
the largest seven feet in diameter at
~. 1l....s -.
tir. The measurement of the stump
inside the bark WAS exactly nine feet.
The trunk was straight and for 100
feet not limb appeared The tota!
length of the tree was more than 800
feet. The lumber WAS worth nearly
$1,000. The corporation owning the
land growing this tree has hundreds
of such frs, many of them too big
to be handled by the equipment now
possessed by Washington saw mills.
Tree Makes Bridge.
Not far from SnoQCclmie falls a
giant tree was blown across a precipi-
tous canyon year ago. The tree
forms a footbrdgc ten feet wide. The
leg has been levelled and teams are
ot:?n driven across it by venturesome
drivers.
A mammoth cedar tree was blown
down near South Bend a few weeks
ago. it measured IS feet inches
around three feet above the bulge of
the root, The cedar was II feet in
diameter - feet above the earth.
There is IL cedar tree IS feet in di-
ameter al South Bend. At Montesano
is another cedar 10 feet 5 inches in
diameter. ON the Johns river there
are groves of cedars that vary from
10 feet to "a feet through and only Il
few are hollow.
There are also large trees in Taki-
ma, Okanogan, Ferry. Asotin, Spo-
kane, stevens, Whitman and other
eastern counties. The largest stand of
white pine left intact on this CONT
nent is partly in Whitman county and
extends into northern Idaho. The
largest fir trees on the east side are in
the sullivan lake district in Stevens
county.
Mr. f. q. FRITZ Oneonta. y y.
writes: My little girl was greatly
benefited by taking F0ley's Orino Lax
ative, and ] think it is the best
remedy for consultation and liver