Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-01-18
nina Rie Trees Of Washlngton.

The recent hewing OF yellow fir log
at Buckley, WASH, measuring W incnes
square and 90 feet long has aroused con-
siderable comment, but the annals OF the
lumber industry Of Washington contain
even more remarkable incidents! When
President TAFT was in the Panama Canal
zone his attention was called TO seVerai
huge spud sticks in the big dredges, ana
he asked where 1t was possible to OBTAIN
such timbers. The Identical timoers
were shipped from Bellingham, WASH,
last summer. Each measured 80 inches
by 40 inches and was over 80 feet long.
The recent challenge Of Portland, Ore,
for the biggest timbers sawed In the
world has been answered from many
parts of Washington. Portland mills
sawed two sticks for Panama 30 inches
SQUARE and go feet and 10 inches long.
Bellingham, Wash, came forward with
claim for a sawed spud stick for
dredpe measuring 40 inches square
and az feet long and laid further claim
to furnishing lumber 1875 feet long. :,
Near Elms, WASH, the remarkable
feat of erecting 14-room house from
the lumber of single yellow fir was re-
Gently accomplished. There we're near.
~ $4,000 feet Of lumber In the logs OF
the tree. Six logs % feet long, the
largest one seven feet in diameter at the
smallest end were made from the fir.
The measurement of the stump of the
tree inside the bark was exactly nine
feet. The trunk was straight and for
over 100 feet not limb appeared, the
total length of the tree being over 300
feet. The lumber of this tree was worth
close to $1,000. The corporation owning
the land furnishing this tree has hun
dreds of such frs, many of them too big
to be handled by the equipment now
possessed by Washington saw mills.
Near Snuqualmie Falls year ago
giant tree was blown across a deep
canyon. The huge trunk of the former
monarch of the forest forms foot bridge
ten feet wide. The log has been leveled
and teams are often driven across 1t by
venturesome drivers.
A monster cedar, measuring GO feet, 3
inches around above the bulge of the
root, was blown down during last March
near South Bend. The cedar was II feet
| in diameter, Is feet above the ground.
At South Bend great cedar is standing
Is feet in diameter. At Montesano is
another cedar IA feet, inches in diam
eter. On the Johns River there are
groves of cedar trees that vary from ten
to "a feet in diameter. Very few of
them are hollow.
There is a cedar tree in Shohomish
county owned by the Weyerhaueser
Timber Company, which is declared to
be the largest tree on the continent, ex-
ceeding in girth by three inches the
largest in the famous redwood forest OF
California. This cedar measures 104 feet
inches in circumference, and it is over
$50 feet to the first limb, which is believ-
ed to be five feet in diameter.
On the west slope of the Cascade
| mountains a giant red fir was recently
blown across the tracks of the Northern
Pacific railroad. Traffic was blocked by
the monster log, which measured eight
feet in diameter. There was no saw fol
miles big enough to cut the timber and
as the railroad company could not wait
the five days required to saw out sec.
ton from the log, dynamite was placed
in deeply bored holes and the huge LOG
blown into splinters. 1t was easier and
cheaper to repair ten rods of roadbed
than to saw through seven feet OF solid
fir wood.
The density OF the timber of Washing
ton is uuequaled in the world. In Chel
lam County, according to official measure
ment, the timbered area runs 10000, 00(
feet to the square mile. The stand or
small areas is even more dense. One
acre recently cruised showed 100000
feet of standing timber. A Pacific
county mill cut 5OO,OOO feet from little
less than two acres. A 40-acre tract in
Challam County contains 1900, 900 feet o.
standing timber. There are $500, 0O(
feet of fir, 100000 feet of spruce, ant
10000 feet of hemlock. The quarter
section of which this tract Is part con-
tains 100000 feet of fir, 2,790, 900 Of
spruce and 100000 of hemlock.
There are 81, ZOO square miles of tim
Der standing in Washington. Thi'
would make plank road three inches
thick and 500 feet wide twice around the
Il world