Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-26
THE WORLDS GREAT FORESTS.
Those North of the st. Lawrence ne
Siberian Timber Belt

There is an immense and continuous
tract of forest lying north OF the 81.
I,awrece River in the provinces OF
Quebec and Ontario. extending north
ward to Hudson Bay and Labrador d
region measuring about seventeen
hundred miles in length from east TO
west and a thousand miles in Wldtft
north and south.
BY some it is held that much
larger continuous area of timber lands
exists in the state of Washington and
northward through British Columbia
and Alaska. But this contention IS
limited to North America, for, it has
been pointed out, there lies a forest
in the valley of the Amazon, eastern
Peru. Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and
Guiana, a region at least twenty-one
hundred miles in length by thirteen
hundred in breadth.
Then. too, there must be considered
the forests area of Central Africa, in
the valley of the Congo, including the
headwaters of the Nile to the north
east and those of the Zambesi on the
south. According to reliable esti-
mates. Central Africa contains a forest
region not less than three thousand
miles in length from north To south,
and of vast although not tully known
width from east to west
The question which continent pos
sesses the greatest forest has been
placed in another light by an explorer
who is competent to speak of still an
other great forest region to the globe
This authority has painted vivid pic
ture of the vast pine, larch, and cedar
forests of Siberia.
Siberia from the plain of the Obi
River on the west to the valley of the
Indighirka on the east, embracing the
great plains or river valleys of the
Yenesei, Olenek, Lena, and Yana riv-
ers. is one great timber belt, average
inp more than a thousand miles in
breadth from north to south. being
fully seventeen hundred miles wide in
the Yenesei district. and having u
length from east to west of not less
than three thousand miles
Unlike equatorial forests, the trees of
the siberian taigas are mainly conifers,
comprising pines of several varieties,
frs. and larches. In the Yenesei, Lena.
and Ilenek regions there are thousands
of square miles where no human being
has even been. The long stemmed
conifers rise to a height of hundred
and fifty feet or more and they stand
, 80 closely together that walking
among them is extremely difficult
The dense, lofty tops exclude the
; pale arctic sunshine. and the straight
pale trunks, all looking exactly alike,
so bewilder the eye in the obscurity
| that all sense of direction is soon lost
Even the most experienced trappers OF
sable dare not venture in the dense
taieas without taking the precaution
, of sblazing' the trees constantly with
hachets as they walk forward. If lost
there the hunter rarely finds his way
out. hut perishes miserably from star
Walton or cold. The natives avoid the
, taigas and have a name for them
which signifies places where the mind
/ is lost."-From Harper's Weekly
The Library of Congress has under
taken the important task of preparing
an animal catalogue of the printed
doctoral dissertations submitted at the
United states, exclusive of those sui :
,,i.taa fr professional degrees This