Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-09
ECONOMISTS TRACE
u. S. LUMBER TRADE
Washington State College
Professor Says Forests Are
Due to "WesterIies."
BY DIR. Z. A. BRYAN.


NEW YORK, July 9.-For a long
time the forests of the Northwest have
been the basis of our chief single in
duStry-if we may speak of these as a
single industry OF course, agriculture
has been a larger source of income, but
not a single branch of it, such, for ex-
ample, as its greatest product, wheat,
or its fruit, livestock, dairy or poultry
production.
OF course, the broad facts of our
timber distribution are apparent even
to superficial observer. If with the
eye of your mind you rose above our
region of oregon and Washington and
lands including much Of the counties
of Latah, NeZ Perces, Lewis and Idaho
of the State of Idaho, you would look
down on this vast area of timber, dense
In the West, open to sparse in the East,
yet with an aggregate not far short of
thousand billion feet of standing
timber, oregon being in the lead in
third.
Our forests are the gifts Of the
"Westerlies," as is also our magnificent
water supply. From 40 degrees on
northward the warm moist breezes
sweep over the land, bringing vast
quantities of water. The mountains
standing athwart their path precipi-
tate these waters in rain or fog or snow.
Soil and temperature and water COM
bine to produce that forest cover which
has attracted the wonder and admira-
ton Of the economic world.
East of the Cascades the winds have
lost much Of their moisture burden,
and only when conditions are favorable
for further precipitation of rain or
snow do we find the more scattered and
less dense inland forests. II We de-
scend to the earth and examine the
forests more closely we find the forests
of the coast blessed with that prince
of trees, the magnificent Douglas f1r.
In the coast forests the Douglas fir,
the Western cedar, the spruce and the
hemlock reach size and perfection
unsurpassed. In Southern Oregon and
Northern California the sugar pine and
Alaska cedar are found abundantly.
When we cross the Cascades the yell
low pine, now known to commerce as
the ''pondosa pine" or soft Western
has an important place in Northern
Idaho forests. Red fir, white fir, tama-
rack, cedar and black or lodge pole
pine also occupy a large place in the
forests of Eastern Washington and
Oregon, Idaho and Western Montana.
Untouched Until Recently.
Strangely enough this great soft-wood
forest of the Pacific Northwest. now
the greatest and most available soft
wood forest in the world, remained
untouched and undiscovered till mod
ern times. When white men first sailed
along the coast century and half
ago, touching at points here and there
along the shore for water or for bar
ter with the Indians they cared nothing
for the forests except as a shelter for
%,,r I,aav al lie
nished them their traffic. Sea and land
otter, fox and seal skins were far more
important to them than the timber
In 1848 an event of worldwide i'm
portance occurred. Just at the moment
that California entered the Union at
the close Of the Mexican War gold
was discovered in stream near where
Sacramento now stands. knowledge
Of this fact flashed throughout the
world. Men from everywhere f1ocked
to golden California. Some crossed the
plains, some crossed the isthmus,
others came around the Horn. The
new settlements of Oregon rushed to
the scene of the gold discoveries almost
en- masse. Not enough were left at
home to till the ground or save the
crops. The few SaWmillS were left idle.
This was 1349.
A very few years sufficed to find and
establish most Of the claims of the
gold-bearing placers in California.
Meanwhile, for every one man with
claim there were several other men
just as busy-with pick and shovel
working for hire. making sluice boxes.
buildings. shacks to live in, selling
goods in or for saloons. transporting
supplies, building San Francisco and
other towns building boats and shops
and whatnot. Some began to raise
vegetables and crops. Then 1t was that
the Oregon settlers began to drift home
and rescue their farms. The demand
at high prices for timber from Cali
fornia brought men back to the mills
and others to the erection OF addl-
tional mills.
Industry Established.
High prices for sawnill men called
more employers as well as more en-
ployes into the sawmill business, and
the industry was quickly established on
q profitable and permanent basis. A
Government official reported in 1853
l6 sawmills on Puget Sound alone.
number on the lower Columbia, the
Willamette and their tributaries by
that time Seattle and Tacoma both
began as sawmill towns in 1853.
Thus the lumber industry and the
trade and commerce which go with 1t
| began in the Pacific Northwest. Every
| where the timber reached down to the
| waters edge. The transportation of
| logs was easy and inexpensive. The
| cost of the timber was low.
James j. Hill, about 1900 or 1901,
was responsible for making q rate that
| would move lumber. eastward to the
great prairie States-Montana, the Da-
kotas, Nebraska. Iowa, Kansas, etc.
| Other roads joined in the Eastern
movement. The seaboard trade in
creased. Finally, even the Orient was
| reached and it grew to be an 1mpor-
| tant outlet for the lumber trade.
When the timber along the shores OF
| salt and fresh water were cut back
oxen and horses and the paraphernalia
| for moving logs to the streams invaded
| the forests, skids were constructed and
sometimes fumes and the donkey en-
| CINE found a place in the industry.
Then Jogging railroads and loading
tackle became a necessity. Then over
| head lines became important and the
| logging industry came to be almost a
| separate industry, at least a separate
department. Vast capital became IN
volved In the industry, the units in
| creased in size, world markets were
sought and found. Cooperation be-
gan. The sale of the timber In the
| Northern Pacific land grant and other
| like conditions extended the industry
and vast holdings of timber came to be
| the order of the day.
Meanwhile our great forests begin to
| fade away.
| -o----