The Great Forests of Washington.
D W The Pacific Monthly Volume VIII OCTOBER, I902 Number 4- THE GREAT FORESTS OF WASHINGTON PUGET SOUND, so justly famous the world over for the surpassing size and excellence . and abundance of its timber, is a long, many fin- _, _ . . gered arm of the The Puaet s ,• ., _ • J*; . . . sea reaching s...
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Scholarly Commons
1902
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| Summary: | D W The Pacific Monthly Volume VIII OCTOBER, I902 Number 4- THE GREAT FORESTS OF WASHINGTON PUGET SOUND, so justly famous the world over for the surpassing size and excellence . and abundance of its timber, is a long, many fin- _, _ . . gered arm of the The Puaet s ,• ., _ • J*; . . . sea reaching south- Sound District , r & ,, ward from the Strait of Juan de Fuca into the heart of the grand forests of the western portion of Washington, between the Cascade Range and the mountains of the Coast. It is less than a hundred miles in length, but so numerous are the branches into which it divides, and so many its bays, harbors, and islands, that its entire shore line is said to measure more than 1,800 miles. Throughout its whole vast extent ships move in safety, and find shelter from every wind that blows, the entire mountain-girt sea forming one grand unrivaled harbor and center for commerce. The forest trees press forward to the water along all the windings of the shores in most imposing array, as if they were courting their fate, coming down from the mountains far and near to offer themselves to the axe, thus making the place a perfect paradise for the lumberman. To the lover of nature the scene is enchanting. Water and sky, mountain and forest, clad . in sunshine and clouds, are composed in landscapes sublime in magnitude, yet exquisitely fine and fresh, and full of glad, rejoicing life. The shining waters stretch away into the leafy wilderness, now like the reaches of some majestic river and again expanding into broad, roomy spaces like mountain lakes, their farther edges fading gradually and blending with the pale blue of the sky. The wooded shores with an outer fringe of - .:'lt''pi mfWW ?A '-' ":Y Rv-.-' SfePrAln'itf ,!'' !'$': '-ft y.'''|; ';-i'"-'; ''v . W*mb ;-v ":fj?3S s ;;\'y .; " '$:: mm iffa r : ' 1 RBJi''/ : •/ '] W 'f mBmWlk v '- t) at Mi Hli j'r- 1 |E§fifiwMS:'' U 2* rj SSIwrA SSKi'fS" HPH A MONSTER CEDAR, 17 FEET IN DIAMETER flowering bushes sweep onward in beautiful curves around bays and capes and jutting promontories innumerable; while the islands, with soft, waving outlines, lavishly adorned with spruces and cedars, thicken and enrich the beauty of the waters; and the white spirit mountains looking down from the sky to keep watch and ward over all, faithful and changeless as the stars. When we force our way into the depths of the forests, following any of the rivers back to their fountains, we find that the bulk of the woods is made up of the Douglas Spruce (Pseuda tsuga Douglasii), named in honor ot David Douglas, an The Douglas Spruce - 148 THE PACIFIC MONTHLY enthusiastic botanical explorer of early Hudson Bay times. It is not only a very large tree, but a very beautiful one, with lively, bright green drooping foliage, handsome pendent cones, and a shaft exquisitely straight and regular. For so large a tree it is astonishing how many find nourishment and space to grow on any given area. The magnificent shafts push their spires into the sky close together with as regular a growth as that of a well tilled field of grain, and no ground has been better tilled for the "growth of trees than that on which these forests are growing. For it has been thoroughly plowed and rolled by the mighty glaciers from the mountains, and sifted and mellowed and .outspread in beds hundreds of feet in depth by the broad streams that issued from their fronts at the time of their recession, after they had long covered all the land. The largest tree of this species that I have myself measured was nearly twelve feet in diameter at a height of five feet from the ground, and as near as I could make out under the circumstances, about 300 feet in length. It stood near the head of the Sound, not far from Olympia. I have seen a few others, both near the Coast and thirty or forty miles back in the interior, that were from eight to ten feet in diameter, measured above their bulging insteps; and many from six to seven feet. I have heard of some that were said to be 325 feet in height and fifteen feet in diameter, but none that I measured were so large, though it is not at all unlikely such colosal giants do exist where conditions of soil and exposure are surpassingly favorable. The average size of all the trees of this species found up to an elevation on the mountain slopes of, say, 2,000 feet above sea-level, taking in account only what may be called mature trees 250 to 500 years of age, is perhaps, at a vague guess, not more than a height of 175 to 200 feet and a diameter of three feet; though, of course, throughout the richest sections, the size is much greatei-. In proportion to its weight when dry the timber irom this tree is perhaps stronger than that of any other conifer in the country. It is tough and durable. THE GREAT FORESTS OF WASHINGTON 149 and admirably adapted in every way for ship-building, piles and heavy timbers in general. But its hardness and liability to warp render it much inferior to white or sugar pine for fine work. In the lumber markets it is known as "Oregon Pine" and is used almost exclusively for spars, bridge timbers, heavy planking and the frame work of houses. The same species extends northward in abundance through British Columbia and southward through the Coast and middle regions of Oregon and Califor- extends into the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. But though widely distributed, it is only in these cool, moist northlands that it reaches its finest development, tall, straight, elastic, and free from limbs to an immense heighth, growing down to tide water, where ships of the largest size may lie close alongside and load at the least possible cost. Growing with the Douglas we find the white spruce, or "Sitka Pine" as it is sometimes called. This, also, is a A FOREST DINING ROOM—LOGGERS AT THEIR NOON MEAL nia. It is also a common tree in the canons and hollows of the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, where it is called "Red Pine" and on portions of the Rocky Mountains and some of the short ranges of the Great Basin. Along the coast of California it keeps company with the redwood wherever it can find a favorable opening. On the western slopes of the Sierra, with the yellow pine and incense cedar, it forms a pretty well defined belt, at a height of from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea, and very beautiful and majestic tree, fre- The "SitKa quently attaining a pine. height of 200 feet or more and a diameter of five or six feet. It is very abundant in southeastern Alaska, forming the greater part of the best forests there. Here it is found mostly around the sides of the beaver-dam and other meadows and on the borders of the streams, especially where the ground is low. One tree that I saw felled at the head of the Hop Ranch meadows on the 150 THE PACIFIC MONTHLY upper Snoqualmie River, though far from being the largest I have seen, measured 180 feet in length and four and a half feet in diameter, and was 257 years of age. In habits and general appearance it resembles the Douglas Spruce, but is somewhat less slender and the needles grow close together all around the branchlets and are so stiff and sharp-pointed on the younger branches that they cannot well be handled without gloves. The timber is tough, close-grained, white, and looks more like pine than any other of the spruces. It splits freely, makes excellent shingles, and in general use in house-building takes the place of pine. I have seen logs of this species 100 feet long and two feet in diameter at the upper end. It was named in honor of the old Scotch botanist, Archibald Men- zies, who came to this Coast with Vancouver in 1792. The beautiful hemlock spruce, with its warm, yellow-green foliage, is also common in some portions of these woods. It is tall and slender and ex- Other Conifers ceedingly graceful in habit before old age comes on, but the timber is inferior and is seldom used for any other than the roughest work, such as wharf building. The Western arbor vitae (Thuga gigantea) grows to a size truly gigantic on low rich ground. Specimens ten feet in diameter and 140 feet high are not at all rare. Some that I have heard of are said to be fifteen and eighteen feet thick. Clad in rich, glossy plumes, with gray lichens covering their smooth, tapering boles, perfect trees of this species are truly noble objects and well worthy the place they hold in these glorious forests, it is of this tree that Indians make their fine canoes. Of the other conifers that are so happy as to have place here, are three firs, three or four pine, two cypresses, a yew and another spruce, the Abies Patoniana. The last is perhaps the most beautiful of all the spruces, but being comparatively small and growing only "AS REGULAR A GROWTH AS THAT OF A WELL TILLED FIELD OF 8BAIN" THE GREAT FORESTS OF WASHINGTON 151 far back on the mountains, it receives but little attention from most, people. Of the three firs, one, (Picea Grandis), grows near the coast, and is one of the largest trees in the forest, sometimes attaining a height of 250 feet. The timber, however, is inferior in quality and not much sought after, while so much that is better is within reach. One of the others (P. Amabilis, var 110- bilis), forms magnificent forests by itself at a height of about 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea. The rich plushy, plume-like branches grow in regular whorls around the trunks and on the topmost whorls, standing erect, are the large, beautiful cones. This is far the most beautiful of all the firs. In the Sierra Nevada it forms a considerable portion of the main for- State. The others (P. monticola and P. contorta), are mostly restricted to the upper slopes of the mountains, and though the former of these two attains a good size and makes excellent lumber, it is mostly beyond reach at present' and is not abundant. One of the cypresses (Cupressus Lawsoniana), grows near the coast and is a fine large tree, clothed like the arbor vitae in a glorious wealth of flat, feathery branches. The other is found here and there well up toward the edge of the timber line. This is the fine Alaska cedar, (C. Nootkatensis), the timber from which is noted for its est belt on the western slopes, and it is there that it reaches it greatest size and greatest beauty. The third species (P. subalpina) forms, together with Abies Patoniana, the upper edge of the timber line on the portion of the Cascades opposite the Sound. A thousand feet below the extreme limit of tree-growth it occurs in beautiful groups amid parklike openings, where flowers grow in extravagant profusion. The pines are nowhere abundant in the State. The largest, the yellow pine, (Pinus ponder- osa), occurs here and there on margins of dry, gravelly prairies, and only on such situations have I yet seen it in this STEAM PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE LUMBERING INDUSTRY durability, fineness of grain, beautiful yellow color and its fragrance, which resembles that of sandal wood. The Alaska Indians make their canoe paddles of it and weave matting and coarse cloth from the fibrous brown bark. Among the different kinds of hardwood trees are the oak, maple, madrone, birch, alder and wild apple, while large cotton-woods are common along the rivers and shores of the numerous lakes. The most striking of these to the traveler is the Menzies Arbutus, or madrona, as it is popularly called in California. Its curious red and Hardwood Trees O&S&l 152 THE PACIFIC MONTHLY yellow bark, large thick glossy leaves, and panicles of waxy-looking, greenish- white, urn-shaped flowers render it very conspicuous. On the boles of the younger trees, and on all the branches, the bark is so smooth and seamless that it does not appear as bark at all, but rather the native wood. The whole tree, with the exception of the larger part of the trunk, looks as though it had been thoroughly peeled. It is found sparsely scattered along the shores of the Sound and back in the forests, also on open margins, where the soil is not too wet, and extends up the Coast on Vancouver Island San Juan and Whidby Archipelago. One of the three species of maples that f have seen is only a bush that makes tangles on the banks of the rivers. Of the other two one is a small tree, crooked and moss-grown, holding out its leaves to catch the light that filters down through the close-set spires of the great spruces. It grows almost everywhere throughout the entire extent of the forest until the higher slopes of the mountains are reached, and produces a very picturesque and delightful effect, relieving the bareness of the great shafts of the evergreens, without being close LOADING ONTO THE TRUCKS beyond Nanaimo. But in no part of the State does it reach anything like the size and beauty of proportions that it attains to in California, few trees here being more than ten or twelve inches in diameter and thirty feet high. It is, however, a very remarkable looking object, standing there like some lost or .runaway native of the tropics, naked and painted, beside that dark mossy ocean of northland conifers. Not even a palm tree would seem more out of place here. The oaks, so far as my observation has reached, seem to be most abundant and grow largest on the islands of the enough in its growth to wholly hide them, or to cover the bright mossy carpet that is spread beneath all the dense parts of the woods. The other species is also very picturesque, and at the same time very large—the largest tree of its kind that I have ever seen anywhere. Not even in the great maple woods of Canada have I seen trees either as large or with so much striking picturesque character. It is widely distributed throughout Western Washington, but is rarely found scattered among the conifers in the dense woods. It keeps together mostly in magnificent groves by itself on the damp levels along the banks THE GREAT FORESTS OF WASHINGTON i53 of streams or lakes where the ground is subject to overflow. In such situations it attains a height of seventy-five to one hundred feet and a diameter of four to eight feet. The trunk sends out large limbs toward one another, laden with long, drooping mosses beneath and rows of ferns on their upper surfaces, thus making a grand series of richly ornamented inter-lacing arches, with the leaves laid thick overhead, rendering the under-wood spaces delightfully cool and open. Never have I seen a finer forest ceiling, or a more picturesque one, while the floor, covered with tall ferns and rubus, and thrown into hillocks by the oulging roots, matches it well. The largest of these maple groves that I have yet found are ,on the right bank of 1 the Snoqualmie River, about a mile above the falls. The whole country hereabouts is picturesque, and1 interesting in many ways, and well worthy a visit by tourists passing through the Sound region, since it is accesT sible by rail from Seattle. The Timber Lands hooking now at the forests in a comprehensive way, we find in passing through them again and again from the shores of the Sound to their upper limits, that some portions are much older than others, the trees much larger, and the ground beneath them strewn with immense trunks in every stage of decay, representing several generations of growth, everything about them giving the impression that these are indeed the "forest primeval." While in the younger portions, where the elevation of the ground is the same as the sea-level and the species of trees are the same as well as the quality of soil, apart from the moisture which it holds, the trees seem to be and are mostly of the same age, perhaps from 100 to 200 or 300 years, with no gray-bearded, venerable patriarchs, forming tall majestic woods without any grandfathers. When we examine the ground we find that it is as free from the mounds of brown crumbling wood and mossy ancient fragments as are the growing trees from the very old ones. FOREST DEPTHS THE GREAT FORESTS OF WASHINGTON 155 Then, perchance, we come upon a section farther up the slopes towards the mountains that has no trees more than fifty years old, or even fifteen or twenty years old. These last show plainly enough that they have been devastated by fire, as the black melancholy monuments rising here and there above the young growth bear witness. Then with this fiery, suggestive testimony, on examining those sections whose trees are a hundred years old or two hundred, we find the same fire-records, though heavily veiled with mosses and lichens, showing that a century or two ago the forests that stood there had been swept away in some in forest distribution, and to a great extent also in condition of their growth. AVhere fertile lands are very wet one- half the year and very dry the other, there can be no forests at all. Where the ground is damp with drouth occurring only at intervals of centuries, fint forests may be found, other conditions being favorable. But it is only where fires never run that truly ancient forests of pitchy coniferous trees may exist. When the Washington forests are seen from the deck of a ship out in the middle of the Sound, or even from the top of some high, commanding mountain, the woods seem everywhere perfectly solid. FROM THE TRUCKS TO THE RIVER tremendous fire at a time when rare conditions of drouth made their burning possible. Then, the bare ground sprinkled with the winged seeds from the edges of the burned districts, a new forest sprang up, nearly every tree starting at the same time, or within a few years, thus explaining the uniformity of size we find in such places; while on the other hand, in those sections of ancient aspect containing very old trees, both standing and fallen, we find no traces of fire, nor from the extreme dampness of the ground can we see any possibility of fire ever running there. Fire, then, is the great governing agent And so in fact they are in general found to be. The largest openings are those of -the lakes and prairies, the smaller of beaver-meadow, bogs, and the rivers; none of them large enough to make a distinct mark in comprehensive views. Notwithstanding the tremendous energy displayed in lumbering, and the grand scale on which it is being carried on, and the number of settlers pushing The Lumber. ?n to every °Pen: ing Industry f« \n sfarch °f farm-1 a n d s , the woods of Washington are still almost entirely virgin and wild, without trace of human touch, savage or 156 THE PACIFIC MONTHLY LOG USED AS OFFICE AT BUFFALO EXPOSITION Kirk Photo, Everett, Wn. lized. Indians, no doubt, have ascended most of the rivers on their way to the mountains to hunt wild sheep and goat to obtain wool for their clothing, but with food in abundance on the coast they had little to tempt them into the wilderness, and the monuments they have left in it are scarcely more conspicuous than those of squirrels and bears; far less so than those of the beavers, which in darning the streams have made clearings and meadows which will continue to mark the landscapes for centuries. For many years the axe has been busy around the shores of the Sound, and chips have been falling in perpetual storm like flakes of snow. The best of the timber has been cut for a distance of eight or ten miles from the water and to a much greater distance along the streams deep enough to float the logs. Railroads, too, have been built to fetch in the logs from the best bodies of timber otherwise inaccessible except at great cost. None of the ground, however, has been completely denuded. Most of the young trees have been left, together with the hemlocks and other trees undesirable in kind, or in some way defective, so that the neighboring trees appear to have closed over the gaps made by the removal of the larger and better ones, maintaining the general continuity of the forest and leaving no sign on the sylvan sea, at least as seen from a distance. In felling the trees they have cut them off usually at a height of six to twelve feet above the ground so as to avoid cutting through the swollen base where the diameter is so much greater. In order to reach this height the chopper cuts a notch about two inches wide and three or four inches deep and drives a board into it on which he stands at work. In case the first notch, cut as high as he can reach, is not high enough, he stands upon the board which has been driven into the first notch and cuts another. Thus the axeman may often be seen at work standing eight or ten feet above the ground. If the tree is so large that with his long handled axe the chopper is unable to reach to the farthest side of it, then a second chopper is set at work, each cutting half way across. And when the tree is about to fall, warned by the faint crackling of the strained fibres, they jump to the ground, and THE GREAT FORESTS OF WASHINGTON 157 stand back out of danger from the flying limbs, while the noble giant that had stood erect in glorious strength and beauty century after century, bows low at last, and with a gasp and groan and booming throb falls to earth. Then with long saws they are cut into logs of the required length, peeled, loaded upon wagons capable of carrying the logs apart and, selecting such as are at the time required, push them to the foot of a chute, drive dogs into the ends, and they are speedily hauled in by the mill machinery alongside the saw carriage and placed in. fixed position. Then with sounds of greedy hissing and growling they are rushed back and forth like enormous shuttles, and in an incredibly LOGGING WITH DONKEY ENGINE ' SWAMPING " a weight of eight to ten tons, hauled by a long string of oxen to the nearest available stream or railroad and floated or carried to the Sound. There the logs are gathered into booms and towed by streams to the mills, where workmen with steel spikes in their boots leap lightly with easy poise from log to log and by means of long pike-poles push short time the logs are lumber and are aboard the ships lying at the mill wharves. Many of the long, slender boles so abundant in these woods are sawed for spars, and so excellent is their quality they are in demand in almost every shipyard of the world. Thus these trees, felled and stripped of their leaves and THE MOSS CLAD LIMBS OF A FOREST MONARCH THE GREAT FORESTS OF WASHINGTON i59 SOME OF THE GREAT MILLS OF EVERETT, WASH. Kirk Photo, Everett, Wn. branches, are raised again, transplanted and set firmly erect, given roots of iron and new foliage of flapping canvas and sent to sea. On they speed in glad, free motion, cheerily waving over the bhn heaving water, responsive to the samt winds that rocked them when they stood at home in the woods. After -standing in one place all their lives, they now like sight-seeing tourists, go round the world, meeting many a relative from the old home-forest, some, like themselves wandering free, clad in broad canvas foliage, others planted head downward in mud, holding wharf platforms aldfl to receive the wares of all nations. The mills of Puget Sound and those of the redwood region of California an said to be the largest and most effective lumber-makers in the world. Nevertheless, the observer coming up the Sound sees not nor hears anything of this fierce storm of steel that is devouring the forests, save perhaps the shriek of some whistle or the columns of smoke that mark the position of the mills. All else seems as serene and unscathed as the silent, watching mountains. Strolling in GIANT FIR OF SNOHOMISH CO Stump 50 feet in circumference 4 feet above ground; log cut 135 feet long, scale 91,260 feet. The largest fir tree known to have been cut in the world.—Kirk photo, Everett, Wn. i6o THE PACIFIC MONTHLY the woods about the logging camps, most of the lumbermen are found to be interesting people to meet, kind and obliging and sincere, full of knowledge concerning the bark and sap-wood and heart- wood of the trees they cut, and how to fell them without unnecessary breakage, on ground where they may be most advantageously sawed into logs and loaded for removal. The work is hard, and all of the older men have a tired, somewhat haggard appearance. There faces are doubtful in color, neither sickly nor quite healthy looking, and seamed with deep wrinkles like the bark of the spruces, but With no trace of anxiety. There clothing is full of rosin, and never wears out. A little of everything in the woods is stuck fast to these loggers, and their trousers grow constantly thicker with age. In all their movements and gestures they are heavy and deliberate, like the trees above them, and walk with a swaying, rocking gait, altogether free from quick, jerky fussiness; for chopping and log-rolling has quenched all that. They are also slow of speech, as if partly out of breath, and when one tries to draw them out on some subject- away from logs, all the fresh, leafy out- reaching branches of the mind seem to EVERETT, SNOHOMISH BICYCLE PATH THROUGH CEDAR Kirk photo, Everett, Wi. have been withered and killed with fatigue, leaving their lives little more than THE LAST STAGE—BY RAFT TO THE MILLS THE RUSHES ifii dry lumber. Many a tree have these old axemen felled, but round-shouldered and stooping, they too are beginning to lean over. Many of their companions are already beneath the moss, and among those that we see at work some are now dead at the top (bald), leafless, so to speak, and tottering to their fall. NOTE—The Pacific Monthly wishes to acknowledge its indebtedness to the following photographers for the views appearing in this issue: J. R. Hargrave, Kelso, Wash.; J. Arthur, Castle Rock, Wash.; Pratch & Co., Aberdeen, Wash. THe Rushes Margaret J. Gates An inlet from the sea n narrow winding turns Is a sinuous line Where the rushes shine Like the light of a purple flame-tongue fine Where the heart of a gold fire burns. n blue and endless green The Autumn day is spread. One flooded hour, The sun-shot dower Of the sweeping rush-lands airy power, Ere the limitless glory is fled. The rushes stretch for miles; The sun is slanting bright, And the shimmering gleam Where the rush-tops stream, Bathed in the gold of the fall sun's beam, Is an ocean of sky-bound light. The slender rushes bend And bow in the luminous space. Their stem-ribbons green, A bright, billowing sheen Tipped by the narrowing spear-heads keen, Are like runners who pause in a race. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/1276/thumbnail.jpg |
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