County, and on this 640 acres there is in excess of 100,000,000 feet, of which ninety-five per cent is Douglas fir. This would indicate a stand of approximately 160,000 feet per acre. The average stand in the western part of the state is said to be about 35,000 feet per acre. That these amounts are reasonable can be better appreciated when it is known that we have areas in which fir and cedar trees from six to ten and twelve feet in diameter and having heights ranging from 200 to 275 feet, stand so close that a person on horseback could not ride between them. Many of these trees will not have a limb for a distance of 100 to 125 feet from the ground and an average 10-foot fir cut will approximately 22,000 board feet, or enough to build an average seven-room house. The state of Washington is divided by the Cascade Mountains, a range having an average elevation of 5,000 feet with peaks rising to twelve and fourteen thousand feet, into two parts, which are entirely dissimilar, that on the western side having a humid climate and a heavy stand of timber, together with dense underbrush, and the eastern portion being in the arid belt with no timber on the lower plateaus. The western portion has a rainfall varying from 30 inches to 127 inches per annum and has a comparatively small variation in temperature, ranging from 85 degrees to 20 or 25 degrees, while the eastern portion has a precipitation of from only 8 to 35 or 40 inches and has a temperature ranging from 110 degrees to 20 degrees below zero. Douglas fir, cedar and western hemlock are the predominating species in the western portions, and these occur together with rank vegetation and dense underbrush so that it is impossible for one to make his way through these forests without following trails. Immediately after crossing the Cascade range to the east, however, these species of timber begin to disappear and are replaced by larch and western yellow pine in very heavy stands, but in forests that are practically free from underbrush and which stand entirely disappears in the lower elevation. The valley of the Columbia River, which traverses the state from north to south, together with the valleys of all of its tributaries, is practically devoid of timber below the 1,000foot elevation. The Weyerhaeusers are the largest holders of standing timber in the state, owning billions of feet in the western portion. Next to this concern in extent of holdings is the North ern Pacific Railway. The former concern has a number of mills which are cutting its timber, the three largest having a capacity of 1,150,000 feet per day. At present there are more than fifty mills in the state whose costs approximate $1,000,000 each, which figure, of course, is exclusive of any investment in standing timber. The largest mill in the state has a capacity of 600,000 feet per day. The largest cut made by any mill in the state was 752,000 feet in one day. In 1917, there were 438 active and 51 idle mills which reported in the state of Washington, of which about 300 are located on the west side and these 300 produced 4,040,000,000 feet. One of the biggest bugbears to holders of timber is the fire risk. Up to a few years ago there were millions of feet of timber destroyed practically every year by fire. Of late years, however, stringent measures have been taken by the various western states to protect their timber and the state of Washington has enacted an excellent code of laws for the protection of their timber lands from fire. Various organizations have been formed among the private owners, the state and the federal government, which organizations work in close harmony, and through their combined efforts the annual loss of timber through this source has been reduced to very nominal figures. This section of the country is the only one where there are separate logging companies who do nothing but cut the timber and sell it to the mills. In all other localities the operators cut their own logs. As to the future of the lumber industry there seems to be a diversity of opinion among well informed men. There is a general feeling that there have been wholesale cancellations of Government orders and that these cancellations will have a serious effect on the situation. As a matter of fact, direct Government orders have amounted to only about ten per cent of the output and additional orders incidental to war activities to an additional ten per cent, so that there would be but a twenty per cent reduction if all this class of business was to come to an abrupt end. Ten days ago (December 9), there was unrest among the builders of wooden ships due to the fact that they were not allowed to take orders from private concerns, nor were they allowed to enter into contract with foreigners. This restriction has now been removed and there is a more optimistic feeling |