href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@31994@[email protected]#Fig_3" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">3, 4, and 5) is the best known and the most important timber tree of western North America. It is found from British Columbia southward to northern Mexico. The finest forests occur in Oregon and Washington at low elevations. The Douglas fir is common in the park up to 3,500 feet, sometimes in nearly pure stands, but more often mixed with other species. It grows in all situations. In the higher mountains it prefers warm southern exposures and is seldom found on wind-swept ridges. It seeds annually, but most profusely at intervals three or four years apart. The red squirrels gather and store large quantities of the cones in order to provide a supply of the seeds for their winter rations. The growth of the young tree is very rapid. As the tree becomes older the rate of growth varies with the situation and the character of the soil so that the size does not closely determine the age of the tree.

Fig. 2.—Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia).

The Douglas fir is a long-lived tree, and specimens are occasionally found 250 to 270 feet high and over 8 feet in diameter and between 400 and 500 years in age. It reaches its greatest height and most perfect proportions in mature even-age stands growing on fairly moist well-drained bench lands. Under these conditions it is a very tall and beautiful tree. The trunk is straight, round, and free from branches for two-thirds of its height and tapers gently to the crown. The dark-brown deep-furrowed bark is 5 to 10 inches thick at the base of the tree.

The Douglas fir ranks first among the trees of the Pacific slope in importance for the production of lumber. It is often sold under the name of Oregon pine. Lumber dealers class the coarse-grained reddish wood produced by the young growth in open forests as "red fir." The older growth produced when the forest is more dense is a finer grained and more valuable wood, sold under the name of "yellow fir."

Fig. 3.—Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia).

The Douglas fir is used for nearly all purposes where durability, strength, and hardness are desirable. It is made into dimension timbers, lumber, flooring, and is particularly adapted for masts and spars. The lumber is shipped by rail to the Middle Western States. The foreign cargo shipments are made to all parts of the world. The greatest amount goes to Australia, the west and east coasts of South America, China, the United Kingdom, and Europe, Japan, and the South Sea Islands. Coastwise shipments are made to California, Alaska, and Panama. Large quantities of the seed of this tree are sent to Europe, where the Douglas fir is grown for timber and for ornament.

WESTERN RED CEDAR (THUJA PLICATA.)[1]

Fig. 4.—Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia).

The western red cedar (title page and fig. 5) ranges from south-eastern Alaska to northern California. It is a common tree in the park. It occurs in patches along the river bottoms where the flat scalelike foliage is conspicuous among the needle-shaped leaves of the hemlock and fir. The bark is fibrous in appearance and may be readily separated into long strips. The trunks of the older trees are swelled and irregularly fluted at the base. The leaves are fragrant and the wood has a pleasing aromatic odor. Nearly all the large trees are hollow at the butt. The roots spread laterally to a great distance, but extend only for a short distance below the surface of the ground. The tree is easily overthrown by the wind and usually grows in sheltered localities. On account of the thinness of the bark it is easily killed by fire.

Fig. 5.—Two big Douglas firs and a western red cedar (on the left) along the road up the Nisqually Valley, Mount Rainier National Park.

Photograph by A.H. Denman.

The red cedar flourishes on fertile and well-watered soils near sea level, where it grows to an enormous size. In the park it is a smaller tree, 150 to 170 feet high and rarely more than 4 or 5 feet through above the swollen butt. It grows occasionally up to an altitude of 4,000 feet, but is a small and insignificant tree in the high mountains.

In the sapling stage the red cedar grows rapidly. The mature tree increases very slowly in size. It exceeds all other trees in the Cascades in longevity. Individuals more than 500 years old are not uncommon and there is a well-authenticated instance where the annual rings indicated a growth of more than 1,100 years.

While the red cedar forms no great proportion of the forest of the Pacific Northwest, it is peculiarly valuable to the pioneer on account of the durability of the wood and the ease with which it can be split into boards, shakes, and planking. The early settlers used cedar split by hand as a substitute for sawn lumber in flooring and finishing their cabins and for the tables and shelves with which they were furnished. The Indians hollowed the great trunks with fire and made them into canoes, some of which were large and seaworthy enough to be used on the Sound and in making voyages along the coast. They wove the fibrous roots into baskets that carried water and plaited the bark into matting. The wood of the red cedar is reddish brown in color. It is soft, light, and very brittle, but very durable. It is extensively used for shingles, the manufacture of which forms one of the important industries of the State. The clear logs are sawed into lumber used for siding, interior and exterior finish, moldings, tank stock, and similar purposes. Common logs are utilized for shingles. In many localities the entire tree is cut into 52–inch bolts, which are hauled to the mills or floated to them down the streams.

The western red cedar makes excellent posts and rails for farm fences. The young trees are used for telegraph and telephone poles.