Page:A History of the Pacific Northwest.djvu/312

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respect the extraction of values from the native forests holds the first place in importance. These states possess extraordinary opportunities for the manufacturing of lumber, on account of the vast areas of superb primeval forest growth included within their boundaries. And lumbering has become an industry of large proportions. Probably the most complete lumber manufacturing plants to be found in the world are located in Washington and in Oregon, some of them having been substituted, by a kind of evolution, for small, crude mills of the pioneer days of the industry, others being erected as new ventures at suitable points in proximity to timber supplies large enough to justify an expectation of reasonable permanency. The most abundant timber is the Douglas fir, sometimes known in the eastern markets as Oregon pine; but there are also forests of spruce, of yellow pine, and a much smaller supply of the valuable sugar pine; cedar, and other varieties are found scattered somewhat widely among the more common growths. For some purposes, as for furniture making, other growths, including the maple and even the alder, are beginning to assume importance.

The rapid development of the lumbering industry of the Northwest has come since 1880, when it began to appear that the bountiful forests of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were after all not inexhaustible. Since 1900 the production of the Lake states has declined sharply, while in Oregon and W^ashington the increase has been enormous, amounting by 19 13 to