There are probably two and one-third million acres of logged-off lands in the state, of which only half a million are under tillage or pasturage. The same report shows the distribution of these lands as follows:
| COUNTY. | Acreage merchantable timber. | Acreage logged off. | Acreage in cultivation. | Total acreage. | Per cent. suitable for agriculture. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chehalis | 583,200 | 112,748 | 11,216 | 807,432 | 90 |
| Clallam | 296,611 | 195,933 | 11,784 | 504,329 | 75 |
| Clarke | 190,000 | 108,661 | 51,570 | 350,231 | |
| Cowlitz | 500,000 | 25,000 | 20,000 | 704,000 | 75 |
| Island | 8,013 | 99,866 | 9,317 | 117,196 | 75 |
| Jefferson | 186,647 | 59,427 | 4,657 | 254,385 | 50 |
| King | 640,000 | 110,000 | 74,857 | 1,243,000 | |
| Kitsap | 45,429 | 171,364 | 7,978 | 224,771 | |
| Lewis | 543,995 | 160,425 | 47,059 | 884,050 | 65 |
| Mason | 240,211 | 150,430 | 7,540 | 398,181 | |
| Pacific | 367,827 | 62,720 | 23,042 | 453,139 | |
| Pierce | 413,044 | 150,000 | 27,915 | 658,052 | 75 |
| San Juan | 10,000 | 80,000 | 4,000 | 95,684 | |
| Skagit | 306,759 | 149,923 | 45,605 | 502,287 | 25 |
| Snohomish | 258,005 | 270,422 | 20,908 | 558,336 | |
| Thurston | 291,200 | 120,000 | 13,680 | 428,005 | |
| Wahkiakum | 74,564 | 67,337 | 3,642 | 145,544 | 50 |
| Whatcom | 78,405 | 258,302 | 35,059 | 371,766 | |
| Total | 5,033,911 | 2,352,109 | 428,829 | 8,700,388 |
There are a great many acres of these lands that can be slicked up and burned over and prepared for seeding, not disturbing the stumps, at an expense of about $10 per acre. Thus treated, good pasturage can be secured cheaply. In time some of the stumps will rot out and be easily removed. When the stumps are not too thick, the lands can be successfully prepared and planted to orchards without removing the stumps, and their unsightly appearance can be turned into a thing of beauty and great profit by planting evergreen blackberries and loganberries about them, using the stumps for trellises. These berries in the climate of western Washington are wonderfully prolific and find a greedy market.
COMPENSATIONS.
There are several facts about making farms out of logged-off lands which should not be lost sight of, because they largely compensate for the labor spent in the undertaking. One of these is that the problem of fuel is solved for a lifetime and for the coming generation. Five acres can be left untouched as a reserve and in a remarkably few years it will re-forest itself.
The growth of trees under the humid atmosphere of western Washington is astonishing, and a very few years will suffice to provide one with a wood lot to last a generation. Meanwhile some of the fir logs and alder and maple trees will be preserved from the fire and piled up to provide fuel for the years until the wood lot furnishes a fresh green supply.
Then, too, as has already been suggested, the fence question, no small item in a prairie country, is satisfactorily answered with no expenditure but for labor. The cedar logs, splitting with ease, can be turned into rails or boards or posts—preferably the former—and the rails put on top of each other between two posts fastened together at the top make as good a hog-tight and cattle-proof fence as can be desired, and these rails will last in the fence for a century. For the house, doubtless more satisfaction can be had by patronizing the nearest saw-mill, although many houses made out of split cedar timbers and boards are in the state, proofs at once of the usefulness of this timber and the hardihood and ingenuity of the rancher. But for the barn and stable, pig-stye, hennery, chicken-coop and fruit boxes, and a great many other things, the rancher patronizes his reserve log pile instead of the lumber yard, and saves time and labor in so doing. Another fact which compensates the rancher in western Washington in the struggle for a home which will provide a safe and generous support in his old age is that during all the labor and waiting he is enjoying a delightful climate, in which no blizzard drives him from his work. No cyclone endangers his life and fortune. No snakes lurk in the underbrush. No clouds of dust blind his eyes. No sultry summer suns make him gasp for breath, and no intense cold freezes his face or feet. He can work if he wishes as many days as there are in the year, and know that every stroke of his axe or mattock is a part of his capital safely invested that will pay back an annual dividend for a lifetime. No soil will respond to his energy more quickly or more generously.
There is one more possible compensation. Fir logs and stumps and roots and bark are all full of pitch. Factories are now in operation that are turning this wood into charcoal and saving and refining all the by-products, particularly turpentine, wood alcohol, pitch and tar. These factories are successful and paying dividends, but are on a large scale and permanently located. It is probable that some genius will soon evolve a movable plant, capable of serving the same purpose, which can go from one ranch to another. When this is done, it will be found that the refuse left by the logger is worth several times more than the cost of getting it off the land with powder and fire, and, instead of being a burden upon the land of $100 per acre, will become a matter of merchandise to be sold for much more and removed from the land with no expense to the owner.
As a final word, it should be remembered that, after these lands are put under good tillage, every acre can be made to return more than the cost of clearing annually. Western Washington has never been able to produce enough to feed its wonderfully increasing population. Meats, vegetables, fruits, poultry, eggs, etc., are all constantly coming in from outside to supply the markets. This condition keeps prices high. It has been so for twenty years, and will be for twenty years to come. From $100 to $500 per acre per year can be had from fruits and vegetables. The same can be realized from poultry, nor will the dairy fall far behind when the scrub cow is abandoned and a choice thoroughbred animal takes its place and the soil is intensely tilled and fertilized.
The logged-off lands when first looked at are black and big labor and difficulties. When the problem is intelligently understood—undertaken with comprehension and some capital and plenty of grit—the solution is easy and the rewards ample and gratifying.