Commercial Geography / A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges

by Jacques W. Redway

Lumber manufacture is an important industry. Douglas spruce, commonly known as "Oregon pine," grows profusely on the western slopes of the high ranges, the belt extending nearly to the Mexican border. It makes a most excellent building-lumber, especially for bridge-timber and framework. Masts and spars of this material are used in almost every maritime country. Sugar-pine is less common, but is abundant. It is largely used for interior work. Several species of redwood occur in central California, confined to a limited area. The wood is fine-grained and makes a most beautiful interior finish.

San Francisco is the metropolis of the Pacific coast of the United States. It is the terminus of the Santa Fé and Union Pacific railways, and the centre of a network of local roads. Steamship lines connect the city with Panama, the Hawaiian Islands, Japan, and Australian ports; coast steamships reach to the various ports of Alaska, Oregon, and California. It is also the financial as well as the commercial centre of the Pacific coast. Los Angeles is the centre of the fruit-growing region; its port is San Pedro. Stockton, Port Costa, and Sacramento, all on navigable waters, are wheat-markets. Portland (Ore.) is the metropolis of the basin of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. Navigation of the former is interrupted by falls or rapids at Dalles and Cascades, but boats ascend as far as Wallula. The lower Willamette is also made navigable by means of a canal and locks at Oregon Falls.

Puget Sound is a "drowned valley," with an abundance of deep water. The score or more of harbors are among the best in the world. Seattle and Tacoma, the leading ports, are terminals of great transcontinental railways, and also of the most important trade-route across the continent. Lines of steamships connect Seattle with Japan and China, and the commerce passing through this gateway is drawn from a territory that extends more than half-way around the world. These ports are destined to become the chief American ports in the Asian trade.

Alaska.—The most productive industry of the insular part of the territory is the fisheries. For many years the Pribilof Islands produced practically all the seal-pelts used in the manufacture of seal-fur garments. So many seals were killed, however, that the species seemed likely to become extinct, and seal-catching has been forbidden for a term of years.

PUGET SOUND

The discovery of gold along the Klondike River and in the beach-sands of Cape Nome was followed by the development of surface mines that produced a large amount of gold. For the better transportation of products, a railway has been completed from Skagway across White Pass to White Horse, the head of navigation of the Yukon. About twenty steamboats are engaged in the commerce of the river. Skagway and Dyea are collecting points for the commerce of the Klondike mines. Juneau has probably the largest quartz-mill in the world.

Porto Rico.—Porto Rico, formerly a Spanish colony, is now a possession of the United States. The island is about the size of Connecticut and has a population somewhat greater. The industries are almost wholly agricultural, and nearly the whole surface is under cultivation. Sugar, coffee, and tobacco are grown for export, and these constitute the chief source of income. The coffee-crop, about sixty million pounds yearly, is the most valuable product and commands a high price on account of its superior quality. It is sold very largely to European coffee-merchants, and is marketed as a "Mocha." Exports of fruit to the United States are increasing. In 1900 the exports to United States markets, mainly sugar and cattle products, were about six million dollars. The imports from the United States were chiefly of cotton-prints and rice, to the amount of nearly nine million dollars. The total export and import trade that year was about twenty million dollars.

The facilities for the transportation of products are not good. The railway lines have a total mileage of about one hundred and fifty miles. An excellent wagon-road, built by the Spanish Government from San Juan to Ponce, has been supplemented by several hundred miles of roads built under the direction of the military authorities. San Juan and Ponce are the leading seaports and centres of trade.