Logging on the Pacific Coast is characterized by the use of powerful machinery and by extreme skill in handling enormous weights. This is especially true in California, where the logs of redwood and of the big tree (Sequoia Washingtoniana) are often more than 10 ft. in diameter. Logging is usually done by wire cables operated by donkey-engines. The journey to the mill is usually by rail. The mills are often of great size, built on piles over tide water and so arranged that their product is delivered directly from the saws and dry kilns to vessels moored alongside. The products of the Pacific Coast forest make their way over land to the markets of the central and eastern states and into foreign markets. Among the lumber-producing states, Washington has in seven years jumped from fifth place to first, and its output has increased from 1,428,000,000 board ft. in 1899 to 4,305,000,000 ft. in 1906. Oregon and California have increased their output from 734,000,000 each in 1899 to 1,605,000,000 and 1,349,000,000 ft. respectively in 1906. Of the total output of these three states (7,259,000,000 ft.) 4,880,000,000 ft. is Douglas fir and 660,000,000 redwood.

4. The important lumber trees of the Rocky Mountain forest are the western yellow pine, the lodgepole pine, the Douglas fir and the Engelmann spruce. The Douglas fir, here extremely variable in size and value, reaches in this region average dimensions of perhaps 80 ft. in height by 2 ft. in diameter, the western yellow pine 90 ft. by 3 ft. and the Engelmann spruce 60 ft. by 2 ft. Mining, railroad and domestic uses chiefly absorb the annual timber product, which is considerable in quantity, and of vast importance to the local population. The lumber output of the Rocky Mountain region is, however, increasing very rapidly both in the north and in the south-west. One of the largest mills in the United States is in Idaho.

The following table summarizes the cut of the important coniferous species during the years 1899-1906:

Kind.1899.1904.1906.Per Cent Increase
(+) or Decrease
(−) since 1899.
Million
ft.		Million
ft.		Million
ft.
Yellow Pine9,65911,53311,661+  20.7
Douglas Fir1,7372,9284,970+ 186.2
White Pine7,7425,3334,584−  40.8
Hemlock3,4213,2693,537+  3.4
Spruce1,4481,3041,645+  13.6
Western Pine9441,2791,387+  46.9
Cypress496750839+  69.3
Redwood360519683+  83.2
Cedar233223358+  53.7
26,04027,13829,664+  14

Hardwoods.—The hardwood supply of the country is derived almost entirely from the eastern half of the continent, and comes from each of the three great Eastern forest regions.

The following table shows the cut of the important species of hardwoods for 1899 and 1906:

Kind. 1899. 1906. Per Cent
Increase (+)
or Decrease (−).
Thousand
Feet.		 Thousand
Feet.
Oak 4,438,027 2,820,393 −  36.5
Maple 633,466 882,878 +  39.4
Poplar 1,115,242 693,076 −  37.9
Red gum 285,417 453,678 +  59.0
Chestnut 206,688 407,379 +  97.1
Basswood 308,069 376,838 +  22.3
Birch 132,601 370,432 + 179.4
Cottonwood 415,124 263,996 −  36.4
Beech (a) 275,661 · ·
Elm 456,731 224,795 −  50.8
Ash 269,120 214,460 −  20.8
Hickory 96,636 148,212 +  53.4
Tupelo (a) 47,882 · ·
Walnut 38,681 48,174 +  24.5
Sycamore 29,715 (a) · ·
All other 208,504 87,637 −  58.0
Total 8,634,021 7,315,491 −  15.3
a Not separately reported.

Oak, which in 1899 furnished over half the entire output, has fallen off 36.5%. Yellow poplar, which in 1899 was second among the hardwoods, has fallen off 38% and now occupies third place; and elm, the great stand-by in slack cooperage, has fallen 50.8%. On the other hand less valuable species like maple and red gum have advanced 39 and 59% respectively.

The decrease is largely due to the fact that the hardwoods grow naturally on the better classes of soil, and in the eastern United States where the population has always been the densest, and as a consequence of this, a large proportion of the original hardwood land has been cleared up and put under cultivation. The hardwood supply of the future must be obtained chiefly from the Appalachian region, where the conditions are less favourable to agriculture.

In addition to the lumber cut, enormous quantities of hardwoods are used each year for railroad ties, telephone and other poles, piles, fence posts and fuel, and there is a great amount of waste in the course of lumbering and manufacture.