posit of dried pitch or resin in the trunks of large firtrees—especially those that have grown on rocky soil—of one to two inches in thickness, either forming a layer quite round the heart of the tree, or extending for fifty feet up through the tree, in a square "stick."
Trees that have been destroyed by fire have their roots soaked full of black pitch or tar; and even the branches of growing trees drop little globules of clear, white pitch on the ground. This wood makes excellent charcoal; in the burning of which a great deal of tar might be saved, by providing for its being run off from the pit. There is also plenty of willow wood for making charcoal, growing on all the bottom-lands.
From the figures given, it will be seen that Washington Territory exports, at the lowest estimate, double the lumber of Oregon. Puget Sound has unrivaled facilities for that branch of business; and has not much of an agricultural population adjacent to it. Oregon, on the contrary, is chiefly agricultural, yet not without excellent facilities for the manufacture of lumber. It will take years of lumber-making along the Columbia, and the rivers and bays of the Coast Range, to clear even a mile of water-front in the vicinity of one mill. This is why fires are suffered to destroy so much fine timber every year: the farmers can not get the heavy growth off the land in any other way.
It follows, of course, that where the supply is so great the price is correspondingly small. At some country mills, run by water-power, lumber can be obtained for nine dollars per thousand feet. At Portland, where they are all run by steam, the prices range thus: Street planking, $11 to $12; common lumber, $14 to $15; siding, $20 to $21; flooring, $26 to $28;
