Viewing page 82 of 97

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

6
Trees of the

[[left margin]] Pine [[\left margin]]  The brilliant green color of this tree is distinguishable at some distance among the sombre spruces which grow near it.  It seems to be the first of the Coniferous to locate itself on the sandy prairies of the coast and were it not for the annual fires made by the Indians which destroy large partches of it yearly, it would no doubt have entirely covered them.
[[left margin]] Coast prairies [[\left margin]]  (On no portion of the coast is this prairie more than three or four miles wide, the most extensive being the Clatsop plains extending south of the columbia River.  It only occurs along the patches of sandy deposit near the slough of river and in the coves between the usual steep and rocky cliffs that characterize the mountainous shores of the whole Pacific coast).
[[left margin]] Abies Menziesii [[\left margin]]  Among the Pines we may observe a few scattered evergreen trees much resembling at a distance the common Black or double Spruce of the eastern states.  When young and in good soil it is a beautiful tree, the branches very dense and the leaves very dark green and densely set, their under surface bluish and pale so as to give a silvery hue to the foliage when turned up by the breeze.  Its bark is dark reddish like that of the Wild cherry and scales off in the same manner.  This "Black spruce" as it is called here does not grow to the gigantic height of some other species, but is a very large tree, having frequently a diameter of 8 to 10 feet and [[?shooting]] up its trunk without a branch for 100 feet

[[end page]]
[[start page]]

7
Coast Region

in the dark forests.  It has more elasticity and strength than most of the Spruces and is probably the best suited for masts and spars of any in the country.  Its roots are especially tough and much used for boat timbers where it grows.  The smaller fibres which spread for a long distance & near the surface [[?form]] one of the materials used by the Indians of the coast for their waterproof baskets and hats.
The Black Spruce is the prevailing forest tree near the sea from Cape Mendocino far towards the north of Cape Flattery, and is confined to the vicinity of tide water, growing most luxuriant among the brackish marshes near the mouth of rivers, and extending up the sides of the Coast hills to near their tops.  A few stragglers only are found along the upper waters and it seems to require a clayey soil, since in the gravelly shores of Pugets Sound it is not to be seen but at the edge of the Straits of De Fuca, a few again appear along the very edge of the steep cliffs where they thrive in the influence of those strong sea breezes which would kill most other trees, but which supply sufficient moisture to nourish this, in places otherwise arid for several months in the year.
[[left margin]] Coast Region [[\left margin]]  It may then be considered the characteristic tree of a large and well defined region which I have called The Coast Region, limited on the west by the ocean and tide water, on the east by the higher parts of the Coast Range.