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8
Trees of the

In a forest of spruces, which make a dark & constant shade we cannot expect to find many deciduous trees.

[[left margin]] Salix [[\left margin]] 

 It is then only in open spots along river banks cliffs and about springs that we observe that lively pale green hue which marks them.  Along the sandy beach in hollows where water stands in winter, we see thickets of willows of two species - one growing to the height of 20 feet, the other little more than a shrub.

[[left margin]] Alnus Oregonus [[\left margin]]

  With these are groves of the great Oregon Alder a fine tree much resembling the Beech in bark & foliage, sometimes 80 feet high, a fine grained soft & white wood, very well suited for furniture and carvings. It is most abundant near the coast but extends eastward to the higher parts of the Cascade Mts, along river banks. It also grows up thickly in places where the Spruces have been burnt off and along the rivers it thus marks the site of many an old Indian village by groves of an age corresponding to the time since the place was deserted. In such spots the ethnologist is almost certain to find relics of the ancient race, and often the soil is composed for a foot deep, of bones, shells, remnants of iron & other utensils which have accumulated about them.

[[left margin]] Acer circinatum [[/left margin]]

  Commonly associated with the Alder is the "Vine Maple" aptly ^[[so]] called from its habit of growing half prostrate, the branches interlaced in the thickest confusion so as to form impenetrable thickets.

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9
Coast Region.

This maple is somewhat like the Red or Swamp Maple of the Atlantic states in foliage but never grows more than a foot through at the stump, and forms no trunk. It is however fine grained hard and useful for many purposes. It is the only tree in the whole Region which assumes in autumn the brilliant orange & crimson tints so ornamental in the forests of ^[[Eastern]] America.  The "sere & yellow leaf" prevails on all the other deciduous trees near the coast.

[[left margin]] Acer macrophyllum [[/left margin]]

  As we enter the mouths of rivers and come to their fresh water we begin to find scattered along the banks a beautiful tree, often 80 feet high and 3 to 6 in diameter.  This is the great leaved or "Big Maple" called also "white" & "curled" from the texture of its wood.  It has the hue in bark & leaves of the Sugar Maple, but its immense leaves often a foot in diameter at once distinguish it.  In April it is covered with long pendant racemes of yellow flowers very different from the small and bright purple blossom of the Vine Maple. Its wood is even superior to the Sugar Maple for furniture being more beautifully veined I think than any other wood and capable of a very fine polish.  This tree grows scattered through the forests everywhere west of the Cascade Range, & seems to require some shade and much moisture to thrive. It extends from North California northward to the Straits of De Fuca and probably much farther

Transcription Notes:
(@AntelopeWest) I think the headings on pages 8 and 9 comprise a single title, Trees of the Coast Region. I have continued an earlier transcriber's transcription of the rather long dashes at the end of sentences as periods. "in the sere and yellow" is attributed to Shakespeare. It means elderly.