Large areas of these Pacific forests are cov ered with redwood, sugar pine, and Douglas fir. The Sitka spruce flourishes in the wettest lands along the coast from Oregon to Alaska. Its wood became so important during the World War, when it was used for making parts of airplanes, that special railroads were built in western Washington to get out the great logs of this strong, light wood.
No other part of the world can rival the mountains of the Pacific Coast in richness of lumber supply. One may walk for miles along mountain slopes in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, winding his way in and out among the trunks of trees that are four, five, six, or seven feet in diame ter. The first limb of these trees may be fifty or even a hundred feet from the ground. Nowhere else in the world does one acre of forest yield so much lumber. (Fig. 160.) It is on the west slope of the Sierra that we find the famous "big tree" or giant Sequoia. Millions of years ago these tree were very common; now they grow only or a few hundred square miles of this region and the largest trees are now in a park (Sec. 163.) The mild winters, the plentifu rain, and the absence of hard winds permit these ancient giants to prosper. Some of them have lived since the time of Moses.
161. From the for est to the lumberyard. —Since lumbering is the chief occupation of this region of wonder ful mountain forests, most of the population is made up of lumber men. Here in the woods they live for a time in camps and work, busy with tem porary railroads, log chutes, timber flumes, donkey engines, and teams. Washington State leads all others in lumber production; Oregon is third. The lumber is sent by thousands of carloads to eastern cities, and by shiploads to every continent.
162. Forests of the northern mountains. —The splendid forest that we find in Wash ington extends on into British Columbia and Alaska. Most of the Alaskan shore and many steep islands, in cluding Kadiak Island, Alaska, are at low elevations, green with forests of 'Sala spruce and other evergreen trees. In this northern latitude the upper timber line is not high up. Above it are thousands of square miles of bare rocks or snow fields, from which come the glaciers (Sec. 159).
This Pacific Mountain Region includes Mt. McKinley, Mt. Logan, and Mt. St. Elias, the highest mountains of North America.
163. National forests and national parks.— Since nearly all of this mountain region is too rough for farms, our Government has very wisely set aside much of the American part of the land as national forests, to be protected by the forest rangers, and to be kept for the use of all the people for all time. In sum
mer, sheep are allowed to pasture in some of the forests as they do in the Rockies. Lum ber is cut to meet the needs of the people who live near, but the Forest Service tries to keep young trees grow ing, so that the forest may always yield a harvest. The art of protecting and caring for forests is called forestry.
Many of the most beautiful parts of the Pacific forests have been set aside as na tional parks. Roads have been built which lead to them, and trav elers may go to them to camp, tramp, and enjoy the wild out-of-doors. (Figs. 128, 168.) Many citizens have spent much time, working without pay, persuading Congress to pass good forest and park laws, and our Presidents to enforce them. Public-spirited citizens had to work very hard to get a grove of the largest of the Sequoia trees set aside as Sequoia National Park. The wonderful Valley of Yosemite, on the Merced River in California, is now the Yosemite National Park.
In Oregon, a road eighty miles long per mits the traveler to visit Crater Lake, famed for its high cliffs and clear water of matchless blue. This lake is five miles across and stands in the top of an old volcano, where once the lava boiled and bubbled. In western Washington is Mt. Rainier National Park, where snow-capped Mt. Rainier can be admired from great distances. The government of British Columbia has set aside national forests and national parks as our government has done in the United States and Alaska.
164. Minerals.—This mountain region has another source of wealth: minerals. Gold was first found in California in one of the streams of Sacramento Valley, in 1848. The early miners washed the sands of the rivers in pans. To get the golden grains, they even scraped with spoons the crannies in the rocky beds. After the miners had taken all the gold out of the stream bed, they found that small quantities of gold could still be washed from banks of sand and gravel lying along the streams, by a method called placer mining. Finally the miners followed the precious trail up to its ancient source in the mountain rocks. There deep mining in the solid rock began. In some places valuable orchardshavebeen torn upbydredgesdigging up meadows to get gold from ancient river beds. The meadow becomes a pile of stones.