THE WEST SHORE.
73
of the Bound saw immense volumes of smoke and flame
suddenly burst forth from the summit of Mount Augus
tine, which rendered the sky obscure for several hours
aftoi'witid. Soon oiler the explosion grent quantities of
pumice dust began to fall. Some was fine and smooth,
some coarse and gritty. On he afternoon of the same
day, at 3:30 o'clock, an earthquake wave, thirty feet high,
came rushing in over the hamlet, sweeping away all the
boats and deluging the houses. Fortunately the tide was
low at the time, or othorwise the whole settlement would
have been in danger of destruction. Two other waves,
each alwut eighteen feet high, succeeded, followed by
others, not so high, at irregular intervals. Some idea
may be formed of the magnitude of this disturbance when
it is stated that the shower of pumice ashes bo darkened
the atmosphere that it was found necessary to light can
dles during the day.- Moreover, the ashes fell to the
depth of five inches. That night the surrounding coun
try was illuminated by flames from the crater."
It is worthy of notice that the summit of Mount
Augustine is far above the snow line, and is usually, as a
matter of course, covered with snow; but during the past
year it has been entirely bare. The inference, therefore,
seems to be that there had for a long time been a great
increase of temperature within the mountain before there
came an explosion. Tfiis fact is worthy of some consid
eration. W. II. Chaney.
OUR INDUSTRIES AND RESOURCES.
' II.
mHE mills of Portland and vicinity saw 75,000,000 feet
X of lumber per year. Those on or near the Columbia
River, west of the Cascade Mountains, Baw about 75,000,000
more. The Puget Sound merchant mills saw 300,000,000
feet annually, and the coast merchant mills' at least
50,000,000 feet per year. These are the estimates of men
" in the business, who have means of knowing what they
affirm. These estimates do not include the mills of the
interior valleys, which supply chiefly their own local
markets, as many do on the upper branches of the Wil
lamete, Rogue, Cowlitz, Chehalis and other rivers. Five
hundred million feet represent the output for foreign
shipment and home consumption. They are sent to the
market mostly in the rough sawed condition, except that
flooring, rustio and finishing are planed and grooved,
which adds 50 per cent to the value. The average rates
of price are from $10 to 130 per 1,000 feet One lumber
man has Bold all his product-5,000,000 feet-at 118 per
1,000 feet for several years. Another rates the average
Bales of 100,000,000 feet at 914 ier 1,000 feet, making an
income of $1,400,000, less the cost With the completion
of the Northern Pacific Railroad the market k less brisk,
but the steady demands will increase, though at lower
rates, perhaps, for a year or two.
Spring, summer and autumn are the best seasons for
logging. In some camps railroads and steam engines are
taking the place of skid roads and teams. One logger
paid $1,500 for tallow to grease the skids one year for the
haul of 5,000,000 feet of logs, worth $35,000. Steam
engines will draw the logs from three to four, and per
haps ten or fifteen, miles to river or bay, at no greater
cost than ox teams have done it one or two miles.
The demand has always boen for the best clear lum
ber.' Skilled wotxlsmon Boloet such trees and use only
the choice cuts for their booms. Soctions of donso, tall
yellow firs have been engorly Bought near the river banks
and shores of bays, and for twenty-five years thoy havo
been the sources of Bupply. A Becond culling has been
made in the same camps in many places, and a third
culling moy be made years hence, with gixxl results, ere
the land will m cleared of all timber, which would le
counted valuablo in interior settlements, in the Missis
sippi Valley or in the Atlantio States.
Forest fires have destroyed in thirty years more than
the lumber mills have used. The burned districts along
the foothills of the Cascades, on the gravel plains beyond
the Chehalis, on parts of the Coast Range in Polk, Benton
and Lane counties, are ovorgrown with bushes and fern,
among blackened trunks of former grand forests. Yet on
large soctions along the Columbia and scores of miles
back on both sides, and along the ocean coast for (100
miles, dense evergreen forosts of valuable timber cover
nearly all the plains and hills to the mountain crests.'
The supplies along most of the shores of Puget Sound
have been cut off only two or three miles inland, whilo
the regions beyond remain mostly unbroken.
Fir ranks ull the rost in amount, in grandour of
growth and strength of tension. Cudar commands the
best market for all finishing. Spruce is fast coming into
use. Heinlwk is in reserve for tanning. Ash, maple
and oak supply furuituro manufactories. The annual
sales have increased from a few hundred thousands to
500,000,000 feet It is oasy'to overstock the markotn of
the Pacific, and mills are combined to. limit their pro
ducts to the demands of trade. Full yards in San Fran
cisco, Chile or China call for shorter time at the mills,
while clean yards below mean a run day and night at the
mills.
The 500,000,000 product of 1883, at $14 Hr thousand,
give $7,000,000 for distribution. Of this annual income
it is estimated that
Labor, I'kkI" ml Mwim, rwwlrt oii-lial( $,WI,(M)
Stump nxttina Ml ocnU ir It iWUUO
Towuko or hauling, SO eouU pur M iB,UI)
InUirwt on mill plant, 10 pur oont tU,Ufl
War atid taar of maotiinary HHC1U
Net gain, pr M VKOU
Total IM.1110
This sum in circulation gives vitality to largo businoBH
enterprises, builds op cities and makes thriving commun
ities. As a medium of exchange it is worth ton time the
amount
Judging from the past the foroign and California
markets will require larger supplies annually. The tree
less plains of the interior, now filling with agricultural
settlements, will demand untold amount of lumber from
this western region. New industries of many kinds will
add to these 'demands. The Eastern lumbermen already
come to test the possibility of a Bupply for them. One