The Unseen Resource: Seattle’s Timber Waste

The rapid development of wood pulp manufacture in Washington is an interesting matter to the country, and one to which their great forest assets may, in part, be profitably devoted. For it does not matter much what species of wood is used in the production of pulp; spruce is preferred in the Eastern States, not quite as much as a result of its convenience as for any other reason. At any rate, it is quite certain that poplar, hemlock, spruce, and several other common timbers answer the purposes of the business acceptably, and it is also contended that white pine will do as well. What can be recorded as a financially attractive feature of the wood pulp industry, from the standpoint of economy, is that it uses the waste resultant from timber cutting. On a large scale, only the bodies of the fallen timber are taken; there is no possible use with present manufacturers, saw-millers, or others having use merely for the bodies of the trees. The only utilization is that of firewood, and only rarely. They could no doubt turn in this direction to their profit. For already the demand on wood pulp manufacture would center where timber is most abundant and cheapest. In this way, large quantities of felled timber, now left to feed forest fires or decay on the spot, would be turned into profit. It is a field for the state of Washington.