In California, Oregon, and Idaho this tree is called white fir, but it has several other names, silver fir and yellow fir in Montana and Idaho. In California some know it as Oregon fir, western white fir, and great California fir. Grand fir is more a botanist’s than a lumberman’s name.
The range extends from British Columbia to Mendocino county, California, and to the western slopes of the continental divide in Montana. The coastal growth lies in a comparatively narrow strip. In the mountains an altitude of 7,000 feet is sometimes reached, the soil and moisture requirements, however, being the same. The largest trees are found in bottom lands near the coast where trunks 300 feet tall and six feet in diameter are found, but the average is much less. In mountain regions at considerable altitudes a height of 100 feet and a diameter of two or three is an average size. The leaves are about an inch and a half in length, occasionally two and a half. They are arranged in rows along the sides of the long, flexible branches. Cones are from two to four inches long, and bear winged seeds three-eighths of an inch long, the wings being half an inch or more in length. The bark of old trunks may be two inches thick, but generally is thinner. It is unfortunate that the wood of the large western firs lacks so many qualities which make it valuable. It is generally inferior to the woods of Douglas fir, western hemlock, Sitka spruce and the western cedars, sugar pine, and western yellow pine. The wood of grand fir is light, soft, weak, brittle, and not durable in contact with the soil. Its light color and the abundance of clear material in the giant trunks are redeeming features. These ought to open the way for much use in the future. It cannot find place in heavy construction, because it is not strong enough. That shuts it from one important place for which it is otherwise fitted. Box makers find it suitable, as all fir woods are, and large demand should come from that quarter. Trunks that will cut from 15,000 to 20,000 feet of lumber that is practically clear, and of good color, and light in weight, are bound to have value for boxes and slack cooperage. Trees grow with fair rapidity. Annual rings are usually broad, and the bands of summerwood are wide and distinct. This guarantees a certain figure in lumber sawed tangentially, but it is not a figure to compare in beauty with some of the hardwoods, or even with Douglas fir, or the southern yellow pines. It ought to be a first class material for certain kinds of woodenware, particularly for tubs, pails, and small stave vessels, and as far as it has been used in that way it has been satisfactory. It cannot be recommended for outside house finish, such as weather-boarding, cornice, and porch work, because of its susceptibility to decay; but it meets requirements for plain interior finish, and tests have shown it to be good material for cores or backing over which to glue veneers of hardwood.