One of the first uses to which the people of the Pacific coast put Port Orford cedar was boat building. The industry was important at Coos bay at an early day, and vessels constructed there sailed the seas thirty or forty years. Trunks of this cedar turn out a high percentage of clear lumber. The wood takes a good polish, and is manufactured into furniture, doors, sash, turnery, and matches. The latter article is esteemed by many persons for the peculiar odor of the burning wood. It has been found practicable to finish this cedar in imitation of mahogany, oak, and several other cabinet woods. In its natural state it sometimes bears some resemblance to yellow pine, and sometimes to spruce, there being considerable variation in the appearance of wood from different trees. When the visible supply of Port Orford cedar has been cut, the end will be reached, for not much young growth is coming on. Sixty-eight varieties of Port Orford cedar are recognized in cultivation.
YELLOW CEDAR (_Chamæcyparis nootkatensis_) describes this tree quite well. The small twigs are of that color, and so is the heartwood. Many give it the name yellow cypress. Others know it as Alaska cypress, Alaska ground cypress, Nootka cypress, or Nootka sound cypress. The name of the species, _nootkatensis_, was given it by Archibald Menzies, a Scotch botanist who discovered it on the shore of Nootka sound in Alaska.
Yellow cedar’s geographic range extends from southeastern Alaska to Oregon, a distance of 1,000 miles. It does not usually go far inland, and consequently the range is narrow in most places. North of the international boundary the tree seldom reaches an altitude of more than 2,000 or 3,000 feet, but in Washington and Oregon it is occasionally met with at elevations of 4,000 and 5,000 feet. The species reaches its best development on the islands off the coast of southern Alaska and British Columbia, where the air is moist, the winds warm in winter, the rainfall abundant, and the snowfall often deep. Well developed trees under such circumstances are from ninety to 120 feet high, from two to six in diameter. The blue-green leaves remain active two years, and then die, but they do not usually fall until a year later. The presence of the dead leaves on the twigs tones down the general color of the tree crowns.