Port Orford cedar of the northwestern coast is an interesting member of the cedar group with a very limited range. Specimens are found throughout an area of about 10,000 square miles, but the district moderately heavily timbered does not exceed 300 or 400 miles in area. It lies near Coos bay in southwestern Oregon. The tree is found as far south in California as the mouth of Klamath river, and it was once reported on Mt. Shasta, but it is very scarce there if it exists at all. In the best of its range Port Orford cedar runs 20,000 feet to the acre, and a single acre has yielded 100,000 feet. Trees run from 135 to 175 feet in height and three to seven in diameter. The largest on record were about 200 feet high and twelve in diameter. Few trees of any species have smaller leaves. They often are only one-sixteenth of an inch in length. They die the third year and change to a bright brown. The cones are about one-third of an inch in diameter. Two or four seeds lie under each fertile cone scale, and ripen in September and October. The seeds are one-eighth inch in length, and are winged for flight. The bark of the tree is much thicker than of most cedars, being ten inches near the base of large trees. This ought to protect the trunks against fire but it falls short of expectations. About sixty years ago much of the finest timber was killed by a great fire which swept the region. Some of the dead trunks stood forty years without exhibiting much evidence of decay, and those that fell remained sound many years.
The whole history of this interesting tree, from its first announced discovery by white men until the present time, is embraced in the memory of living men. It had not been heard of prior to 1855. Though fire and storm have destroyed large quantities, it has been estimated that 4,000,000,000 feet of merchantable timber remain, an average of 15,000 feet per acre for an area of 400 square miles. The wood is moderately light, is nearly as strong as white oak, and falls only sixteen per cent below it in stiffness. The annual rings are generally narrow, but distinct. The summerwood is narrow, but dark in color in the heartwood. The medullary rays are numerous and obscure. The wood abounds in odorous resin. The odor persists long after the wood has ceased to be fresh. Workmen in mills where this cedar is cut, and on board of vessels freighted with it, are sometimes seriously affected by the odor. It is reputed to repel insects, and is made into clothes chests, wardrobes, and shelves, with the expectation that moths will be kept at a distance. Several other cedars bear similar reputations.