North Cascades

MARKETING THE WILDERNESS: DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES

TIMBER RESOURCES: LOGGING

West Side

Despite these improvements and developments in logging technology, too many deterrents existed in the North Cascades to encourage any substantial harvesting of the timber. Even the Timber and Stone Act of 1878, wherein the federal government sold to individuals 160-acre parcels of timbered land unfit for cultivation was not enough to promote the widespread harvest of timber in these mountains. [52] The most obvious hindrance in the North Cascades remained the lack of a complete transportation system. The upper Skagit River was not navigable 16 miles above Marblemount because of rock-walled canyons and gorges. Swift river currents often prevented the extraction of even the easily-reached timber alongside the river's banks. A government report from 1899 noted that large-scale logging operations in this vicinity

might be carried on with some profit, even by driving logs in the streams, but none of the streams within the reserve [today's park] may be considered good for floating logs. Numerous obstructions, both shifting and fixed, and frequent and sudden changes in the stage of water make the driving of logs, and even of cedar [shingle] bolts, very difficult and subject to losses. [53]

Logging railroads penetrating formerly inaccessible inland forests simply could not surmount the ruggedness of the steeper North Cascade terrain on either the western or the eastern slopes.

In addition to physical obstacles was the political fact of the Washington Forest Reserve created in 1897. Predecessors of the present-day national forests, the forest reserves were established across the nation in part to limit unrestrained cutting of timber on public lands. [54] The sizable Washington Forest Reserve was no exception. By 1905, however, the forest reserves were no longer under the careful watch of the Department of the Interior. The federal government transferred all authority to the Department of Agriculture which in turn created the United States Forest Service (USFS). The forest reserves became the national forests in name, and, along with their new title, came new policies regarding timber resources. The emphasis shifted to use, and as long as streams, soils, and remaining forests were safeguarded, "timber could be sold and cut to meet "actual need." No upper limit was placed on timber sale size. [55]

In actuality, however, the demand for timber from North Cascadian forests was low simply because plentiful stands elsewhere had not yet been exhausted. Early harvesting in this region was limited and localized, undertaken primarily by settlers in need of wood for homes, outbuildings, fences, and boats, and by miners requiring lumber for their operations. In an 1899 report on the Washington Forest Reserve author H.B. Ayres noted:

At present the local demand for timber within the reserve is very small. Two small sawmills have been operated, one at Monte Cristo, the other at the 45 mine, near Silverton [both outside park]. But a few thousand feet of lumber has been or can be sawed by either. No logs have been driven down the stream from the reserve. Timber has been cut and driven down Sauk River from near the reserve line, and down Skagit River from the mouth of Bacon Creek [today's park boundary], but none from within the lines. The logging operations nearest the reserve at present are on the North Fork of the Stilaguamish, some 3 miles west of the reserve line. [56]

Fourteen years later, logging conditions had not changed drastically on the west side of the Cascades:

The upper reaches of the Baker and Skagit River have as yet had little development done in the way of logging and millions of feet of virgin timber awaits the touch of the woodsman's axe to turn it into the riches for the men of the valley who are fortunate enough to own timber claims. [57]

Some commercial logging of the wilderness did occur in the twentieth century despite the difficulties and challenges of the area. Along the Skagit River within today's park, several companies harvested timber either by outright land purchase or through USFS timber sales. The Sauk Timber Company was logging the valley by 1907. [58] They purchased all the remaining merchantable and accessible red cedar along the Bacon Creek drainage in 1916 and began logging it in 1920. A total of 20,000 cords of the old-growth wood was harvested. About the same time, the log jam and drift timber on the upper Skagit between the mouth of Ruby Creek and the international boundary was examined by the USFS after the Rockport Timber Company applied to remove it, but no actual logging occurred there at that early date. [59] In the 1920s the Jennings and Nestos Company also logged along the Skagit River. Their operation took in both sides of the river and required the construction of a bridge in later years to facilitate transportation of their logs. Only the concrete piers of this structure remain today. By the 1940s, a large percentage of land along the river banks between Bacon Creek and Newhalem was owned by the Sound Timber Company (Scott Paper today) and the Bradsberry Logging Company. [60]

The 1920s were a time of both utilization and conservation for the timber resources in the USFS Skagit District. In an effort to "preserve the many attractive spots along the river," the USFS placed new restrictions on the cutting of live trees along the Skagit's banks. Between the north line of Goodell's Landing (Newhalem) and the Davis Ranch at Cedar Bar (near Diablo), trees could not be removed. [61] The USFS also became concerned about the rapidly diminishing supply of cedar in the forest. Western red cedar was the most important timber sale in the Washington National Forest, but the USFS determined by 1922 that they could no longer allow selective harvesting:

The Mt. Baker [national forest, formed from the Washington National Forest] has contributed its share to this industry--the necessary forerunner of the agricultural prosperity which has followed [once timber was cleared the land was available for homesteading]. About 100,000 cords of shingle bolts, representing a stumpage value of $110,000 have been sold from the forest since its creation [1905] . . . But as the curtain descends upon the shingle industry new activities appear. It is no longer the policy of the government to sell cedar timber alone, and only loggers who are able to take all species may operate on Government lands . . . [62]

Commercial logging is not permitted within the boundaries of North Cascades National Park. In the Stehekin valley, within Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, the limited cutting of trees by residents for firewood is allowed.