superior. Spruce is fine grained, odorless and valuable for butter
tubs, interior finish, shelving, etc. The hemlock is valuable not
only for the tannin of its bark, but as a wood for many purposes is
equal to spruce. The yellow pine, where it is plentiful is the main
wood used in house construction and for nearly all farm purposes.
The yellow pine is the chief timber in all eastern Washington. The
harder woods, maple, alder, ash, etc., are used where available
in furniture construction and for fuel, as are also all the other
woods.


COAL.

Not content with covering half the surface of the state with forests
for fuel, the Creator hid away under the forests an additional
supply of heat and power sufficient to last its future citizens an
indefinite period. The white man was not slow to find and locate
the coal measures in many counties, notably in Kittitas, King,
Pierce, Lewis, Whatcom and Thurston, and to put it to the task of
driving his machinery. The coal measures of these counties are of
vast extent, and, although little developed yet, there are 3,000,000
tons of coal mined annually in Washington. Other counties are known
to have coal measures beneath their forests, but as yet they have
not been opened up for commerce.

The coal already mined includes both lignite and bituminous varieties
and furnishes fuel for the railroads, steamboats and power plants,
giving very satisfactory results. Much of the bituminous coal makes
an excellent article of coke and provides this concentrated carbon
for the various plants about the state engaged in smelting iron