Of these timbers, the fir, largest in quantity, is also largest in usefulness.  For bridge work, shipbuilding, the construction of houses, etc. it is unsurpassed.  Cedar is lighter and more easily worked and for shingles chiefly and many other special uses is 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 and other metals.

[Page 11] The fixed carbon of the coal ranges from 48 to 65 per cent. and the total values in carbon from 64 to 80 per cent. and the ash from 3 to 17 per cent.  The coal measures underlie probably the great bulk of the foothills on both sides of the Cascades and some of the Olympics, the Blue mountains of the southeast and some of the low mountains in the northeastern part of the state.

Besides these coals already mentioned, it is known that veins of anthracite coal exist in the western part of Lewis county, the extent and value of which have not been fully determined, and, owing to the absence of transportation, are not on the market.

MINERAL ORES.

The general topography of the state suggests at once the probability of deposits of ores of the precious metals, and the cursory prospecting already done justifies the outlook.  Practically the entire mountain regions are enticing fields for the prospector.  Substantial rewards have already been realized by many who have chanced the hardships, and there are now in operation many mining enterprises which are yearly adding a substantial sum to the output of the wealth of the state.  The ores occur chiefly in veins of low grade and great width and known as base on account of the presence of sulphur, arsenic and other elements compelling the ores to be roasted before smelting.