Land classification sheet, Washington, Seattle quadrangle (1897)<br>Washington 1:125,000 topographic quadrangles

Land classification sheet, Washington, Seattle quadrangle (1897)<br>Washington 1:125,000 topographic quadrangles

Washington (State) -- Maps, Topographic<br>Land use -- Washington (State) -- King County -- Maps<br>Land use -- Washington (State) -- Snohomish County -- Maps<br>Forests and forestry -- Washington (State) -- King County -- Maps<br>Forests and forestry -- Washington (State) -- Snohomish County -- Maps<br>King County (Wash.) -- Maps<br>Snohomish County (Wash.) -- Maps

1 map : col. ; 45 x 31 cm. or smaller<br>Relief shown by contours and spot heights<br>Set includes various editions<br>"Surveyed in 1893-94-95"<br>"Engraved June 1897 U.S.G.S."<br>"Contour interval 50 feet. Datum is mean sea level."<br>"Edition of Mar. 1900."<br>Land classification surveyed in 1897<br>Diagram depicts which topographers were responsible for which areas of the map<br>Text from the verso: FOREST CONDITIONS OF THE SEATTLE QUADRANGLE.<br>This land-classification sheet, representing the Seattle quadrangle, shows the area which at the time of survey, in 1894-95, was covered with woods, and the area estimated to contain timber of merchantable size and quantity, which, as defined by the practice in Washington, includes trees having a butt diameter of 20 inches or more, with a length below branches of at least 32 feet. It shows, furthermore, the portions of the quadrangle which have been cut over or culled for lumber or clearing, and the area which has been burned. As is seen, most, if not all, of these areas have, since the cutting and burning, commenced to become reforested. The areas naturally devoid of forests are also indicated.<br>The total area of this quadrangle is 804 square miles. Of this the land area is estimated at 565 square miles, 239 square miles being occupied by Puget Sound and its arms and by Washington and Sammamish lakes and other smaller bodies of water.<br> This land was formerly covered with forests of merchantable timber, with the exception of some 20 square miles of swamp lands in the valley of Snohomish River and at the head of Elliot Bay, near Seattle, which were naturally without forests. Of this timbered area of 545 square miles, there have been cut or culled for lumber, or cleared for settlement, not less than 330 square miles, and there have been burned 40 square miles. Thus, since settlement began in this region the timber has been destroyed on an area of 370 square miles, or two-thirds of the area formerly forested, leaving only 175 square miles in merchantable forests. On most of the land thus denuded timber is growing again, so that the wooded area, including all land on which wood is growing, comprises not less than 495 square miles, or 88 per cent of the entire land area. The areas not wooded consist of those naturally without forests, the sites and suburbs of the towns and cities, and the numerous little farms scattered over the quadrangle.<br>The area covered with merchantable timber is estimated to contain 1,653,246,000 feet B.M. of fir, almost entirely red fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia), and 783,299,000 feet B.M. of cedar, mainly Thuja plicata, a total of 2,436,475,000 feet B.M. The merchantable timber consists almost entirely of these two species, and more than two-thirds of it is red fir. The average stand of timber upon this area is about 22,000 feet per acre, a heavy stand even for this heavily timbered part of the country.<br>This region, which is blessed with a heavy rainfall and a humid atmosphere, is especially favorable to tree growth, and wherever the forests have been destroyed the reproduction is rapid, and the species which succeed are usually identical with those destroyed.<br>HENRY GANNETT, March, 1899.<br>Scale 1:125,000 (W 122°30--W 122°00/N 48°00--N 47°30)

U.S. Geological Survey<br>Gannett, Henry<br>Goode, R.U.<br>Griswold, W.T.<br>McKee, R.H.<br>Hyde, G.E.<br>Gannett, Henry<br>Rankne, J.W.<br>Plummer, G.H.

University of Washington Libraries Map Collection

Washington, D.C. : The Survey

1900

University of Washington Libraries Map Collection

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From the series: Washington 1:125,000 topographic quadrangles

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Maps<br>Topographic Maps

topo63<br>WA 30: Snohomish 1897

United States -- Washington (State) -- Island County
United States -- Washington (State) -- King County
United States -- Washington (State) -- Kitsap County
United States -- Washington (State) -- Snohomish County