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

Land classification sheet, Washington, Tacoma 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) -- Pierce County -- Maps<br>Forests and forestry -- Washington (State) -- King County -- Maps<br>Forests and forestry -- Washington (State) -- Pierce County -- Maps<br>King County (Wash.) -- Maps<br>Pierce 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 1894-95"<br>"Engraved April 1897 by U.S.G.S."<br>"Edition of Feb. 1900"<br>Diagram depicts which topographers were responsible for which areas of the map<br>Land classification surveyed in 1897<br>"Contour interval 50 feet. Datum is mean sea level."<br>Text on verso: FOREST CONDITIONS OF THE TACOMA QUADRANGLE<br>This land classification sheet, representing the Tacoma quadrangle, shows the area which at the time of survey, in 1894-95, was covered with woods, and the areas containing timber of merchantable size and quality, 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 those which have been burned. As is seen, most of these areas have, since the cutting and burning, commenced to become reforested.<br>The areas naturally devoid of forests are also indicated, including a few square miles at the head of Commencement Bay, a small area in the valley of White River, and a large area south of Tacoma. The last is an area of approximately level land, covered by coarse glacial deposits, in which the copious rainfall rapidly sinks, making it, to all intents and purposes, an arid soil. It is because of this feature of the soil that the region is largely open and park-like. It contains scattered groves of trees, largely composed of lodgepole pine, a species here of no merchantable value. The trees are of small size, and branch nearly to the ground.<br>The total area of this quadrangle is 812 square miles. Of this the land area is approximately 737 square miles, the remainder being included in Puget Sound and a few small lakes.<br>With the exception of the areas above mentioned which are naturally timberless or are covered with lodgepole pine, and which include about 105 square miles, the land area was formerly covered with forest of merchantable timber. Of this timbered area of 632 square miles, there have been cut or culled for lumber, or cleared for settlement, about 200 square miles, and there have been burned 143 square miles, leaving in standing merchantable timber only 289 square miles. Thus, since settlement began in this region, timber has been destroyed over an area of 343 square miles, or 54 per cent of the area formerly forested. On all the areas thus denuded timber is growing again, except where the land has been cultivated: so that the wooded area, including all lands on which wood is growing, comprises not less than 560 square miles, or 76 per cent of the land area of the quadrangle. The areas not now wooded consist not only of those naturally without forests, as above specified, but the sites and suburbs of the towns and cities and the numerous farms scattered over the quadrangle.<br>The area covered with merchantable timber is estimated to contain the following amount, in feet B.M.: Red fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia), 1,686,900,000 feet; spruce (Picea sitchensis), 5,447,000 feet; cedar (Thuja plicata), 374,397,000 feet; hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), 22,429,000 feet; total, 2,089,173,000 feet.<br>Four-fifths of the above amount of timber consists of red fir, and nearly all the remainder of cedar, the amount of spruce and hemlock being insignificant.<br>The average stand of timber upon the timbered area of this quadrangle is but little over 11,000 feet B.M. per acre, a stand only about half as great as that of the Seattle quadrangle, immediately north of it.<br>This region, lying in the Sound valley, at the head of that sheet of water, is blessed with an ample rainfall and a humid atmosphere, which are especially favorable to tree growth; so that wherever forests have been destroyed their 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 47°30--N 47°00)

U.S. Geological Survey<br>Gannett, Henry<br>Goode, R.U.<br>Griswold, W.T.<br>U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey<br>Hyde, G.E.<br>McKee, R.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

topo64<br>WA 30: Tacoma 1897

United States -- Washington (State) -- King County
United States -- Washington (State) -- Pierce County