Are
there enough trees in Whatcom County to keep a logging job going for many years?
In
1901, there were 2,000 men employed in the logging, sawmill and shingle
industries in Whatcom County. 
Douglas fir trees grew to three hundred
feet tall, and fifteen feet in diameter.
In 1901, there was enough Douglas fir just south of Silver Beach to
supply the Larson Lumber Company's lumber mill for the next 40 years.
Up until the 1890’s, local loggers 
shipped lumber by boat, down the coast to
California, and to foreign countries. Then, when the first cross-country
railroads connected the Eastern United States to the Pacific Northwest forests,
timber could be transported cheaply across the country. Soon there was a huge demand from the
Eastern states, for Pacific Northwest timber.
Logging in the Pacific Northwest became
a national industry, with logs and shingles being sent across the country by
railroad.
Photos are courtesy of the Galen Biery
Historical Collection, Whatcom Museum
of History and Art.