RED CEDAR

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1690, 24 November 1925, Page 5

RED CEDAR

SUITABLE FOR ELECTRIC POWER , POLES. 'Some interesting comment was made at last Friday’s meeting of the Te Awamutu Electric Power Board upon an offer by an Auckland firm to supply red cedar poles for transmission lines. Members were interested in the offer, but were somewhat sceptical, for, although the price per pole was somewhat lower than that baid for Australian ironbark, the durability and suitability of the Canadian timber were practically unknown. Board members were not disposed to accept the importing firm’s claim as “ gospel,” and decided to obtain the opinion of Captain Mclntosh Ellis (a Canadian himself), chief of the State Forest Service. It may be pointed out for general information, until Captain Ellis’ report comes to hand, that the red cedar of Canada is called, in books of reference, giant arbor vitae (or “ the wood of life,”), and its Latin name *is Thuya gigantea. 'The giant arbor vitae is next to the Douglas fir in importance in British Columbia, where it attains its greatest size on Vancouver Island, along the coast and in the lower parts of the rivers of the mainland coast range. It is rarely found in the dry interior of British Columbia, but is abundant in the river valleys on the slopes of the Selkirk and Coast ranges. Though seldom found more than 150 feet in height, in circumference it rivals the Douglas fir, trees of from 8 feet to 10 feet in diameter not being rare, and they occasionally are found much larger. There are in Canada two or three other varieties of the cedar, the yellow and the white. The white cedar grows abundantly in the eastern provinces, and seldom exceeds- 2 feet in diameter. The wood is soft and not strong, and has never been used much as lumber, though highly favoured as shingles. It is largely used for fence rails and posts, railway ties, and telegraph and telephone poles. No other wood is used in any quantity for telephone poles in Ontario and Quebec. It is very durable in contact with the soil or when exposed to the weather. Referring again to the red cedar, we quote: “Like all the cedars, it lasts well underground, and on this account is much used in the form of telegraph poles and fence posts. The immense canoes made by the Indians of the west coast are with very few exceptions made of this wood.”