While visiting the Oregon coast, we took the opportunity to hike in the Siuslaw National Forest. One trail leads you to the Giant Spruce of Cape Perpetua. Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) to be exact. Here stands centuries old grow towering high in the air. Unfortunately, a storm had destroyed the top or it would have reached to the heavens. Sitka spruce grows all along the west coast from northern California to Sitka, Alaska. Most of the large spruce trees were found in the Pacific Northwest.
In WWI, the War Department sent a detachment of soldiers looking for the perfect wood to make airplanes. Not only was the Sitka spruce wood lightweight and strong, its long tough fibers would not splinter when hit with a bullet. 500-year-old Sitka spruce trees could get over 200 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter. This could provide enough wood to build 150 planes. At least one out of every three Allied fighter planes built during 1918 was made from Oregon spruce.
Photo U.S. National Park Service
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