The red cedar or canoe cedar is a giant of the American Northwest, one that may grow from 150 to 200 feet high with a stump fifteen feet through. Being straight-grained and easy to split, this tree yielded even to primitive tools. The Indians used the giant red cedar to carve history poles called totems. They were also able to hollow out the huge logs of this tree for their canoes, carving artistic details with chisels and hatchets of stone, beaver teeth and mussel shells, smoothing the wood with sand and sharkskin.
Today red cedar is particularly favoured as a lumber for closets and storage areas, as it discourages insects due to its pungent smell. Architects are also experimenting now with red cedar for use as a naturally finished siding on modern homes.
Spruce trees are a pulp manufacturer's delight. A firm may own thousands of acres of them. The whole communications industry of the world would be in difficult circumstances without the inexpensive paper that the spruce provides for books, newspapers and everyday use. One edition of a newspaper may use up to six acres of spruce trees. The pulp is also used to make rayon for clothing.
The giant Sitka spruce, from 100 to 200 feet high, is one of the most beautiful of Western conifers. Some giant Sitkas are over 300 feet high. Since the wood of this tree has a very strong internal fibre composition in relation to its weight, the wood was used for aeroplanes during World War I. Now this lumber is used in making musical instruments of high quality with fine sound reproduction, such as the guitar and piano.