By NATHANAEL H. ENGLE, Director, Bureau of Business Research, University of Washington THE NATURAL RESOURCES of the Pacific Northwest-Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and the western tier of Montana counties-originally shaped its economic pattern.' Exploitation of forest, agricultural, ocean, and mineral resources has built an economy which in the past has provided raw materials more than end products. Development through substantial Federal aid of hydroelectric energy, another type of natural resource, has altered the emphasis and turned the direction of economic growth toward industrial diversification. Not that the old will be abandoned, but that new industries will be added, is the promise of the future. Characteristics of the Region The Pacific Northwest, with an area of some 285,000 square miles, is dominated by the drainage basin of the Columbia River and its tributaries. Second in size in the United States to the Mississippi, this great river system has set its impress on the industrial future of the region through its actual and potential contribution to the development of hydroelectric power. A second natural feature of industrial importance is Puget Sound, a long arm of the Pacific Ocean which reaches nearly 200 miles east and south into the heart of western Washington, providing splendid deep water harbors, industrial sites, and unrivaled recreational facilities. Three mountain ranges traverse the region from north to south: the coastal range, of which the Olympics on the northwestern thrust of Washington are the most dominant phase; the Cascades, which extend through both Washington and Oregon about 100 to 180 miles from the coast, broken only by the deep gorge of the Columbia River; and the Rocky Mountain system, which extends southeasterly across Idaho and Montana. CLIMATE OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST The climate of this region is a definite asset contributing to its industrial growth. Meteorologists have described the climate as "the most important environmental factor in the Pacific Northwest," the essential features being "a small annual range of temperature for the latitude, an abundant precipitation, most of which comes during the rather mild winter, a relatively cool summer, a long frost-free 1 Occasionally the entire State of Montana is added where it is difficult or impossible to differentiate the statistics. In this analysis the more comprehensive area is used for the most part. However, in other articles in this issue, discussion of the Pacific Northwest is limited to the States of Oregon and Washington, season, and wind from off the ocean nearly all year." This climate pattern prevails along the coast and shows increasing change in direct proportion to increasing distance from the coast. NATURAL RESOURCES The Pacific Northwest does not have abundant, fertile, arable soils. Of the total area, approximating 250 million acres, about 70 million acres are in forests, 60 million in arid or semiarid range land, 32 million in farm pasture, and 16 million under cultivation. It is estimated that between 8 and 9 million additional acres may ultimately be made available for agriculture by appropriate conservation measures. For example, the Columbia Basin project, on which work is now in progress, is expected to add about 1 million acres to cultiva tion. Much of the land is publicly owned, 107 million acres being in Indian reservations, national parks, water development sites, mineral, forest, and grazing lands. State and local governments also have extensive holdings. Very little over half of the total acreage is privately owned. area. Timber is one of the most important industrial assets of the region. Pacific Northwest forest lands contain 55 percent of the timber of the United States, although they comprise but 15 percent of the forest A comprehensive survey points out that "the standing timber in the region is estimated at around 883 billion board feet, of which roughly 47 percent is Douglas fir, found west of the Cascades. About 60 percent of this volume of timber is economically available. Of the total timber in the region, 50 percent is in Federal ownership and 42 percent is privately owned." The remainder is in State hands.3 Mineral resources of the Pacific Northwest are extensive and varied but have not been fully explored or tested as yet. Montana leads the region in the exploitation of minerals, followed by Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Leading metals produced in the region are gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and mercury. Idaho produces 20 percent of the silver mined in the United States, and 25 percent of the Nation's lead. Montana contributes 20 percent each to the silver and copper production of the country. Washington produces copper, zinc, silver, and molybdenum. Gold and mercury are found in Oregon. Of the nonmetallic minerals, Washington has large deposits of bitu * For a more extensive background analysis of this subject see Development of Resources and Economic Opportunity in the Pacific Northwest, report of the Pacific Northwest Regional Planning Commission to the National Resources Planning Board (Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office), 1942; also, The Pacific Northwest, edited by Otis W. Freeman and Howard H. Martin (New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) 1942. Development of Resources and Economic Opportunity in the Pacific Northwest, report of the Pacific Northwest Regional Planning Commission to the National Resources Planning Board (Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office), 1942, p. 7. minous and subbituminous coal, limestone, alumina clays, fine clays and related materials for the ceramics industry, the latter being found also in Oregon and Idaho. During the war strategic minerals, normally submarginal, came into limited production. Manganese and chromium were mined in Montana; chromium in Oregon; tungsten in Idaho, Washington, and Montana; vanadium in Idaho; and magnesite and dolomite in Washington, to mention the more important. Of current interest is the discovery and testing of alumina bearing ores in Oregon. Water resources are among the major industrial assets of the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia River and its tributaries and the coastal streams provide tremendous potentials for electric power, irrigation, navigation, and fisheries. It is estimated that the region has 40 percent of the hydroelectric power potential of the Nation, sufficient to generate 15 million kilowatts, 90 percent of the time. Installed capac ity is now in excess of 221⁄2 million kilowatts, nearly 6 percent of the Nation's total. For irrigation and flood control, possible water storage capacity in the Pacific Northwest is estimated as adequate for 50 million acre-feet of water, enough for all the land which is suitable for reclamation and irrigation. Deep water harbors which accommodate seagoing ships are available in Puget Sound, Gray's Harbor, and in the lower stretches of the Columbia River. Plans for river improvement may ultimately permit navigation of the Columbia as far inland as The Dalles, 188 miles from the Pacific. In fact, some interests hope to open up the Columbia and the Snake to Lewiston, Idaho, 470 miles inland. Additional plans contemplate navigation of the Willamette River from Portland to Eugene, Oreg., about 170 miles south. Industrial sites contiguous to deep water harbors are abundant. Ample water is available for industrial uses, much of which requires no special treatment because of its freedom from salts and minerals. Northwest water resources also include fisheries which are among the richest of the world. Moreover, joint Canadian-American commissions have negotiated salmon and halibut pacts which have proved successful in conserving these valuable species of food fish. Finally, water resources contribute to the wealth of the region through the provision of recreational facilities which attract a large volume of tourist trade. POPULATION Sparsely populated as a whole, the Pacific Northwest had less than 4 million people in 1940-not 3 percent of the national total-on a land area comprising 9 to 10 percent of continental United States. The population, 88.3 percent native white as compared with 81.1 percent for the United States as a whole, was concentrated largely on the Coast, with over 70 percent of the total in Washington and Oregon. One-fourth of the people lived in the four larger urban centers of Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and Tacoma. Industrial Diversification Extractive industries.-This group ranked first in prewar (1940) employment of the people of the Pacific Northwest, providing jobs for over a quarter of the workers (table 1). Agriculture was the largest employer of manpower, giving work to one out of every five gainfully occupied persons in the area. On the average, a quarter of the total population lived on farms before the war, ranging from 19 percent in Washington to 38 percent in Idaho. The total value of all farm products "sold, traded, or used by farm households," according to the Census of Agriculture, was 422 million dollars for the year 1939. Washington ranked first, followed in order by Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. The most important farm products were wheat, hay and other field crops, livestock, dairy and poultry products, fruits and vegetables, including potatoes and peas. There was considerable variation among the States in the value of farm products sold (table 2). Wholesale and retail trade.-Second as a source of employment, wholesale and retail trading activities accounted for 18.3 percent of the jobs in the region in 1939 (table 1). Approximately 238 TABLE 1.-Percentage distribution of employed workers 14 years old and over in the Pacific Northwest, by industry group, 19401 1 Source: Population-Second Series, U. S. Census, United States Summary, 1940. pp. 99, 100. 736039-47-6 million dollars were distributed in pay rolls to the quarter of a million people earning their living in the distributive trades.* TABLE 2.-Value of crops and livestock sold, traded, and consumed on the farm in the Pacific Northwest, 19391 Source: Sixteenth Census of the United States, Agriculture, Third Series, United States Summary, 1940, tables 38-40. The total volume of manufactured products for 1939 was valued at 1,245 million dollars. About 174,000 wage earners received 221 million dollars in wages in addition to those receiving salaries, dividends, or profits from the industry.5 Transportation and communication. The prosperity of a region as extensive and far removed from world market centers as the Pacific Northwest depends to a great degree upon adequate transportation and communication systems. Substantial land, air, and water facilities serve the territory. Four transcontinental railroads link the Northwest coast with the East, and another line runs south to California. Three major airlines maintain regular service in normal times. Other lines, both inter-regional and feeder have been started or have applied for operating permits. Coastal shipping in the Northwest engages in trade with Alaska to the north and with California to the south and, via the Panama Canal, with Atlantic and Gulf ports. Oceangoing lines carry passengers and freight to the Orient and other parts of the world. Before the war, 8 percent of the employed workers of the Pacific Northwest gained their livelihood from transportation and communication services. The percentage is not likely to change much, although expansion in absolute numbers employed will come as the region develops. Freight rates, which in the past have favored raw materials moving east and finished goods moving west are now undergoing a process of revision as the region's interest shifts to more advanced types of manufacture. U. S. Census Bureau, Censuses of Wholesale and Retail Trade, 1940, |