212-Foot High Fir Christmas Tree Breaks all Records

Kris Kringle took a back seat for Paul Bunyan this holiday season u'hen the Northgate shopping neighborhood of Seattle put through a plan to erect the tallest Christmas tree on earth, past or present. And reindeers Donner, Blitzen, Prancer and Dancer gave way to a helicopter for the trimming of the top of Northgate's giant of Christmas trees for 1950.

A solid length of. 212 feet of Douglas fir tree, weight 25 tons. r.vas wheeled down from the tall timber of the White River Tree Farm of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company to Seattle on November 13 to provide the tree. Tremendous strains were endured by the fibers of the tree on the turns and the ups and downs of the road from loading point to Christmas tree site. It was a good demonstration of the toughness and bending strength of the West Coast's king tree.

"\Aie expected the tree to break or split a hundred times on the 70-mile trip," said an official of the Bon Marche, Seattle department store which promoted the "tallest tree" project for its Northgate branch. "But it came through as sound as it rvas when it stood in the mountain forest. Now we knon' rvhy Douglas fir is in such demand for house framing and industrial uses."

Thanksgiving Day saw the tree up, base above ground. guyed to "dead men," dressed in thousands of tailorecl branches for which holes rvere bored in the trunk, glittgring with 3,500 lights and miles of decorations, all in the center of a Christmas village.

Yet the real giant on the Christmas tree side of the Douglas fir forest remains in the form of the two and onehalf million regular Christmas trees shipped from Western Washington and Oregon this fall to California, the East and the Midwest, and to Cuba, Guam and other far places. These trees were selected from the eight million acres of )'oung forests nou' grou'ing in the Douglas fir region. I\fostly they were cut as thinnings.

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Chrishcrs In Indic

Iligh noon above the tanarisksr the srnis-h^taboveusAs at home the Christmas Day is breaking wan; They will drink our healths at dinner, Those who tell us that they love us, And forget us till another year be gone ! -Kipling.

Fred Holmes, president San Francisco, and Mrs. tober 31 by plane to spend ana.

Art Quirin, sales Co., Dallas, Oregon, November.