Christmas tree cultivation major Christmas tree growing region, Douglas-fir has always been the primary species grown. A full one-half of all trees produced in the Pacific Northwest are Douglas-fir. Douglas-firs typically take five to seven years before they are mature enough to sell as Christmas trees. Also common in the region are noble fir, a tree which commands a higher price than Douglas-fir, and grand fir, which accounts for about 10 percent of the annual harvest in the Northwest. Other species collectively account for only 3–5 percent of the total Northwest harvest. In North America, Fraser fir, grown in the Appalachian Mountains of
Steamboats of the Lower Fraser River and Harrison Lake Puget Sound and the Fraser River. Ships that called in were the "Suprize", "Enterprise", and the "Wilson G. Hunt". At the onset of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush and the accompanying declaration of the Colony of British Columbia, British colonial Governor James Douglas, was worried about an American monopoly on British trade and thus declared a law preventing steamboat traffic operating under the American flag from conducting trade in the colony. This did two things, it enabled a local shipbuilding industry and, in as a result in some cases, ship owners changed flags and registry to British shipping. Two dominant