Tree Hugger # 2 Traditional Cache
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Size: 
(micro)
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The Western Red Cedar of British Columbia is what one most commonly thinks of as cedar, distinctive because of its aromatic scent and reddish wood colouring, but in Ontario the Northern White Cedar, also known as the Eastern White Cedar, is the one we most normaly see. Though often found in low-lying swampy areas, they also thrive in drier, more stony soils, at times seen clinging to the smallest cracks in large rocky outcroppings, or even bursting through bare pavement at the edges of neglected parking lots. In urban settings they are used for hedges, ornamentation and privacy screening, and are a great aid in the prevention of soil erosion.
Centuries before the first European settlers arrived in the new world North American natives were using both varieties in the construction of canoes, longhouses, and totem pole carving. When the early settlers came they began using the tree for an even wider range of uses, including furniture construction and roof shingling. Due to its fine texture and relatively light weight it was found to be good for making small household goods as well. The wood resists warping and splitting, and lacks the pitch or resin which is seen in other soft woods, most notably in pine. They also found that cedar oil was a good moth repellent, which made cedar the ideal wood for the building of chests used to store woolen blankets.
The main benefit to using cedar in construction is its resistance to the weather and moisture; years after most woods have begun to rot away after sitting outdoors, anything made of cedar is still standing good and strong. Indoor saunas, outdoor decks, and hot-tubs are all ideally suited for it. In fact cedar is so resistant to water that in the United States there was once a process called "cedar mining", lasting from the mid-1700's to the beginning of the Civil War, in which huge cedar logs were located and dragged out of deep swamp water, sometimes being buried as much as twelve feet deep. Though the wood had lain submerged for centuries it was still solid enough to be used to build houses and town buildings, and even today some of the wood from those buried logs can be seen in the floors and walls of still-standing colonial homes.
The trees holding the cache are Northern White Cedars, and are a common, yet beautiful sight in many forests and parklands in our area. Take a deep breath as you search and enjoy the scent of arboreal nature. Have a care looking for the cache; watch the fragile branches, and please put the cache back exactly where you found it.
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