38 BOTANICAL SURVEY OF THE CfEUR D'ALENE MOUNTAINS. 



the Cceur d'Alene basins, like the game, is now a thing of the past. 

 Strangely enough, The plant seems to have been entirely absent from 

 the Xorth Fork areas, at least I do not know of a single loeality where 

 it occurs. 



Two species of lichens, Alectoria fremontii and Alcctoria ochroJeuca, 

 principally the form mnnentotia of the latter species, were eaten by the 

 Coeur d'Alene tribe. Both are extremely plentiful at all elevations. 

 Boiled, or rather baked, in which latter condition they were mainly 

 used, together with venison, they become somewhat gelatinous in their 

 consistency and lose the bitter taste which they possess in a fresh 

 state. 



Of fruits, they had huckleberries ( Vaccinium myrtilloides principally), 

 raspberries {Rubus leucodermis and B. strigosm), blackberries (Rubus 

 ursiriUH or ritifolius), and service berries (Amelanchier alnifolia). 

 These fruits are gathered and used at the present time by the white 

 settlers, but none are abundant in the region except the huckleberries 

 and service berries, and these not every year. The Coeur d'Alene 

 Indians draw no more native plant foods from these mountains. They 

 are now mostly farmers, have large and fairly well cultivated ranches, 

 and find in the raising of the cereals and vegetables of civilization a 

 far more bountiful supply of food, and much more palatable withal, than 

 they ever obtained from the laboriously gathered cam ass of their 

 mountain meadows. 



UTILIZATION OF "WATER SUPPLY. 



Owing to the large annual precipitation, the region is abundantly 

 watered. The lateral ravines which supply the main streams carry 

 water throughout the year with but few exceptions. The annual 

 freshets are usually at their height in the latter part of May or early 

 part of June, and the volume of water then depends upon the winter's 

 snowfall, the amount of rain which has fallen and been absorbed by 

 the snow in the high elevations during the chinook storms of spring, 

 and the suddenness with which the whole mass melts. It is a notice- 

 able fact that more severe freshets are recorded in later years than was 

 the case at an earlier date. In the report of Capt. John Mullan upon 

 the building of the military road it is stated 1 that "the highest water 

 mark seen was only ;> feet above its usual level." This was in 1801 

 and in the South fork valley. There are water marks now in the 

 central part of the valley at the old mission which show a rise of over 

 G meters (19,6 feet) above the usual level, and in the upper or canyon 

 part of the South Fork, 2.5 meters (S.2 feet). Per contra, the streams 

 are decidedly lower in their fall and winter stage than formerly. The 

 cause lies probably in the removal of the timber. When the builders 



'Capt. John Mullan, Report on the Construction of a Military Road from Fort 

 Walla Walla to Fort Henton, page 121, 1863. 



