62 BOTANICAL SURVEY OF THE CCEUR D 7 ALENE MOUNTAINS. 



car. accomplish it. So far as the Coeur d'Alenes are concerned, the forest 

 is fast disappearing, a small percentage into lumber, but most of it into 

 smoke and ashes, and generations will pass before what has been and 

 is being destroyed can be replaced, even with the most fostering care, 

 upon the denuded areas by the General Government or by individuals. 



It is about thirty -four years since the Cauir d'Alenes became at all 

 accessible, by the construction of the Mullan road. The age of the 

 Young Growth upon hundreds of thousands of acres proves that the 

 forest, at least in the Yellow and White Pine /ones, was practically 

 intact before that time. Upon the completion of the road a constant 

 stream of immigration poured into Oregon and Washington by this 

 route. The heavy and dense timber through which the road led for so 

 many miles gave a gloomy aspect to the region, and the torch was 

 freely applied "to let in more air and sunshine." The dry season was 

 the time of year when the immigration was the heaviest; that was also 

 the time of year when the forest was in prime condition for burning, and 

 that advantage was taken of this circumstance the large tracts of young 

 growth attest. 



The next well-marked epoch in the annihilation process came with 

 the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The right of way was 

 cleared by fire whenever the timber was in a condition to burn. I passed 

 over this road in September, 1883, and there were then two almost con- 

 tinuous lines of fire along the track throughout Idaho. It is true the 

 road did not run through the Coeur d'Alenes. The fires were in the val- 

 ley of the Clark Fork, but they extended from that region into the basin 

 of the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene and wrought immense destruc- 

 tion there. 



The next and last stage, which is still in active operation, came when 

 the great ore deposits in the Coeur d'Alenes were discovered. Thou- 

 sands of prospectors Hocked into the country then, and the forest tires 

 raged in hundreds of localities to clear away the dense growth of tim- 

 ber and shrubs, which very materially interferred with 1 he work of the 

 prospectors seeking the mineral bearing lodes. As the mines began to 

 develop, fuel and lumber were needed. The choice parts of the forest 

 were cut into, debris took the place of the green tree, and fire, coming 

 later, finished what the ax had spared. In 1884 1 passed through the 

 Cieur d'Alenes into Montana. In spite of the many previous tires, 

 there were miles upon miles of primeval forest. In this year (1805) along 

 the same route there was not a single foot that the fire and ax had 

 not run through and the larger quantity had been uselessly and totally 

 destroyed. The site of the former nourishing forest was now occupied 

 in part by a mass of blackened stumps and overthrown trees, in part by 

 the debris left behind by the sawmills, long since departed, for there 

 were no more logs to saw, and in part by coarse weeds or a struggling 

 young growth endeavoring to gain a foothold along the steep moun- 

 tain sides, but invariably tired as often as a sufficiency of undergrowth 

 accumulated. 



