<>6 BOTANICAL SURVEY OF THE CCEUR D'ALENE MOUNTAINS. 



various parties to obtain the timber-cutting permits they have sought, 

 which, if granted, would have opened up to them the best portions of 

 what yet remains comparatively untouched. There are now no very 

 large sawmill or logging concerns in operation in the Cceur d'Alenes. 

 The largest and most numerous are at Harrison, at the outlet of the 

 Cceur d'Alene River into Lake Cceur d'Alene. They obtain their logs 

 partly from the St. Joseph region, partly from the Cceur d'Alene and 

 North Fork valleys. At Cataldo, 8 kilometers (1.7 miles) above the 

 old Cceur d'Alene Mission, there was until three months since a mill 

 for the manufacture of shingles. They obtained their logs wholly from 

 cuts along the valley of the North Fork. This plant burned down and 

 is not yet rebuilt. There are, or were recently, a few small mills in the 

 valley of the North Fork sawing lumber for local demands, also a few 

 in the South Fork, all mere portable concerns. There are no sawmills 

 in the St. Mary basin and none in that of the St. Joseph. In the 

 former no logs are cut above the point where the river enters the canyon ; 

 on the St. Joseph logs are cut wherever opportunity is afforded. The 

 large sawmill lately built at Spokane, Wash., will in the near future 

 make itself felt as a consumer of the Coeur d'Alene forests. 



Among other demands which make serious inroads into the timber are 

 those for railroad ties and telegraph poles. None but young trees 

 are used for these purposes, and none of larger diameter than can be 

 used in their full diametral growth. The telegraph poles are cut alto- 

 gether from the cedar, the railroad ties from Douglas spruce and tam- 

 arack. None are sawed except bridge and switch ties; the others are 

 hewed from the tree. This makes the employment of large trunks for 

 this purpose impossible. As ties made from the soft timber of the 

 Pacific Coast conifers are not durable when placed in contact with the 

 soil, they soon decay and require frequent renewal. Vast quantities 

 of young timber are continually cut to meet this never-ceasing demand. 



In logging, or cutting timber for any purpose, no attempt is made to 

 spare the forest. A tree is felled in the direction which will be most 

 convenient, without regard to the number it will crush in falling. The 

 best parts only are used— tops, etc., are left to rot where they fall. The 

 tie-chopping camps are the worst in this respect. As they can utilize 

 more of the trees in a given space than the loggers, they also leave 

 more tops and litter behind. This furnishes an excellent nidus for the 

 coming forest lire to work in. Wood choppers, if in a region where 

 trees are plentiful, pursue the same method. The straight, clear parts 

 of the tree only are utilized; the crown is rejected, because it splits 

 harder and requires time to trim up. 



The clearings made for agricultural purposes really are the least 

 destructive of timber, though one would suppose it would be the reverse. 

 That is because it is an impossibility for one man to clear a farm in the 

 White Fine Zone of sufficient size to support a. family within the time 

 of one generation. The clearings are mainly contined to the Yellow 



