BIOLOGICAL, RECONNOISSANCE AT FLATHEAD LAKE. 147 



It would not require much work to lower the outlet so as to practi- 

 cally drain the lake. There is talk of damming the outlet for logging 

 purposes. The idea is to make the water deep enough to float logs in 

 early spring. It is only a little over a mile by section lines to the river. 

 The creek could easily be cleared to float logs in the spring. By this 

 plan it is hoped to get at the marketable timber with moderate cost of 

 removal. 



The timber in the vicinity of the lake is as follows: Yellow pine, 

 Pinus scopulorum Engl., is quite abundant. The young trees of this 

 species are by lumberman termed "bull pine," and are considered very 

 inferior to what they term "Yellow pine."* There can be no doubt that 

 the "bull pine" is but the early growth of the yellow pine. This is one 

 of the most common trees in the western part of the state. In the wet 

 and swampy land about the lake it is not abundant, being displaced or 

 perhaps replaced by others. It is not uncommon to find trees from 

 three to five feet in diameter. The tree is usually tall, free from limbs, 

 making excellent timber. 



Red fir, or Douglas' Spruce, Pseudotsuga mucronata, Raf., is the 

 "oak" of Montana. It is the fir (false fir) of the Puget sound region in 

 a higher, drier, and more unfavorable climate. In the Rost lake region 

 it is not so abundant as some other species, but along the mountain slopes 

 it becomes more common. Wes'tward toward the dry and open prairie 

 it attains considerable size. Between Rost and Swan lakes, a distance 

 of some eight or ten miles, the red fir is very abundant, much of it young 

 growth. 



The Cottonwood, Populus angustifolia James, is found around the 

 borders of the lake and in wet places. Many of the trees are large. In 

 this region there are no cottonwood belts as elsewhere, and the tree may 

 be spoken of as "not uncommon." 



Englemann's spruce Picea englemanni Engl., is the most abundant 

 tree about the lake, save perhaps the lodgepole pine. It is a beautiful 

 tree, tall and stately. North of the lake is a wet and swampy region 

 with many meadows. Here this spruce is dwarfed, stunted and reduced 

 in size. The trees are not marketable. In other places it becomes a 

 large tree. It does not seem to be so well known among lumbermen as 

 the yellow pine, fir or tamarack. As there are great quantities of this 

 spruce in Western Montana it will no doubt be better known later. 



The lodge pole pine, Pinus murrayana, Eng., is very abundant in the 

 region of Rost lake, as also Echo lake. In many places it completely 

 occupies the land, apparently to the exclusion of all other timber. In 

 some sections the trees are small, a few inches in diameter and a thick 

 stand. In other places they have attained large size for lodge pole, a foot 

 or more in diametter. The lodge pole is not used for marketable timber, 

 perhaps because the trees are too small. It seems to make good "shakes" 

 and to be serviceable where it may stay dry, as in houses, stables and 

 fences. It is reported to be not good for posts. Corduroy roads are 

 made of it. 



* I am informed that lumbermen at Missoula and Hamilton consider 

 the bull pine or young yellow pine superior to the older trees, yellow pine 

 proper. 



