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American Forest 



Trees 



NINETY-NINTH PAPER 

 LODGEPOLE PINE 



(Pinus Contorta — Loud.) 



The common name of this tree was given it because its tail, 

 slender, very light poles were used by Indians of the region in the 

 construction of their lodges. They selected poles fifteen feet long 

 and two inches in diameter, set them in a circle, bent the tops 

 together, tied them, and covered the frame with skins or bark. The 

 poles were peeled in early summer, when the Indians set out upon 

 their summer hunt, and were left to 

 season until fall, when they were 

 carried to the winter's camping 

 place, probably fifty miles distant. 

 Tamarack is a common name for 

 this pine in much of its range; it 

 is likewise known as black pine, 

 sprucy pine, and prickly pine. Its 

 leaves are from one to two inches 

 long, in clusters of two. The small 

 cones adhere to the branches many 

 years — sometimes as long as twenty 

 — without releasing the seeds, which 

 are sealed -within the colie by ac- 

 cumulated resin. The vitality of the 

 seeds is remarkable. They don 'i 

 lose their power of germination 

 during their long imprisonment. 



The lodgepole pine has been 

 called a fire tree, and the name is 

 not inappropriate. It profits by se- 

 vere burning, as some other trees 

 of the United States do, such as 

 paper birch and bird cherry. The 

 sealed cones are opened by fire, 

 which softens the resin, and the 

 seeds are liberated after the fire 

 has passed, and wing their flight 

 wherever the wind carries them. 

 The passing fire may be severe 

 enough to kOl the parent tree with- 

 out destroying or bringing down the 

 cones. The seeds soon faU on the 

 bared mineral soil, where they 

 germinate by thousands. More than 

 one hundred thousand small seedling 

 trees may occupy a single acre. Most 

 of them are ultimately crowded to 

 death, but a thick stand results. 

 Most lodgepole pine forests occupy 

 old burns. The tree is one of the 

 slowest of growers. It never reaches 

 large size — possibly three feet is the 

 limit. It is very tall and slender. 

 A hundred years will scarcely pro- 

 duce a saw-log of the smallest size. 



The range of this tree covers a 

 million square miles from Alaska 

 to New Mexico, and to the Pacific 

 coast. Its characters vary in different parts of its range. A scrub 

 form was once thought to be a different species, and was called 

 shore pine. 



The wood is of about the same weight as eastern white pine. It is 

 light in color, rather weak, and brittle, annual rings very narrow, 

 summerwood small in amount, resin passages few and small; medul- 

 lary rays numerous, broad, and prominent. The wood is characterized 

 by numerous small knots. It is not durable in contact with the 

 ground, but it readily receives preservative treatment. In height it 

 ranges from fifty to one hundred feet. 



A TYPICAL FOREST GROWTH OF LODGEPOLE PINE IN 

 MONTANA 



The government's estimate of the stand of lodgepole pine in the 

 United States in 1909 placed it at ninety billion feet. That makes 

 it seventh in quantity among the timber trees of this country, those 

 above it being Douglas fir, the southern yellow pines (considered as 

 one), western yellow pine, redwood, western hemlock, and the red 

 cedar of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. 



Lodgepole pine has been long and 

 widely used as a ranch timber in 

 the Far West, serving for poles and 

 rails in fences, for sheds, barns, cor- 

 rals, pens, and small bridges. Where 

 it could be had at all, it was gener- 

 ally plentiful. Stock ranges high 

 among the mountains frequently de- 

 pend almost solely upon lodgepole 

 pine for necessary timber. 



Mine operators find it a valuable 

 resource. As props it is cheap, sub- 

 stantial, and convenient in many 

 parts of Colorado, New Mexico, 

 Wyoming, and Montana. A large 

 proportion of this timber which is 

 cut for mining purposes has been 

 standing dead from fire injury many 

 years, and is thoroughly seasoned 

 and very light. It is in excellent 

 condition for receiving preservative 

 treatment. 



Sawmills do not list lodgepole 

 pine separately in reports of lumber 

 cut, and it is impossible to de- 

 termine what the annual supply 

 from the species is. It is well 

 known that the quantity made into 

 lumber in Colorado, Wyoming, Mon 

 tana, and Idaho is large. Its chief 

 market is among the newly estab- 

 lished agricultural communities in 

 those states. They use it for fruit 

 and vegetable shipping boxes, fenc- 

 ing plank, pickets, and plastering 

 lath. 



Eailroads buy half a million 

 lodgepole pine crossties yearly. 

 When creosoted, they resist decay 

 many years. Lodgepole pine has 

 been a tie material since the first 

 railroads entered the region, and 

 while by no means the best, it 

 promises to fill a much more im- 

 portant place in the future than in 

 the past. It is an ideal fence post 

 material as far as size and form are 

 concerned, and with preservative 

 treatment it is bound to attain a 

 high place. It is claimed that treated posts will last twenty years, 

 and that puts them on a par with the cedars. 



In Colorado and Wyoming much lodgepole was formerly burned 

 for charcoal to supply the furnaces which smelted ore, and the black- 

 smith shops of the region. This is done now less than formerly, 

 since railroad building has made coal and coke accessible. 



In one respect, lodgepole pine is to the western mountains what 

 loblolly pine is to the flat country of the south Atlantic and other 

 southern states. It is aggressive, and takes possession of vacant 

 ground. -'Although the wood is not as valuable as loblolly, it is useful, 



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