White Pines of Montana and Idaho. 225 



Forests Mr. Barton found the species in merchantable size cover- 

 ing rather large areas, at altitudes varying from 5,000 to 6,800 

 feet. This district appears to be about the middle range of the 

 species for Idaho, the trees being about 40 feet high, from 6 

 inches to 20 inches in diameter, and with an average merchantable 

 length of about 24 feet. 



Such stands also occur on the Forests of Western Montana, 

 but they are almost wholly on elevations which will be inacces- 

 sible for a long time to come. Mr. Woodward mentions an 

 excellent mixed stand of White-bark Pine and Lodge-pole Pine 

 in the Missoula Forest, on the divide between the east fork of 

 Rattlesnake Creek and the west fork of Gold Creek. The species 

 here had a long clear bole with a short and narrow crown, a form 

 quite similar to that of the Lodgepole Pine with which it grows. 

 Along the main Continental Divide in Montana, from Glacier 

 Park southward, merchantable stands are quite common on the 

 broad ridge tops, gentle slopes, and in the basins at the heads of 

 streams, where the soil is deep and fairly moist and the winds not 

 too severe. Here, as elsewhere, the very moist soils along the 

 creeks are occupied by Engelmann Spruce and Alpine Fir. The 

 drier soils farther up the slopes are given over to mixed stands of 

 White-bark Pine and Lodgepole Pine, or above the range of 

 Lodgepole, to White-bark in pure stands. It is quite possible 

 that in many localities of this region, White-bark and Limber 

 Pine are associated, particularly between 5,000 and 8,000 feet, 

 the merchantable groves of White-bark Pine being found between 

 6,500 and 8,000 feet elevation. This point should be determined 

 by further investigation. Certain it is that much of the timber 

 which is called Limber Pine is in reality Finns albicaulis. It is 

 only in this region east of the Continental Divide that White-bark 

 Pine is sufficiently accessible to be of present commercial value. 

 It is now, however, being cut for commercial purposes on the 

 Deerlodge Forest and on others further south, and probably on 

 the Lewis and Clark also along with Limber Pine. 



Manner of Growth. — White-bark Pine usually has a low, long- 

 branched, twisted or crooked trunk, ranging from 15 to 50 feet 

 high and from 10 to 24 inches in diameter. In the high wind- 

 swept home of this tree it is often merely a sprawling shrub with 

 enormous branches spreading over the ground. As an example 

 of the other extreme, an exceptionally perfect specimen of Pinus 



