FORESTRY. 529 
to October 31, 1877, was 2.17 inches, ascertained by gauge. Elevation 
2,211 feet, determined barometrically. ; 
Major J. G. TILFORD, Seventh Cavalry, says: 
The forest area of this reservation is about thirty-two hundred acres approximately, 
as follows: Sibly Island, twelve hundred; first point below the post, three hundred ; 
second point below the post, seventeen hundred. ‘ 
The timber on the first is very sparse, the best having been cut to supply the post 
with fuel and for building purposes. ; : 
A growth of young trees is springing up on the river front, but will not be available 
for fuel within tenyears. The timber on second point is of larger growth and almost 
in its primeval state, very little having been cut by the whites. There is also quite 
a forest of box-elder only fit for fuel. The timber is almost entirely of cottonwood; 
there is some ash and a very little oak, known as scrub oak. The only decrease ob- 
servable is by the agency of man. ; , 
Tree planting was first resorted to (at the cavalry barracks) in the spring of 1874. 
The first trees were very large, and although great care was taken to save them, they 
all or nearly all died during the heat of summer. These trees have been replaced by 
smaller trees which have now become rooted in the soil and promise to do well. 
Although I have not seen it tried at this post, but at places along the Missouri River, 
slips cut from cottonwood have been started in the spring, and they grow so rapidly 
that orchards of several hundred trees were seven and eight feet high in two years 
after planting. 
FORT STEVENSON. 
Latitude, 47° 34’; longitude, 101° 26’. On the left bank of the Mis- 
feleded 
.Souri River. The rainfall for the year 1877 up to November 16 was 
10.13 inches, measured by a gauge. 
Major O. H. Moore, Sixth Infantry, says: 
The original forest area of this reservation was comprised in the bottom-lands adja- 
cent to the Missouri River, but practically no forest now exists, all the larger trees 
(principally cottonwood) for ten miles either way having been cut for various pur- 
poses. In the early days the wood contractors drew heavily upon the timber near the 
post, and later all that remained has been used from time to time in the construction 
of various log buildings, so that the only trees now upon the reservation are small 
cottonwoods, hardly moré than saplings. Prairie fires usually occur every fall, and 
their effect may be to keep down any growth of forest that might spring up in the 
coulisse near the bluffs, but to these. fires cannot be attributed in any degree the de- 
struction of such timber as formerly existed in the bottoms. To obtain logs of over 
six inches in diameter it is now necessary to raft them down from a point some thirty 
miles up stream, on the opposite bank of the river. The most extensive forest in this 
whole vicinity is the finely timbered country of the Mouse River, some sixty miles 
away. 
The transplanting of trees for foliage has been undertaken to a limited extent, but 
the result of some five years’ experience has not been encouraging, though in a few 
instances good, substantial trees have resulted. Cottonwood has been the variety 
heretofore planted, but the past year a few ash trees were set out and appear to be 
thriving at present. 
FORT BUFORD. 
Latitude, 48°; longitude, 103° 57’ 30’. On the left bank of the Mis- 
souri River, near the mouth of the Yellowstone. The elevation is 1,933 
feet, determined barometrically. 
Colonel DANIEL Huston, Sixth Infantry, says: 
In reply to circular letter dated Headquarters Department of Dakota, Saint Paul, 
Minn., November 8, 1877, I have the honor to state: 
1st. The growth of timber is confined to the flats pertaining to the Missouri and 
Yellowstone Rivers, as a rule being on alternate points on opposite sides of the river, 
said zone being from one mile to three miles wide at the base and running out to a 
oint. 
The timber down the Missouri River on reservation and adjacent country is dense, 
and not cut out to the extent of that above the post. The timber up the Yellowstone 
is of a larger and finer quality than on the Missouri River. It is principally cotton- 
wood, with a very little ash and elm, with scrub-cedar in the bluffs on the river. 
34 AGR 
