538 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
Mountain and Craig’s Mountain, an extensive body of excellent timber is found, reach- 
ing from the Snake River, near the mouth of Salmon River, to and across the North 
Fork of the Clearwater, some sixty miles. This body cf timber is supposed to extend 
even into Montana Territory. It is estimated that this belt is from five to ten miles 
in width, and consists of white and yellow pine, red and yellow fir, and white cédar. 
This timber is of large growth, and valuable for lumbering purposes. Spruce and 
tamarack are found on the Lolo Creek, a tributary to the Clearwater. Yew trees one 
foot in diameter are found on the mountains, also mountain mahogany of small size, 
Silver birch is found on the upper part of the Clearwater. 7 
From these timbered ranges the whole supply of wood for mbering purposes, and 
even for fuel, must be obtained, as the greater portion of this section of the country 
consists of grassy plains and rolling hills, devoid of shade. White-pine logs, five feet 
in diameter and one hundred feet in length, without a knot, have been rafted down 
the Clearwater, furrishing the finest quality of lumber for finishing purposes. 
At Kamiah, a settlement of the Nez Percé Indians, where are numerons farms of 
these Indians, they have planted several fruit trees. The cultivation of forest trees 
could here be successfully carried on and with but little trouble. 
The altitude of the post is about 1,000 feet, as indicated by an aneroid barometer, 
made by Beck, of London. 
The average rainfall for a period extending over ten years, from 1868 to 1877, inclu- 
sive, is 14.88 inches; mean average temperature for ten years from 1868 to 1877, inclu- 
sive, 52°19’, 
WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 
FORT COLVILLE. 
Latitude, 48° 41’; longitude, 117° 55’. The commanding officer states that his facil- 
ities for determining the information required are so limited that it is impossible for 
him to furnish it further than to say that the principal trees in the country belt around 
his post are cedar, fir, pine, and tamarack. Names the Columbia and Spokane Rivers 
as the main lines of drainage. Elevation above sea-level, 2,800 feet, ; 
FORT CANBY. 
Latitude, 46° 16’ 32”; longitude, 124° 3' 13”. The entire region around the post is 
covered with primitive forests. On the north bank of the Columbia River from Cape 
Disappointment to The Dalles the country is densely wooded, the timber belt running 
back a considerable distance. In immediate vicinity of post from Baker’s Bay to 
Shoalwater Bay, about six miles, the timber is almost unbroken; country hilly with 
no distinct line of drainage; elevation from two to three hundred feet. Rainfall dur- 
ing winter 1875~76, 31.67 inches; summer 1876, 5.49 inches; 1875, 79.65 inches; 1876, 
69.52 inches. The timber is composed of spruce, fir, pine, hemlock, beech, and vine 
maple, and alder, willow and crab-apple in low portions and considerable quantities. 
FORT WALLA WALLA. 
The post commander states that there is no growth deserving the name of forest in 
this part of the country. There are some pines, spruces, and cedars, from which fair 
lumber is obtained, on the mountains within fifty miles; and cottonwood, willow, 
black birch, and hawthorn, and probably many ether trees that are of little or no 
value, grow along the streams. 
Post surgeon (George M. Sternberg, Snrgeon U.S.A.) says: ‘‘IT am not yet able to 
give information worth recording upon the subject of forests in this vicinity. Thereis 
no timber worth mentioning, except upon the summits of the mountains, and as I have 
not visited these loealities I cannot, therefore, form an opinion as to the extent or char- 
acter of the forests.” 
PORT TOWNSEND. 
Mr. JAMES G. SWAN furnishes the following interesting report of the 
forestry and rainfall of Washington Territory: « 
Your communication of the 12th instant, asking for information in relation to the 
forestry of this section of the country, has been received, and in reply I will give such 
facts as haye come within my personal observation, together with such as are found in 
the official reports of the engineers of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the surveyors 
of the land office. A former surveyor-general for Washington Territory says of the 
region west of the Cascade Mountains that it covers an area of about twenty thou- 
