5A2 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
us elevation is not exactly known, but supposed to be 2,000 feet above the level of 
the sea. 
There have been, during the past year, heavy and continuous rains in this country 
but the post is not supplied with the necessary apparatus for determining the amount, 
itcan be approximated to by taking the amount of rainfall at Fort Sill. 
The fieldnotes of the United States survey of this country, it is presumed, would 
furnish valuable information in regard to the forestry, clevation, &c. 
Lieutenant H. SWEENEY, Fourth Cavalry, reports as follows: 
In connection with the report of forestry embracing the country between the Washita 
River and the Cimmaron, and about forty miles east and west of Fort Reno, the 
general character of the timber on the Washita River is cottonwood from Fort Cobb 
to Elm Springs, sparsely interspersed with walnut and oak, and a little ash. What 
there isof the walnut and oak is generally large for this country, averaging 18inches 
in diameter ; the ash is of a much smaller growth. 
From Fort Cobb, west, the walnut and oak timber become much more scarce, until 
finally nothing but cottonwood is found. All the tributaries of the Washita are 
fringed with cottonwood. From five miles east of the Reno and Sill road and south of 
Boggy Creek, on the divide between the Canadian River and the Washita River, and 
running west to within about ten miles of the trail from Cobb to Supply, there is a 
heavy belt of post-oak, suitable for telegraph poles, railroad ties, or fuel. This belt of 
timber has an average width of two miles. The valley of the Canadian River has a 
thin fringe of cottonwood, having at afew places clumps of walnut and oak, about 
the same in quality as that on the Washita River. The tributaries of this river 
(Canadian) are fringed with cottonwood, very sparsely interspersed with elm and 
and hackberry of very small growth, and of very little utility except for fuel. 
About twenty-five miles west of Reno, there is a very heavy belt of post-oak on the 
divide between the Canadian River and the north fork of the same river, extending 
west about fifty miles, and suitable for telegraph poles and railroad ties. This belt of 
timber has an average width of one and a half miles. A great many of the brakes of 
the tributaries of the Canadian River, on the north side, have a quantity of cedar tim- 
ber which would make good telegraph poles. 
The timber in the valley of the North Fork of the Canadian is confined to the river 
banks, and is composed almost entirely of cottonwood, in some places of very heavy 
growth, <A peculiarity of the North Fork of the Canadian is that for over 200 miles 
there are no tributaries on the north side of the river. 
Commencing about Caddo Springs, on the road leading from Reno to Wichita City, 
Kans., there is a belt of post oak of an average width of one and a half miles, extend- - 
ing for seventy-five miles up the river, northwest, interspersed with white oak, suit- 
able for small saw-logs, telegraph poles, and railroad ties. At the heads of nearly all 
the brakes, on the north side of the divide, between the North Fork and the Cim- 
maron River, there is a good deal of cedar suitable for telegraph poles. 
FORT GIBSON, 
Captain C. R. LAyTon, Sixteenth Infantry, reports as follows: 
At time of the receipt of your communication I had hoped to make an early report, 
founded upon information to be obtained from persons conversant with different parts 
of the Territory, as well as upon personal observation of a considerable portion of the 
Cherokee Nation. My own observations, however, have beey confined to the country 
in the vicinity of the post, and also a part of the line of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas 
Railroad, nor had I, until December last, been able to obtain from others such infor- 
mation as to enable me to make a report in reference to the different matters inquired 
of by you. In the early part of that month, Hon. William P. Ross, ex-chief of the 
Cherokee Nation, at my request, addressed me a communication containing a deserip 
tion of the forestry of the country, a copy of which is inclosed as a part of this report. 
In the latter part of last month I called upon the Indian agent near Muskogee, Dr. 
Marston, te obtain information from him in reference more particularly to the eastern 
part of the Territory. He was absent from the Territory when I received the deserip- 
tion of the country sent me by Colonel Ross, and so remained until a few days before 
Isaw him. He stated that his clerk, Mr. J. G. Vore, then absent, was a native of and 
thoroughly acquainted with all parts of the Territory. Leaving a note for Mr. Vore 
requesting information upon the differemt poiuts inquired of by you, I, a few days ago, 
received from him a description of the country, which I also inclose as a part of this 
report. The communication of Colonel Ross is as follows: 
“Tam not able to reply with much exactness to your request for information respect- 
ing the forestry of the Indian Territory, particularly in regard to the éxtent of the 
forest area. Relatively, the largest areas are within fifty miles of itscastern borders, 
