216 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA 



It is a larger tree than the Dwarf Pine. At an 

 elevation of about 9000 feet above the sea, it often 

 attains a height of forty or fifty feet, and a diame 

 ter of from three to five feet. The cones open freely 

 when ripe, and are twice as large as those of the 

 albicauliS) and the foliage and branches are more 

 open, having a tendency to sweep out in free, wild 

 curves, like those of the Mountain Pine, to which 

 it is closely allied. It is seldom found lower than 

 9000 feet above sea-level, but from this elevation 

 it pushes upward over the roughest ledges to the 

 extreme limit of tree-growth, where, in its dwarfed, 

 storm-crushed condition, it is more like the white- 

 barked species. 



Throughout Utah and Nevada it is one of the 

 principal timber-trees, great quantities being cut 

 every year for the mines. The famous White Pine 

 Mining District, White Pine City, and the White 

 Pine Mountains have derived their names from it. 



NEEDLE PINE 

 (Pinus aristata) 



THIS species is restricted in the Sierra to the 

 southern portion of the range, about the head wa 

 ters of Kings and Kern rivers, where it forms ex 

 tensive forests, and in some places accompanies the 

 Dwarf Pine to the extreme limit of tree-growth. 



It is first met at an elevation of between 9000 

 and 10,000 feet, and runs up to 11,000 without seem 

 ing to suffer greatly from the climate or the lean 

 ness of the soil. It is a much finer tree than the 



