The Forest Region of Northern Idaho — Leibenj. 1)3 



The timber belt, to which the foregoing remarks apply, has a 

 width at the latitude of Spokane Falls of about two hundred and 

 fifty miles. Toward the north it extends far into British America 

 and westward to the Pacific ocean. From Qcawr d'x41ene lake to 

 the Bitter Root river, along the old Mullan military road, the tim- 

 ber consists mainly of the varieties enumerated. It is everywhere, 

 except where fires have ravaged it, as close and dense as described 

 above, and of an excellent quality in an economical point of view. 

 When the pine forests of Minnesota and Wisconsin are exhausted, 

 attention will be turned to these vast depots of supply, in which 

 the lumberman's axe has, as yet, made no inroads. 



After crossing the Bitter Root river, the climate becomes 

 drier, the mountain range to the west intercepting a large amount 

 of the moisture brought by the winds from the Pacific. This dry- 

 ness is prejudicial to such an excessive development of forest growth 

 as is found on the Pacific side of the range. In consequence a 

 a large number of conifers common there are absent here, and the 

 rest are greatly diminished in size. 



The most common species furnishing merchantable lumber 

 from this point eastward is. Pin us ponderosa, the other varieties 

 of pines and firs being of little value. After crossing the summit 

 of the Rockies along the parallel of the Northern Pacific, the for- 

 est growth dwindles rapidly, and is mainly confined to the water- 

 courses and the sides of a few of the outlying ranges. The last 

 conifers observed while traveling eastward were near Grlendive^ 

 Montana, where, in the hilly country to the east, a few pines find 

 a precarious existence. 



Before leaving this subject, I would like to call attention ta 

 the possibility of successfully introducing Pinus ponderosa as a 

 tree of cultivation in the dry prairie region of Dakota and Minne- 

 sota. This tree appears to be able to live and flourish in a greater 

 variety of soil, and under greater changes of temperature and 

 moisture, than any other pine native of the northern United States. 

 It is found growing sometimes in deep rich soil, sometimes in 

 gravelly or rocky places; in localities where but little winter pre- 

 vails, and again where the temperature often descends to forty or 

 fifty degrees below zero. Its only marked preference seems to be 

 for dry places. In wet or swampy districts it is not found. Un- 

 like the other pines, its roots penetrate deeply into the ground, and 

 it is not easily uprooted by wind. This last quality is one to be 



