■94 The Forest Beifion of Norfhem Idaho — Leiberg. 



especially comraetided in a prairie country where t-trong winds are 

 the rule and calms the exception. It would he a valuable addition 

 to the trees of the northwest, aad there is no reason why its cul- 

 tivation should not be atteDded with success. 



The soil throughout northern Idaho, is a deep rich loam of 

 wonderful fertility. Pine forests in the east are usually associated 

 with a gravelly or sandy soil, but it is not so here. The amount 

 of land lit for agricultural purposes is very limited. Lumbering 

 ^nd mining will be the chief resources of this p^rt of the territory 

 in )ears to come. 



The temperature tnroukrhout this region is much milder than 

 in a corresponding laiitude farther eastward. The winters are 

 short with heavv snow-falls. The ground in the woods apparent- 

 ly does not freeze, as no trace of frost could be found un ier the 

 snow drifts. The valleys iu the mountain region arr- sometimes 

 in early summer subject to severe frosts of sufficient intcDsity to 

 cover the vegetation with a thick coating of ice. In IMinnesota 

 such a frost would kill plant life; but here, for some unknown 

 reason, it does not injure it in the least. The summer is very 

 w^arni. Winds have no chance in such a broken, heavily timbered 

 couutry to cool the air, and an unbroken calm usually prevails 

 day aft.er day. 



The precipitation of moisture is very great; much the larger 

 portion falls during the winter as snow. Indians living there, 

 claim that a depth of ten feet is not uncommon in the mountains. 

 It begins to disappear in February and is nearly gone in Apnl, \et 

 in particularly shady places I have found snow banks two or three 

 feet deep in June. The rain-fall in the summer is rather scanty, 

 sometimes none at all. 



It is in such seasons that enormous wanton, or I may say cri- 

 minal, destruction of forest takes place. Thousands of acres of 

 valuable pine land are thus despoiled. All that remains are i<reat 

 heaps of charred logs. Even the soil suffers from the intense heat 

 generated, so that years must elapse before it can regain its for- 

 mer fertility. 



As the min^-ral resources of this region in the future will 

 doubtless be its most important feature, it may not be amiss to say 

 n few words concerning them here. Little is as yet known in re- 

 gard to the extent of the mineral bearing rocks. The dense for- 

 ests and the great ruggedness of the country render prospecting 



