562 THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



steep grade of about a mile until the valley is reached, and then up the valley by an easy grade to Deadwood. Five- 

 days' driving through the hills from the base of the foot hills to one of the highest peaks shows little variation in the 

 species of forest trees. The yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) is the only tree of much value in the hills, and composes 

 nineteen twentieths of the forest, generally covering the hills from base to summit. The trees are larger and 

 stand closer together than in Colorado, and grow here, too, more rapidly than farther south, as is shown by the 

 width of the annual rings of growth and the shoots upon the standing trees. This is the only tree used for lumber 

 at the saw-mills, and no other is used in the mines. The white spruce (Picea alba) grows principally near the water- 

 courses, and here the largest trees of that species are to be found. It is scattered, however, through the pines even 

 within 50 feet of the summit of Terry's peak. It is condemned by both saw-mill proprietors and miners as lacking 

 strength and being very knotty, which cannot be doubted, as it retains its lower branches with wonderful tenacity, 

 even when growing closely and in dense shade. These two species comprise all the Coniferw in the Black hills, 

 with the exception of a prostrate juniper and rare specimens of the red cedar. The burr oak is found in the valleys 

 extending into the foot-hills and along the creeks for 40 or 50 miles into the plains. It is short, gnarly, and 

 apparently of little value, although exceptional trees in the valley are of fair size. In the narrow valleys and along 

 water-courses are found the common cottonwood, black willow, narrow-leaved cottonwood, green ash, white elm, 

 box-elder, ironwood, canoe birch, and quaking aspen ; in the hills canoe birch, mountain ash, hazel, choke cherry, 

 and juneberry are found growing side by side with the snowberry and mahonia of the Pacific region. The 

 little aspen and the canoe birch perform the same service, the aspen does in Colorado, and cover the ground after 

 the timber is burned off, thus making a shade in which the pine seedlings find protection from sun and wind, and 

 finally repossess the hills. On the banks of the numerous creeks intersecting the 'bad lands' and plains from the 

 Missouri river to the Black hills, box-elder, white elm, green ash, black willow, cottonwood, choke cherry, wild 

 plum, and buffalo-berry occur, but the canoe birch is not found below the foot-hills, where it grows along the creeks 

 6 or 8 inches in diameter, or as a low shrub upon the hillsides. 



'The region occupied by the Black Hills forests is 80 miles in length north and south, and about 30 miles wide 

 from east to west. Forest fires are not so frequent nor so disastrous as in Colorado, although the 'big burning' of 

 1865, near Custer's peak, is estimated to have extended over 400 square miles. The yellow pine is largely reproducing 

 itself over the whole of this area, the trees being now 3 or 4 feet high. As far as my observation went, this reproduction 

 of'the yellow pine over the old 'deadeuings' is almost universal through the hills, although rarely or never seen in 

 Colorado, and even in northern Wisconsin and the Michigan peninsula scarcely a single young pine has appeared 

 in the whole burned district of 1871. 



"The timber is disappearing rapidly in the vicinity of Deadwood, Lead City, Terryville, and Central." 



NEBRASKA. 



The forest growth of Nebraska was once confined to the eastern part of the state; the broad bottom lauds of the 

 Missouri and the lower Platte rivers contained groves of large oak, walnut, ash, and box-elder of considerable extent. 

 These, under favorable conditions, spread to the bluffs and uplands. Westward the tree growth gradually became 

 more scanty and stunted, until, west of the one hundredth meridian, only the large streams were lined with a few 

 small cottonwoods and willows. 



The best trees have already been culled from the scanty forest growth of the state, and if the area of natural 

 woodland has somewhat increased along its eastern borders since the settlement of the country and the diminution 

 of prairie fires, these forests are, in their commercial aspect, of little importance. Many small plantations of 

 cottonwood and other trees of rapid growth have been made in connection with farms in the eastern counties, and 

 these in some cases already furnish much-needed shelter to buildings and crops, and supply domestic fuel. 



The lumber-manufacturing interests of Nebraska are not importan t. Mills at Omaha, the principal manufacturing 

 center, saw cottonwood and a little walnut and oak, hauled to them from the neighborhood of .the city, and small 

 portable mills at other points along the Missouri saw a little cottonwood and such logs as the country tributary to 

 them can furnish. The product of all the Nebraska mills is consumed in supplying the local demand. 



KANSAS. 



The heavy forest of the Mississippi basin just reaches the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas, covering 

 nearly one-third of Cherokee county. North of this, and occupying the remaining eastern border of the state, a. 

 prairie region varying in width from 30 to 100 miles is still heavily wooded with valuable timber along the streams, 

 the forest growth occasionally extending and covering areas of upland. W T est of this region of mixed prairie and 

 woodland the timber is confined to the banks of streams. It is often, east of the ninety-seventh meridian, of 

 considerable size and value, occurring in sufficient quantity to supply the most pressing wants of the agricultural 

 population of this part of the state. West of the ninety-seventh meridian the tree growth gradually diminishes in 

 vigor. Trees are here confined to the immediate banks of the large streams, and are small and of little value. West 

 of the ninety-ninth meridian a few small stunted willows and cottonwoods, scattered at wide intervals along the 

 large streams, represent the only forest growth of this arid region. 



