STEEP TRAILS 



over the Cascade Range, broken and halted 

 only by the few great peaks that rise like 

 islands above the sea of evergreens. 



In descending the eastern slopes of the Cas- 

 cades the rich, abounding, triumphant exu- 

 berance of the trees is quickly subdued; they 

 become smaller, grow wide apart, leaving dry 

 spaces without moss covering or underbrush, 

 and before the foot of the range is reached, 

 fail altogether, stayed by the drouth of the 

 interior almost as suddenly as on the western 

 margin they are stayed by the sea. Here and 

 there at wide intervals on the eastern plains 

 patches of a small pine {Pinus contorta) are 

 found, and a scattering growth of juniper, used 

 by the settlers mostly for fence-posts and fire- 

 wood. Along the stream-bottoms there is 

 usually more or less of cottonwood and willow, 

 which, though yielding inferior timber, is yet 

 highly prized in this bare region. On the Blue 

 Mountains there is pine, spruce, fir, and larch 

 in abundance for every use, but beyond this 

 range there is nothing that may be called a 

 forest in the Columbia River basin, until we 

 reach the spurs of the Rocky Mountains; and 

 these Rocky Mountain forests are made up 

 of trees which, compared with the giants of 

 the Pacific Slope, are mere saplings. 



