WHITE BARK PINE. 89 



Character and qualities. Wood light, soft, brittle, compact, annual rings 

 very narrow, grain fine, but nearly always twisted ; surnmerwood thin, not 

 conspicuous; resin passages numerous, not large; medullary rays numerous, 

 obscure; color pale brown, sapwood nearly white and very thin. 



SUPPLY AND USES. 



The white bark pine's range covers parts of Montana, Idaho, 

 Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and California. The color 

 of the bark gives the name, but it is also called white stem pine, scrub 

 pine, pitch pine, white bark, creeping pine, and alpine white bark 

 pine. These names are descriptive. 



If this tree grew in a region of abundant timber supply it would 

 be considered of no importance, because of its scarcity and its gnarled 

 and unshapely form. It is not of great importance in the region 

 where it is found, though it is sometimes the only tree to be seen on 

 bleak mountains, just below perpetual snow. Occasionally, however, 

 a miner, camper, sheep herder, or traveler makes use of it to supply 

 his urgent wants when no other wood can be had. It is one of the 

 three or four most enduring mountain trees of the United States. It 

 grows at elevations of from 5,000 to 10,000 feet in Idaho and Mon- 

 tana, and in California ranges to 10,000 and 11,000 feet. Growing 

 commonly in pure parklike stands at extreme altitudes, at its lower 

 range it has for associates alpine fir, Engelmann spruce, Lyall larch, 

 limber pine, and lodgepole pine. It survives a temperature some- 

 times 60 below zero and storms that render most other forms of 

 vegetable life impossible. Its own seedlings frequently perish, not 

 from cold or drought, but because the wind thrashes them against 

 the rocks that surround them and wears them to pieces. Those that 

 survive are apt to take on shapes little resembling trees, but rather 

 like vast, green spiders a hundred feet in circumference that seem 

 sprawling over the rocks. This applies only to the highest and most 

 exposed mountains ; for the tree has a wide range, and in some parts 

 of it the timber is of fairly respectable size and form. In the Mono 

 Basin, east of the Sierras in California, fence posts are sometimes cut 

 from the white bark pine ; and in other localities a little fencing mate- 

 rial is procured, while in every part of its range, along the mountains 

 from British Columbia to Mexico, it makes fuel for those who live in 

 or pass through the region where it grows. 



On the Clearwater and Nez Perce National Forests the species is 

 found in merchantable size over rather large areas at altitudes of 

 from 5,000 to 6,800 feet. The trees are about 40 feet high and have 

 a merchantable length of 24 feet. Similar growth is reported in 

 places in Montana. 



On high mountains where the snowfall is heavy the limbs of this 

 tree may extend 20 feet or more and lie on the ground like creeping 

 vines. The snow holds them down during half of the year, and they 

 can not rise when the weight is removed. Wild sheep, deer, bears, 



