The Pines 



the ocean winds. They are the beach pines. This one grows 

 from northern California into Alaska in bogs and sand dunes, 

 bearing its cones when only a few inches high in the bleakest 

 situations. These trees form a windbreak behind which many 

 sorts of tender plants thrive in quiet security. The bark is thin 

 and pale and gummy on these dwarfs, and once a fire is started 

 it devours all within reach. Now a very interesting habit of the 

 tree comes into prominence. The cones hang on the trees for 

 years without opening, but their seeds are safely sealed up and 

 retain their vitality. The burned trees drop their cones, which, 

 opening, free the seeds. From them young trees spring up to 

 take the places of those wiped out by the fire. 



It is hard to believe that the tall, slim lodge pole, or 

 tamarack pine is but a variety Miirrayana of P. contorta, but 

 so it is considered on good authority. The mountains of 

 Wyoming, Colorado and the states further west are clothed with 

 dense forests of this tree. They grow as thick as wheat in a 

 field, and so are all delicately tall, but in favoured situations iso- 

 lated trees reach the height of loo feet, and a trunk diameter 

 of 1-2- feet. An average forest specimen is 5 inches through 

 and 40 to 50 feet high. The Indians cut poles for their lodges or 

 tepees. These pines, flexible, slender and always abundant, 

 seemed designed by Nature to serve this need. The name re- 

 mains, though the lodge of the Indian is rapidly disappearing. 



There is great variation in this species and its variety, 

 Murrayana, as the trees meet very different conditions. The 

 leaves are in twos, and 1 to 3 inches long, dark green in contorta, 

 yellow-green and quite wide in the variety. The wood of 

 contorta is hard, brownish red, and strong; Qi Murrayana, soft, 

 pale yellow, and weak. The latter is used for lumber to a 

 limited extent, and both are cut for fuel. While it is not a promi- 

 nent commercial tree, it is the main reliance of the pioneer in 

 many regions. It supplies mines with supporting beams, fences 

 the settler's homestead, and furnishes ties for the pioneer railroads. 



The Indians cut the trees down and strip out the inner bark. 

 This is broken into pieces by the patient squaws, who mash it 

 in water into a pulp which they mould into large cakes. Then 

 a hole is dug in the ground and lined with stones, and a fire 

 kindled. When the stones are hot the embers are removed, and 

 the cakes packed in with leaves of the Western skunk cabbage 



49 



