GENERAL REMARKS. 7 



The Northern Forest of the Pacific region extends from nearly the seventieth to about the flftj-eighth degree of 

 north latitude, or, immediately upon the coast, is replaced by the Coast Forest nearly 2 degrees farther north ; it 

 extends from the continental divide, here mingled with the Northern Forest of the Atlantic region, to the shores of 

 the Pacific. The southern limit of this open, scanty Northern Forest, composed of species which extend across the 

 continent, or of species closely allied to those of the Northern Forest of the Atlantic region, is still imperfectly 

 known, especially iu the interior. The determination of the southern range in Alaska and British Columbia of 

 several species, as well as the northern range here of a few others, must still -be left to further exploration. The 

 white spruce, the most important and the most northern species of the forest of the North Atlantic region, is here 

 also the most impO-rtant species. It attains a considerable size as far north as the sixty-fifth degree, forming, in 

 the valley of the Yukon, forests of no little local importance. The canoebirch, the balsam poplar, and the aspen, 

 familiar trees of the North Atlantic region, also occur here. The gray pine and the balsam fir of the Atlantic 

 region are replaced by allied forms of the same genera. The larch alone, of the denizens of the extreme Northern 

 Forest of the Atlantic coast, finds no congener here in the northern Pacific forest. 



The Pacific Coast Forest, the heaviest, although far from the most varied, forest of the continent, extends south 

 along the coast in a narrow strip from the sixtieth to the fiftieth parallel ; here it widens, embracing the shores of 

 Puget sound and extending eastward over the high mountain ranges north and south of the boundary of the 

 United States. This interior development of the Coast Forest, following the abundant rainfall of the region, is 

 carried northward over the Gold, Selkirk, and other interior ranges of British Columbia in a narrow spur extending 

 north nearly to the fifty-fourth parallel. It reaches southward along the Cceur d'Alene, Bitter-Koot, and the 

 western ranges of the Eockj' Mountain system to about latitude 47 30', covering northern Washington territory, 

 Idaho, and portions of western Montana. 



The Coast Forest south of the fiftieth degree of latitude occupies the region between the ocean and the eastern 

 slopes of the Cascade Eange; in California the summits of the principal southern prolongation of these mountains, 

 the Sierra Nevada, marks the eastern limits of the Coast Forest, which gradually disappears south of the thirty-fifth 

 parallel, although still carried by the high ridges of the southern Coast Eange nearly to the southern boundary of the 

 United States. The Coast Forest, like the forests of the whole Pacific region, is largely composed of a few coniferous 

 species, generally of wide distribution. The absence of broad-leaved trees in the Pacific region is striking; they 

 nowhere form great forests as in the Atlantic region; when they occur they are confined to the valleys of the coast 

 and to the banks of mountain streams, and, economically, are of comparatively little value or importance. The 

 characteristic and most valuable species of the northern Coast Forest are the Alaska cedar {Chamceoyparis), the 

 tide-land spruce, and the hemlock. These form the principal forest growth which covers the ranges and islands of 

 the coast between the sixty-first and the fiftieth parallels. Other species of the Coast Forest reach here the northern 

 limits of their distribution, although the center of their greatest development is found farther south. 



The red fir {Pseudotsuga), the most important and widely-distributed timber tree of the Pacific region, reaches 

 the coast archipelago in latitude 51 ; farther inland it extends fully 4 degrees farther north, and in the region of 

 Puget sound and through the Coast Forest of Washington territory and Oregon it is the prevailing forest tree. 

 The characteristic forest of the northwest coast, although represented by several species extending south as far as 

 cape Mendicino, near the fortieth parallel, is replaced south of the Eogue Eiver valley by a forest in which forms 

 peculiar to the south rather than to the north gradually predominate. The forest of the northwest coast reaches 

 its greatest density and variety in the narrow region between the summits of the Cascade Eange and the ocean. 

 North of the fifty-first parallel it gradually decreases in density, and south of the forty -third parallel it changes 

 in composition and character. This belt of Coast Forest is only surpassed in density by that of some portions of 

 the redwood forest of the California coast. The red fir, the great tide-land spruce, the hemlock, and the red cedar 

 {Thuya) reach here enormous dimensions. The wide river bottoms are lined with a heavy growth of maple, 

 Cottonwood, ash, and alder, the narrow interior valley with an open growth of oak. In this great coniferous forest 

 the trunks of trees two or three hundred feet iu height are often onlj" separated by the space of a few feet. The 

 ground, shaded throughout the year by the impenetrable canopy of the forest, never becomes dry ; it is densely 

 covered by a thick carpet of mosses and ferns, often of enormous size. The more open portions of this forest are 

 choked by an impenetrable growth of various Vaccinece of almost arborescent proportions, of hazel, the vine-maple, 

 and other shrubs. The soil which has produced the maximum growth of forest iu this region is, outside the river 

 bottoms, a thin, porous gravel of glacial origin, rarely more than a few inches in depth ; the luxuriance of vegetablft. 1 ^ 

 growth, therefore, illustrates the influence of a heavy rainfall and temperate climate upon the forest. i o ^ 



The general character of this forest iu the interior, although composed largely of the species peculiar to the 

 coast, differs somewhat from the Coast Forest proper in composition and largely iu natural features. The dense, 

 impenetrable forest of the coast is replaced, east of the summit of the Cascade Eange, by a more open growth, 

 generally largely destitute of undergrowth. The red fir, the hemlock, and the red cedar (Thuya) are still important 

 elements of the forest. Less valuable species of the Coast Forest the white fir (Abies grandis), the yew, the alders, 

 the mountain hemlock (Tsuga Pattoniana), the hawthorn, the buckthorn, and the white pine (Pinm monticola) 

 are still represented. The latter, a local species upon the coast, only reaches its greatest development toward 

 the eastern limit of this region, here forming considerable and important forests. Other species peculiar to the Coast 

 Forest, the maples, the ash, the oak, the arbutus, and the Alaska cedar, do not extend east of the Cascades. The tide- 



