THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 575 



The following notes upon the forests of eastern Washington territory are extracted from Mr. Watson's report: 



"Wat.t.a Walla county (1,260 square miles). This county is wholly without timber, which is supplied from- 

 the Blue mountains of Oregon. 



"Columbia county (2,160 square miles). A spur of the Blue mountains traverses the southern portion of 

 this county, occupying about a fourth of its area, which is partially timbered, chiefly with red fir (Pseudotsuga), i)ine 

 (Pinus ponderosa), and some Picea Engelmanni, none of it large. Elsewhere the county is nearly destitute of trees, 

 though some of the streams, especially the Toucbet, were at the first settling of the county bordered by scattered 

 pines. 



"Whitman county (5,000 square miles). This county is destitute of timber. Some of the townships along 

 the Idaho line were originally sparingly wooded with scattered pines upon the ridges, but tliese have nearly or 

 wholly disappeared, and the supplies for fencing and fuel are brought from tbe neighboring mountains of Idaho. 

 There is a saw-mill on the Palouse river, at Paloase, the logs for which are floated down from about 9 miles above. 



" Spokane county (8,500 square miles). The portion of this county to the west of the mouth of the. Spokane 

 river is wholly destitute of trees, with the exception of the high point or plateau opposite to the mouth of the 

 Okinakane river. Here there is a small area thinly wooded, probably with yellow pine and red fir. On the eastern 

 side of the county spurs from the mountains bordering Cceur d'Alene lake enter between Eock creek and Spokane 

 river, and are covered more or less densely with a growth of yellow pine, often small, with some Douglas spruce and 

 tamarack in the ravines. There is a sawmill at Eock creek supplied from its immediate neighborhood. Crossing 

 Hangman's creek a scattered growth of pine appears upon the ridges between Deep creek and the Spokane river, 

 and as far west as the head of Crab creek. Trees also border the Spokane river below tbe falls and to within a few 

 miles of its mouth. The region between the Spokane and Little Spokane rivers is mostly a broad, open valley, the 

 hills bordering it upon the north being very thinly wooded. There are two saw-mills at Spokane Falls, but the logs 

 for them are floated down from near Cceur d'Alene lake. 



" The total area more or less covered with trees may be estimated at from 400 to 500 square miles. 



"Stevtens county (14,760 square miles). This county is broken and mountainous throughout, but with no 

 high ranges east of the Cascade mountains. The portion lying east of the upper Columbia and north of the Spokane 

 river has several small prairies upon Chamokane creek and Colville river, and there is a narrow, open valley along 

 the Columbia for 20 miles below the mouth of the Colville. The mountains are all low, the ridges most frequently 

 thinly wooded or nearly bare, with the timber becoming denser in the ravines, especially northward. The most 

 common tree is the yellow pine, but in the ravines red fir is frequent, with tamarack and lodge-pole pine. Near the 

 Colville river were seen Picea Engehnanni, Abies grandis, small Thuyas, and fine specimens of Pinus fnontieola, as well 

 as Populus balsami/era, Betula papyracea, and Alnus of considerable size. The hills bordering the Columbia above 

 Old Fort Colville are treeless. The drift-wood brought down by the river is said to be chiefly cedar {Thuya gigantea). 



"The Colville Indian reservation, lying between the Okinakane and the Columbia eastward, is comparatively 

 little known, being crossed by but two trails, one leading directly westward from Old Fort Colville, the other following 

 the Kettle river, and for much of the way not far distant from the British boundary. As seen from the Columbia 

 and from the heights bordering the Okinakane, this portion appears to be more open and grassy than that east of 

 the Columbia, and, especially toward the south, more like the bare i)lateau of Spokane county. Okinakane valley 

 itself is narrow, with mainly a desert vegetation of sage-brush, Purshia, and other like representatives of the Great 

 Basin flora, which seems to find here its only passageway northward to the British boundary. The hills eastward 

 have thinly-scattered pines, which occasionally descend into the valley. The northern trail from Old Fort Colville 

 shows the lower valley of Kettle river to be well wooded, but above, opening out into grassy prairies and bordered 

 by grass-covered hills or with scattered yellow pine, red fir, and larch. Upon the more densely wooded ridges and 

 ravines were also found Picea Engelmanni, Abies subalpina, Pinus Murrayana, and Thuya. 



" The main ridge separating Kettle river from the Okinakane (about 5,000 feet high and 12 miles from the latter 

 stream) was well grassed upon both sides with large Picea, Pseudotsuga, Pinus ponderosa, and Larix along the creeks 

 upon the eastern side, and on the west the Pinus ponderosa only. The ridges above the Okinakane to the north appeared 

 treeless, while the northern slopes of the nearer hills to the south were pretty well covered with underbrush. West 

 of the Okinakane, between that river and the Methow, the country is much like that to the east high and broken, 

 with scattered patches of timber, which becomes more general toward the Dortheru boundary. Upon the Methow 

 and Similkameen creeks there are open, grassy valleys of considerable extent, but for 12 miles from the mouth of 

 the Methow the hills close iu upon it and are considerably wooded. The rest of the county, from the Methow to 

 the Wenatchee, is occupied by spurs from the Cascade mountains, which reach the banks of the Columbia ; these 

 are exceedingly rugged and almost impassable, being seldom traversed, even by Indians. A foot-trail leads from 

 the headwaters of the Methow over to the Skagit, and a trail which has been passable for horses crosses the ridges 

 between the upper Chelan lake and the Wenatchee, but it is described by the Indians as dangerous and long disused 

 by them. The whole region is probably for the most part well timbered except along the Columbia river, where the 

 mountains for from 10 to 15 miles back are but scantily wooded, the pine {Pinus ponderosa) and red fii occasionally 

 reaching to the river. Heavy timber is reported about the head of Chelan lake, commencing at about 15 miles from 



