364 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



now, the coal shortage is somewhat worse next winter 

 than the winter past, then a very much larger consump- 

 tion of wood for fuel may be anticipated, and if the 

 price at which wood may sell is left uncontrolled, it is 

 only reasonable to believe that the price will rise suffi- 

 ciently to bring the wood to market in considerable 



quantities no matter what the labor situation may be. 

 During the past winter manufacturing plants as well as 

 domestic consumers have learned of the possibilities of 

 the substitution of wood for coal, and naturally with 

 an increasing coal shortage, this substitution will be 

 made to an increasing extent. 



THE SMOKESTACK 



BY GUY ELLIOTT MITCHELL 



ONE of the most commanding and picturesque natural 

 sentinels in the western part of the United States is 

 "The Smokestack" rock in Banner County, Nebraska. 

 This singular formation surmounts a great rocky but- 

 tress which rises several hundred feet and overlooks a 

 valley of large dimensions. Sharply silhouetted against 

 the sky "The Smokestack" is clearly visible for scores of 

 miles. A knowledge of its composition, however, im- 

 presses the observer more than anything else with the 

 wonderful changes which have been wrought by Nature 

 in this western country. 



From the photograph it will be noted that the Smoke- 

 stack itself is a different kind of rock from the larger 



THE RESULT OF AGES OF EROSION 



Now stands the "Smokestack," a majestic sentinel overlooking the valley 

 of which it was once an integral part a tribute to its strength of char- 

 acter in resisting geologic change. 



mass upon which it rests. The "Stack" is what is known 

 as "Arikares conglomerate," according to N. H. Darton, 

 of the United States Geological Survey, a composition 

 of clay and pebbles now tightly cemented together, but 

 which in long ages past was a river bed. It is one of 

 the remaining fragments of an old river channel an 

 earlier "Loup Fork" when thatriver had a far differ- 

 ent course from the Loup Fork of today. When one 

 conceives the entire valley which now spreads away be- 

 low the "Smokestack" to be filled up and a great river 



flowing over and above the "Smokestack" it is seen what 

 an immense amount of material has been eroded away 

 in this portion of the United States. 



WHAT TIMBER A LOG SHOULD HELD IS 

 SHOWN BY DIAGRAM 



r PHE accompanying cut shows the possibilities of a 

 -* perfect fir log. The one pictured here is 250 years 

 old. It was laid out by J. W. Fowler, superintendent of 

 the Eastern & Western Lumber Company, and was cut 

 by a dragsaw while under water, a method necessary to 

 keep it from splitting. The section of the log as marked 

 here was taken to Chicago by Chester J. Hogue, assistant 

 secretary of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association 

 for Oregon, and shown at the annual convention of the 

 National Railroad Appliance Association. Courtesy of 

 the Portland "Evening Telegram." 



rjn HE EMPIRE FORESTER, a student publication of 

 * the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse, 

 places the number of men who are in the Service from 

 this young institution at 229. This includes six faculty 

 members, 36 Ranger School boys, 46 graduates, and 141 

 under-graduates. In this number there are 36 officers. 

 Eighty-seven per cent of the class of 1918 is in the 

 Service. Recently four men have been taken from the 

 Senior Class for inspection work on airplane lumber and 

 one faculty member has gone into the same line of work. 



