THE FORESTER. 



VI. 



FEBRUARY, 1900. 



No. 2, 



Grandeur in an American Forest. 



-our Million Acres of Mountain Forest, Forming the Bitter Root Reserve, 

 a Region of Lofty Peaks and Deep Canyons. 



It is customary to regard the United 

 states as a country entirely and well ex- 

 plored, but this is a somewhat popular 

 allacy, for in central eastern Idaho is a 

 listrict of fully ten thousand square miles 

 hat has remained practically an unknown 

 :ountry even to the present time. 



In 1877, at the invitation of the Nez 

 3 erces Indians under Chief Joseph, Gen. 

 rloward visited this unexplored country 

 vith his hardy little army of campaigners, 

 t has been said that the wildness of the 

 :ountry necessitated spending six days in 

 rying to catch up with the Indians, and 

 hat, whenever this was accomplished, the 

 eventh clay was spent in prayer for their 

 :scape. At any rate, like the Missouri 

 >rator, they were willing that the country 

 ihould remain a "howling wilderness," 

 n which policy it has quietly acquiesced 

 ,ince. 



Nearly six thousand square miles of this 

 vilderness is now included in the Bitter 

 :loot Forest Reserve, which, according to 

 )fficial figures, is exceeded in area by but 

 me other reserve in the United States. It 

 vas created on February 22, 1897, when 

 he general desire to save the American 

 orests from their greedy, destroying ene- 

 nies the fire and the ax crystallized in 

 in executive order by President Cleveland, 

 :reating thirteen new forest reserves, cov- 

 ering over twenty-one million acres of 

 and a most appropriate commemoration 

 )f the one hundred and sixty-fifth anniver- 



sary of the birth of the "Father of His 

 Country." 



There are none of the highways of civ- 

 ilization in any part of this wild domain. 

 Two or three widely separated trails pene- 

 trate the shades of its dense woods and 

 climb its rugged mountain passes. The 

 Nez Perces Indians still claim it as their 

 hunting grounds and the last of our fur- 

 trappers are to be found within its con- 

 fines. It is the land of the singing Pine, 

 the home of the elk and trout, a vast moun- 

 tainous timbered. country, a place for rest 

 and adventure, where Cooper's heroes 

 could live again in their happy hunting 

 grounds. 



During the summer of 1897, a recon- 

 naissance of this district was made by the 

 United States Geological Survey, the 

 writer having been in charge of the party. 

 Seventeen of the highest peaks in the re- 

 serve were climbed and from their sum- 

 mits, save the Bitter Root Valley on its 

 eastern edge, naught but mountains could 

 be seen within its boundaries. The ele- 

 vation, except in the bottom of some of 

 the deepest canyons, does not fall below 

 4000 feet, insuring in these latitudes frost 

 in every month of the year. The horizontal 

 area of the reserve is ^924 square miles, 

 which is greater than that of Rhode Island 

 and Connecticut combined, and after trav- 

 elling through its mountains for four 

 months one is led to believe that if it were 

 rolled out into Kansas prairies it would 



