1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



173 



Jack* reports it in but one place within 

 the reserve that is, William's Canyon, 

 near Manitou, at 8,000 feet. A small 

 number of blue spruce (Picea parryana) 

 find a habitation below 8,500 feet in 

 the sunny swales of the southwest por- 

 tion of the reserve and on Little Foun- 

 tain Creek. The alpine fir {Abies lasio- 

 carpa) is curiously restricted to one or 

 two square miles between 10,000 and 

 1 1 ,000 feet on north slopes in the upper 

 North Cheyenne Basin. Few old and 

 many young trees seem to indicate that 



the remainder being red fir. It holds 

 its own in the reproduction of burned 

 areas, and, like its congener just preced- 

 ing, is the first to spring up after fire. 

 The bristle-cone (Pinus aristata} , also 

 called range pine and foxtail pine, is a 

 tree of habitual decrepitude. It finds 

 foothold on many dry, exposed westerly 

 slopes down to 9,000 feet or less, as well 

 as at highest forest altitudes up to 1 2,000 

 feet, where it clings to the inhospitable 

 rocks in grotesque forms and defies the 

 arctic storms. While it has borne cones 



TALUS SLOPE AT 11,500 FEET. SHOWING SCRUBBY RANGE PINE AND ENGELMANN SPRUCE. 



it is an adventive species. It was first 

 to spring up after the fire, preceding 

 the Engelmann spruce by about five 

 years. As high as 5 per cent occurs in 

 mixture with a dense stand of the latter. 

 The white fir {Abies co'ncolor} , locally 

 known as balsam, is limited to parts 

 below 9,000 feet, and here mainly to the 

 southeast arm of the reserve. It has 

 been observed in pure stand and forms 

 more than half of some virgin slopes, 



*Jno. G. Jack: Part V, 2oth Annual Re- 

 port, U. S. Geological Survey. 



quite generally, of ten for three successive 

 seasons on the same tree, it shows the 

 smallest relative number of seedlings. 

 These are found only near mountain tops 

 and on exposed high ridges. The wood 

 is not readily accessible, but has high 

 fuel value. Because of larger pitch con- 

 tent, this value increases with higher 

 altitude. The fire-killed timber was for- 

 merly much used in making charcoal for 

 the smelters. One ton of wood yielded 

 100 bushels of charcoal, worth 1 1 cents 

 per bushel. 



