1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



121 



creasing. Owing to the distance from 

 the eastern markets, shipments are 

 largely in the form of highly finished 

 material, such as doors and moulding. 

 These enter into successful competi- 

 tion in the Chicago market with simi- 

 lar products made of white pine, which 

 the better grades of western yellow 

 pine much resemble. 



In the Southwest this species is 

 found scattered over the slopes of the 

 Rocky Mountains at altitudes between 

 6,000 and 9,000 feet. There are three 



product of these mills is consumed in 

 Colorado. The Denver and Rio Grande 

 Railroad affords the principal means 

 of transportation, and is one of the 

 largest users of the timber for ties, 

 bridges, and general construction 

 work. 



The second region is in west central 

 New Mexico, in the Zuni Mountains. 

 This timber area is smaller than the 

 former only fifty miles in length by 

 eighteen miles wide. The stand of 

 pine is more uniform than that of the 



Open Forest of Western Yellow Pine on Summit of Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona; 



altitude 9,000 feet 



regions, however, where it extends 

 over large areas in practically pure 

 stands. 



The first of these is in extreme 

 southwestern Colorado and northwest- 

 ern New Mexico. Here a belt of 

 western yellow pine forest, twenty-five 

 miles wide, runs northwest and south- 

 east for one hundred miles. There are 

 six important mills operating in this 

 territory, supported mainly by Denver 

 trade and capital. A great part of the 



Colorado forest, however, and over a 

 large part of the area it is of better 

 development. The Colorado timber is 

 estimated to yield from 3,000 to 4,000 

 board feet per acre ; the Zuni timber 

 will average from 4,000 to 6,000 board 

 feet per acre. Stands of from 10,000 

 to 25,000 feet per acre occur quite fre- 

 quently in the Zuni Mountains, but are 

 rare in Colorado. Lumbering has just 

 commenced in the Zuni Mountains, 

 and <>nlv one mill of consequence is 



