380 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



August 



this bench north to Chance, Mont., 

 with the exception of a few small 

 scattering areas not worth considering. 

 Along the stream bed of Big Sand' 

 Coulee there are several small areas 

 of land from one to several hundred 

 acres in extent that lie low enough to 

 be watered from the Fork, but these 

 could all be readily handled by private 

 capital. One tract of 3,000 acres in 

 extent well up on the stream and at 

 an elevation of approximately 4,400 

 feet above sea level, probably could be 

 watered very economicallv bv divert- 



ing water from the proposed high line 

 canal of the Shoshone project. There 

 is about 6,000 acres of good land on 

 the Sand Coulee drainage. All the re- 

 maining land in the vicinity of Big 

 Sand Coulee and to the east of the 

 Chapman Bend is of sand dunes and 

 bad land breaks. The tract of land 

 known as Big Mesa is in the Shoshone 

 drainage and is properly a part of that 

 project. It is too high for irrigation 

 from Clarke Fork without a dam sev- 

 eral hundred feet in height and tun- 

 nels aggregating several miles in 

 length. 



7 



UNITED STATES 



FOREST SERVICE 



w: 



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The Month in Government Forest Work 



Personal 

 Mention 



Mr. E. A. Sterling, in 

 charge of forest exten- 

 sion in the Forest Ser- 

 vice, has just returned from the Adi- 

 rondacks, where he has been studying 

 the forest planting work which is being 

 done by both the State Forest Commis- 

 sion and the Cornell Forest School. 

 On these plantations it was found that 

 Scotch pine, white pine, and European 

 larch are being grown so successfully 

 that these trees may be regarded as 

 specially well suited for reforestation 

 work in this region. At Lake Clear, 

 where the State work is in progress, 

 Norway pine is now to be tried with 

 every prospect of success. Douglas 

 spruce, otherwise known as Western 

 red fir, is also being planted. On the 

 other hand, the soil is too poor for suc- 

 cessful planting work with Norway 

 spruce. 



Mr. Sterling starts immediately fur 

 the West, to inspect extension work on 

 the reserves. He will first visit Flag- 

 staff, Arizona, and thence will proceed 

 to California, will go up the coast and 

 return by way of the Rocky Mountain 

 reserves. The reserve extension work 

 is growing in extent and importance 

 constantly. In addition to the perma 

 nent planting stations, where seed oeds 

 and nurseries are maintained to supply 

 plant material for planting work, either 

 locally or at a distance, special attention 

 is now being directed to the study of 

 city watersheds lying in reserves. A 

 number of reserves which surround or 

 nearly touch cities and towns contain 

 the sources which supply these places 

 with water. To perpetuate and in 

 many cases to increase the available 

 water supply, forest planting is the 

 most efficient, often the only means. 



