IN THE DEPARTMENTS 



Forest Service, Reclamation Service, Geological Survey 



Washington National Forest 



LAST summer the Geological Survey 

 began the mapping of the Mount 

 Baker quadrangle, in the state of Wash- 

 ington. This area lies in the northwest- 

 ern corner of the Washington National 

 Forest, west of the main range of the 

 Cascades, north of the Skagit River. 

 and south of the British Columbia 

 boundary. It is a region of low valley.-. 

 high mountains, heavy timber, and 

 dense brush. Standing as it does al- 

 most directly east of the Straits of 

 Fuca. it catches all the precipitation 

 brought in by the moisture-laden wind- 

 of the Pacific, and hence it rains much 

 of the time, although there is a so- 

 called dry -eason from June to Scp- 

 tembcr. 



The area is covered with a splendid 

 growth of fir and cedar, some of the 

 fir trees being sixteen feet in diameter. 

 while many of the cedars are twelve 

 feet. This forest would be much im- 

 proved if the ripe, dead, and down tim- 

 ber were removed, thus facilitating the 

 more rapid growth of the young trees. 

 Cutting the timber could easily be ac- 

 complished, as the slopes all lead down 

 to railway transportation, a short dis- 

 tance to tidewater and market. 



The two main valleys, the Skagit and 

 Nooksack, are low. "and an immense 

 number of smaller streams flow into 

 them. All carry large volumes of 

 water over steep gradients and offer 

 unexcelled opportunities for the (level- 

 opment of water power, which will un- 

 doubtedly sometime be utilized. Two 

 large cement plants at the village of 

 Baker now get their power from side 

 streams above them, using small vol- 

 ume of water under big head, and a 

 large electric plant on the North Fork 

 of the Nooksack furnishes light and 

 power to the city of Bellingham. 

 406 



Mount Baker, ten thousand eight 

 hundred feet, and Mount Shuksan, 

 n ine thousand one hundred feet, are the 

 most prominent peaks in this region. 

 Baker Lake, seven miles east of Mount 

 I'.aker. and six miles south of .Mount 

 Shuksan. is only six hundred sixty feet 

 a bove the sea. 



T] K , orders of Mount Baker are 

 among the largest ice fields in the 

 Vnju-d State- proper, and reach down 

 to three thousand five hundred feet 

 a i,ove sea level. 



Travel in this region is mostly on 

 f ooti as ro ads and trails are few and 

 j t j s impossible to take animals away 

 f r ,, nl them. Under such conditions 

 t ] lc making of a topographic survey i- 

 niost lalx.rious. The worker mu-t 

 fight his way through brush and over 

 fallen logs and wade ice-cold streams 

 \ v hile toiling up or down steep -lopes 

 w j t j., a p ac j < on \^ back containing short 

 ra tions and scanty bedding, sleeping 

 nights at any place he happens to be, 

 a h v ays tired, and most of the time lum- 

 <-r rv \ vc t. and ragged. 



Reclamation in the Northwest 



great agricultural development 

 now going on in the far 

 west is attracting widespread interes 

 throughout the country. On three of 

 the Government irrigation project: 

 approximately one hundred thousand 

 acres of fine farming land is now 

 ready for settlement. These lands he 

 under the Lower Yellowstone project, 

 Montana-North Dakota, the Huntley 

 project in Southern Montana, and the 

 Shoshone project in Northern Wyo- 

 ming. The projects are divided in 

 forty-acre and eighty-acre farms, which 

 are "given away to bona fide settlers 

 who are required to pay onlv the actual 



