ALASKA FORESTS 253 



not astonish us; but when, as in Prince William Sound, it 

 becomes, as observed in some localities, the prominent tree 

 at the seashore, supplanting the coast hemlock, we look 

 for an explanation other than accident, especially as the 

 coast hemlock is by no means absent from the slopes, nor 

 the Alpine hemlock from the timber limit, which is here 

 above 2,200 feet. At Gladhough Bay as usual the typical 

 spruce and coast hemlock forest covers the slopes, and at 

 the timber-line, as usual, the Alpine hemlock first sup- 

 plants the coast hemlock and then becomes sole ruler. 

 But at the base, near the seashore, is found an interesting 

 feature in the openings occupied by sloping bogs, in which 

 the water stands in pools and only slowly drains through 

 the heavy moss and grass cover to the sea level. The 

 character of this ground may appear from the enumera- 

 tion of a few of the most common plants: among Cari- 

 ces, Juncus, and Equisetum we find Menyanthes trifoli- 

 ata and cristagalli, Geum calthiflorum, and Phyllodoce 

 glanduliflora, besides Drosera, Ins, Dodecatheon, and 

 Myrica gale, the latter being the most common shrub. 



In this wet, cold soil, the Alpine hemlock evidently has 

 an advantage over its congener, which, although not en- 

 tirely absent, shows in its development its antipathy to 

 this kind of feeding ground. 



ECONOMIC ASPECTS. 



This forest of Alaska has often been referred to as a 

 great resource of wood materials, on which the people of 

 the United States could fall back when the virgin supplies 

 of the home country might become exhausted, and glow- 

 ing accounts of the magnificence of this reserve have been 

 given. As has been pointed out, this forest growth occu- 

 pies a considerable area, probably not less than twenty to 

 thirty thousand square miles, but it is of a character which 

 makes the prospect of reliance upon its stores by no means 



