^Hhe trappers gave the Lodge-Pole Pine {Pmus 

 ^^ contorta, var. Murrayaua) its popular name 

 on account of its general use by Indians of the 

 West for lodge or wigwam poles. It is a tree 

 with an unusually interesting life-story, and is 

 worth knowing for the triumphant struggle which 

 it makes for existence, and also for the commer- 

 cial importance which, at an early date, it seems 

 destined to have. Perhaps its most interesting 

 and advantageous characteristic is its habit of 

 holding or hoarding its seed-harvests. 



Lodge-pole is also variously called Tamarack, 

 Murray, and Two-leaved Pine. Its yellow-green 

 needles are in twos, and are from one to three 

 inches in length. Its cones are about one inch in 

 diameter at the base and from one to two inches 

 long. Its light-gray or cinnamon-gray bark is thin 

 and scaly. 



In a typical lodge-pole forest the trees, or poles, 

 stand closely together and all are of the same 



183 



