FOREST RESOURCES OF NEBRASKA. 579 



NEBRASKA. 



A general outline of the native timber resources of the region now 

 included iu this State, is given by ]\lr. James T. Allan, in a letter printed 

 in the American Journal of Science in 1861.^ It is applicable to the 

 region west of the Missouri, between the parallels of 40° and 43° of 

 latitude. 



One remark will apply to all this country, that timber is found only upon streams or 

 in small groves about some spring on the wide prairie. 



The valley of the Missouri is from 3 to 6 miles wide, and sometimes the stream winds 

 down the center with both sides fringed with willows, behind which is a belt of cotton- 

 wood (Populns moniUfera) ; these trees often 60 to iOO feet high. Upon the bluffs 

 which wall each side of this valley we find the different varieties of hard wood ; also 

 upon the hills and ravines opening toward the river. On the tops of these hills we find 

 Que7-cu8 alba and rubra, with occasional trees of Q. coccinea; half way down the steep 

 sides of these ravines we find Tilia Americana and TJlmus fulva in about equal quanti- 

 ties, with clumps of Carpinus Americana. Still lower down, and in the rich soil at the 

 bottom, are Gymnocladus Canadensis, Ccltis occidentalis, and Fraxintts Americana ; while 

 on the cool northern slope, half hanging down the hill, are plenty of Staphylea irifolia 

 and Rnbus occidentalis. As we recede from the river toward the summit of the ridge 

 we find scattering trees of the Carya alba among the oaks before mentioned, till we 

 come to the prairie, where the trees termiDate with a few " scrub oaks," 12 to 20 feet 

 high, standing beyond the fringe of Coryhis Americana. Among the latter, in the 

 spring, we discover the bright blossoms of the red-bud {Cercis Canadensis), and in the 

 autumn the bright seed-pods of the Enonymus. 



Going west from the Missouri we find no trees except on the small streams, on which, 

 at intervals of ten miles or more, are groves of white oak, burr-oak (.Carya glabra), and 

 sometimes white elm. These groves will average in extent from 100 to 500 acres, and 

 the above mentioned, with Juglans nigra, make up their prominent trees. 



The valley of the Platte, to which so much attention is now directed as the great 

 central route, demands a notice. At the month we find a heavy body of timber, chiefly 

 Cottonwood, with a small proportion of Acer rnbrum and Morns ritbra. As we proceed 

 up twenty miles the dull green of the Juniperus Virginiana begins to be seen, which, 

 farther up, we see covering some of the small islands with trees often 18 inches or more 

 in diameter. This has furnished, for a hundred miles or more, telegraphic poles of a 

 superior quality. 



Upon the tributaries of the Platte, particularly on the north side, Quercus maerocarpa 

 is the most abundant of large trees. After leaving Fort Kearney, the immigrant finds 

 but a fringe of cottonwoods skirting the stream, and on the road to the new gold mines, 

 for 200 miles, not a tree for shade or wood; the well-known " bufialo-chips" must sup- 

 ply the latter. Upon the North Platte, the emigrant to California, or to the Mormon 

 " Zion," is always in sight of trees bordering on the stream, though found in several 

 places large groves of Xegundo aceroides on the banks of the creeks. 



After passing Fort Laramie the pleasant sight of green pines, though at a distance, 

 relieves the eye and tells of the cool waters in the South Pass, so refreshing in the heac 

 of summer. 



The very rapid growth of trees in this rich soil is a noticeable feature. The hazel, 

 which fringes the timber on the prairie side, is interspersed with abundance of saplings 

 of Carya alba and glabra and Ahius fulva, which shoot up with wonderful rapidity, 

 while upon the sand-bars of the river, as scon as the waters subside in July, there 

 Bpriugs myriads of young cottonwoods and willows. Of the latter I have neglected to 

 speak, though they cover no iuconsiderable portion of the valleys of the Missouri and 

 Piatte, everywhere fringing the streams, and where there is a tract annually overflowed 

 by the spring rise there we find a dense growth, often 20 to 30 feet high and from 1 to 

 3 inches in diameter, growing so thickly that it is impossible, without great dilficulty, 

 to force a passage through them. 



The relative proportion of the several species may, perhaps, be set down as follows: 



1. PopuJus moniUfera. 



2. Quercus maerocarpa. 



3. Quercus alba and Q. rubra. 



4. Tilia Americana, Ulmus fulva, and Quercus discolor. 



5. Juglans nigra, Ulmus Americana. 



6. Carya alba, C. glabra. 



7. Fraxinus Americana. Celiis occidentalis. 



8. Juniperus Virginiana, Platanus occidentalis. 



9. Acer rubrum, Gymnocladus Canadensis. 



1 Letter to Professor Gray, dated Omaha, April 2, 1861, Am. Joxir. Sci. and Arts, 2d 

 ser., xxxii, p. 165. 



