FOREST EESOUECES OF UTAH. 593 



ing of about 3,500 acres of forest land yearly and a constantly increasing 

 expense for logging, as tlie limit of supply was being rapidly approached. 

 In addition to this demand for timber, the mines near Virginia City 

 annually consume (according to the Territorial Enterprise) 40,000 cords 

 of fire-wood, at an average price of $16 per cord. Lumber for mining 

 purposes sold readily at Virginia City for $20 to $25 per thousand, em- 

 bracing timber squaring 12 inches. 



A correspondent in Elko County gives the following account of the 

 forest resources of that portion of the State : 



This region is in the great plateau between the Wahsatch and Sierra Nevada Monnfc- 

 ains, and the locality reported from at the base of the Humboldt Range, latitude 41° 20', 

 longitude, 115° W. ; elevation, 6,500 feet. This part of the State is about equally di- 

 vided between mountain and valley. Rain-fall about 14 inches a year. The Humboldt 

 Range rises 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the nearest arable lands, and its ravines and gorges 

 are filled with groves of timber, the lower portion with quaking asp and balm of gil- 

 ead, and the middle with groves of pine. The upper part of the mountain is covered 

 with perpetual snow. The timber grows only in parts that are sheltered, the spaces 

 between being covered with stunted quaking-asp and laurel, dwindling away and lost 

 in utter barrenness toward the summit. The space between the laurel and the valley 

 is covered with wild sage and wormwood, except the small groves of quaking asp that 

 follow the movntain streams to the meadows, where they give way to the willow and 

 osier that follow their course until it is dried up. On a lime-mountain, forty miles dis- 

 tant but in sight, there was a large grove of fir or spruce, covering, perhaps, ten square 

 miles, but it has mostly disappeared. That mountain is 11,600 feet high ; has a growth 

 of mountain mahogany ICercocarjnis'], giving it the appearance of a grove of gnarled 

 apple-trees or burr-oak. Fifty miles south of here it is found all up the sides of the 

 mountain, furnishing there the principal supply of fuel. The range east of the Hum- 

 boldt Range is covered on its upper surface with pihon pine, and its lower part with 

 juniper. The former supplies all the country hereabout, and the towns along the rail- 

 road, with fuel, and it is nearly all the timber in the eastern portion of Nevada. It is 

 rapidly disappearing under the demands of the neighboring towns. 



What our condition was for timber before this modern " upstart" Sierra Nevada raised 

 his head between us and the clouds, is open to speculation. It is possible that under the 

 debris in these valleys may be found beds of Uguite or coal, that will supply the farmers 

 and miners with fuel in the future. Well, we will trust it to the forestry commission 

 and the subsidence of the Sierras. 



There have been no experiments in forest-planting. Various seeds planted came to 

 nothing. We have nothing for fencing, and fuel is getting scarce. We have no shade- 

 trees around our dwellings. Nothing has resulted from government or State bounties 

 for tree-planting. I have never noticed fungous parasites in the country. I have found 

 galls upon the rose willow, sage, choke-cherry, and a wild unnamed shrub. We have 

 a borer that destroys the piiion when kept in a dry place, and traces of insect-work 

 are found under the bark of the quaking asp. An attempt to cultivate the large wil- 

 low by covering cuttings with a plow, but it failed. The great need of this country is 

 some tree that will plant and tend i'seZ/— something hardy — that will stand heavy winds 

 and a cold as low as — 10°. We have found nothing so far. As hardy a plant as the 

 apple has failed under the shelter of a willow grove and a stone wall. — (Mrs. E. II. 

 Cluuse, Wells, Elko County, Nevada.) 



When the region now embraced within the Territory of Utah was first 

 explored for settlement, about thirty years since, a large portion was 

 an arid desert, and for the most part it was destitute of trees, except- 

 ing a scanty growth of cottonwood here and there along the streams, 

 and a heavier growth of evergreens with few deciduous species in the 

 caSons ot tne mountains.^ 



With scarcely an exception, it was necessary to provide irrigation 

 before cultivation could be undertaken, and over extensive areas agri- 

 cultural improvement can only be maintained through this means. 



In 18G7, 100,000 acres were irrigated, and $248,000 expended ou canals 

 and dams during the fiscal year ending October, 1867. 



1 The largest timber known to have been produced in the canons of the Wahsatch 

 Mountains hewed 70 feet long, and squared 8 inches at the smaller end. It grow iu 

 the Big Cottonwood Canon. 



38 F 



