FOREST RESOURCES OF UTAH. 595 



quaking: asp. The latter is chiefly used for charcoal and fuel. The 

 timber in this caQon, which is said to fairly represent that of the mount- 

 ains of this reg:ion generally, occurs most towards the upier part, in 

 coves and lateral valleys, and much more abundantly on the northern 

 slopes. 



From the deep snows that fall in these elevated regions, no lumbering 

 can be done in winter; the streams although abundant in flow are of no 

 use for transportation, and operations are now restricted to three or four 

 months in the summer season. There are at present some seven or 

 eight mills driven by water and one by steam in the Big Cottonwood 

 Cafion. The machinery is of cheap and rude construction, with circular 

 saws and overshot wheels. The production is from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 

 feet a year. As the timber is cut off, the upper valleys are more ex- 

 posed to sweeping winds, which carry the snows over the crests, where 

 hanging masses form, until they tall, and, gaining force as they slide, 

 sweep everything before them till they reach bottom of the valleys. 

 Several acres of the asp and of small evergreens may be seen in several 

 places that have been prostrated by these snow-slides, and their increasing 

 frequency renders the reproduction of timber impossible. This is be- 

 lieved to fairly represent the timber of the caiions of this region gener- 

 ally. It is extremely diflQcult of access, quite limited in amount, and 

 apparently without chances for renewal.^ 



The lumber markets of Salt Lake City and of Ogden are partly sup- 

 plied with lum ber brought from the Michigan and Wisconsin pineries, 

 and from the lumber mills of the Coast Eauge and the Sierras, more 

 particularly those of Truckee, near the eastern border of California. 

 The redwood and the sugar i)ine of the Pacific Coast thus meet the 

 white pine and the black walnut of the East in these middle markets of 

 the continent. The fact that lumber is brought these distances by rail- 

 road, is a sufificient indication of its superiority in quality over the 

 native woods of this region, or a sign of failure in their supply. 



The mining operations of the Wahsatch and other ranges have 

 created a new and extensive demand for timber and especially fuel. 



The consumption of charcoal in the smelting-furnaces of the Territory 

 is becoming every year a question of practical importance, and the difh- 

 culty of procuring it an increasing item of expense. 



According to the statistics, published by the Deseret Agricultural and 

 Manufacturing Society, for 1875, the amount of charcoal made in the 

 Territory during the year was 8,674 tons, valued at $132,837.50. It is 

 chiefly used in the silver smelting-furnaces of the valley, and the timber 

 mostly used for this purpose is the quaking ash. This timber grows at 

 the upper levels in the valleys, and well up to the timber-line. 



The capacity of irrigated land for timber-growth is fully illustrated 

 by the experiments already tried, and the latest returns show that about 

 880 acres have been planted in the Territory. This amount is altogether 

 insignificant as compared with probable wants, and is not sufficient to 



1 Since the opening of numerous silver mines in the Great and Little cotton wood 

 caiious, or rather on the dividing ridge that separates them, the timber has found a 

 local demand which is hastening its destruction. In a recent visit to this country, an 

 instance of reckless destruction came under notice, which cannot be regarded as un- 

 usual in the raining region of the West. The supply having failed in the Little Cot- 

 tonwood, an adventurer had come over tee snow-clad divide into the basin at the head 

 waters of the Great Cottonwood, and cat down a million ftet or more of valuable pine, 

 as a speculation, but failing to realize from sales, it was left to rot on the ground. The 

 rings of growth on one of the stumps thus cut, showed the age of the tree to have been 

 over four hundred years, which may be regarded as about the usual period requisedfor 

 timber to grow to its greatest dimensions in these high altitudes. 



