FOREST RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 599 



the silver fir (Ficea amahilis). At 6,000 feet these gave place to the Alies WiUiam- 

 sonii aud Finns cemhroides, vrbich rise to perpetual snow. These species are observed 

 on the Eastern slope. On the Western slope they appear mingled with others, the 

 great mass of the forest being made up of the Douglas spruce, the balsam-hr, and 

 western arbor vitse. The Nootka cypress is confined to the western slope. These 

 mountains, near the Columbia, are chiefly timbered with Douglas spruce and Western 

 balsam-fir. The banks of the river are lined with cottouwoods, and in some places 

 •with Garrey's oak. 



The lowest part of the Willamette Valley was occupied by the densest forest seen, 

 composed chiefly of the Douglas spruce (here known as red fir), the western balsam-fir 

 (here called white fir), hemlock, spruce, and arbor vita?. Of dioecious trees, the large- 

 leaf and vine maples {A. macrophylum and A. circinata) and the Cornus Xuttallii were the 

 principal species. 



Prof. J. D. Whitney, in connection with the fjeological survey of Cal- 

 ifornia, has given a general view of the distribution and character of 

 the forest vegetation of the Sierra Nevada region. • 



In so elevated a range as the Sierra Nevada we should expect to find a number of 

 belts of forest vegetation corresponding to the difterent zones of altitude above the 

 sea-level. As in the Coast Ranges, the general character is given to the landscape by 

 coniferous trees and oaks, all other families being usually quite subordinate in impor- 

 tance, and the number of the conifers as compared with that of the oaks increasing 

 rapidly as we ascend. 



There are four pretty well marked belts of forest vegetation on the west slope of the 

 Sierra, and that of the eastern slope would make a fifth for the whole range. These 

 belts, however, pass gradually into each other, and are not so Refined that lines can be 

 drawn separating or distinctly limiting them, and the division iuto groups or belts 

 here proposed will only hold good in the central portion of the State. As we go north 

 all the groups of species gradually descend in elevation, especially in approaching the 

 coast. 



Of the four belts on the western slope of the Sierra the lowest is that of the foot- 

 hills, extending up to about 3,000 feet in elevation. Its most characteristic species 

 are the digger-pine (P. Sahiniana) and the black oak (Q. Sonomensis). These stand 

 sparsely scattered over the hill-sides or in graceful groups, nowhere forming what can 

 be called a forest. The pale bluish tint of the pine leaves contrasts finely with the 

 dark green of the oak foliage, aud both pines and oaks are strongly relieved in summer 

 against the amber and straw-colored ground. The small side valleys, gulches, or 

 canons, as they are called in California, according to their dimensions, are lined with 

 flowering shrubs, of which the California " Buckeye" (u3^scuhi8 Califorinca) is, at this 

 altitude, by far the most conspicuous, gradually giving place, as we ascend, to the 

 various species of the delightfully fragrant Ceanothus or California lilac. Manzanita 

 and chamiso are of course abundant everywhere, and especially on the dryest hill-sides 

 and summits. 



The next belt is that of the pitch-pine, or P?7!HS^or?«!ero8a, the sugar-pine (P. Lamierti- 

 ana), the white or bastard cedar (Lihocedrns decurrens), and the Douglas spruce (Abies 

 Douglasii). This is peculiarly the forest-belt of the Sierra Nevada, or that in which the 

 trees have their finest development. The pitch-pine replaces the digger-pine first, and 

 more and more of the sugar-pine is seen from about the altitude at which the last-named 

 noble aud peculiarly Californian tree is most abundant. The sugar-pine is remarkable 

 for the size of its cones, which hang in bunches of two or more from the ends of the 

 large branches, like ornamental tassels. The timber of this tree is the best that Cali- 

 fornia furnishes, and its size gigantic, being not unfrequently 300 feet in height, and 

 from 7 to 10 feet in diameter. It is also in this belt that the ''big trees" belong. 



The third zone of forest vegetation is that of the firs {Ficea grandis and amaUlis) 

 with the tamarack pine ( P. conlorta), taking to a considerable extent the place of the 

 pitch and sugar pines. This belt extends from 7,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea in the 

 central part of the State. The traveler to the Yosemite will see it well developed about 

 Westfall's Meadows, and from thence to the edge of the valley. These firs, especially 

 the amahilis, which is distinguished by the geometrical regularity with which its 

 branches are divided, are most superb trees. They attain a large size, are very sym- 

 metrical in their growth, and have a dark green brilliant foliage, which is very fra- 

 grant. A pine called Finns Jeffreyi, by some considered a variety of the pondei-osa, is 

 also a characteristic tree of the upper part of this belt, and above this sets in the Finus 

 monticoJa, which takes the place of the Ficeas at a high elevation. 



The highest belt of all is that of the Finns aJbicanlis, or flexilis of some botanists, 

 which marks the limit of vegetation in the Middle and Northern Sierra, Finns aristata 

 taking its place in the more southern region, about the head of Kind's and Kern Rivers. 

 The F. albicanlis generally shows itself at the line just where vegetation is going to give 

 out altogether, as around the base of Mount Clark, Mount Dana, aud Mount Shasta. 



