22 IN J UK Y BY SMELTER WASTES. 



of Deer Lodge Valley and Warm Springs Creek Valley, and is near 

 the Hell Gate and Helena National Forests and certain other public 

 lands. To the north, south, east, and west of this valley are quite 

 high ridges of mountains which are cleft here and there by the val- 

 leys of small creeks, of which Warm Springs Valley is one of the 

 largest. Down the center of Deer Lodge Valley runs the river of 

 that name, into which is carried part of the tailings and slag from the 

 i:)lant and the wash from the dumps and slime heaps. As before 

 mentioned, this river is used for irrigation purposes, although a 

 large number of the farmers say that it is injurious and prefer to 

 get their water from small creeks coming down from the mountains on 

 either side, only using the river water when it is absolutel}^ necessary. 

 It is only near the tops of ridges and be^^ond them and along the val- 

 hys of the various small streams that the land is forested to any 

 extent. Besides this, forest fires have swept over certain of the 

 mountains in the past, so that all dead timber can not be ascribed to 

 sulphur dioxid from the smelter. However, enough trees remain 

 within a radius of 10 to 15 miles from the smelter, which have not 

 been injured in any Avay by the forest fires, crowding, insect pests, 

 etc., to enable one to observe the damage caused by sulphur dioxid. 

 The three principal kinds of trees in the neighborhood of the smelter 

 are the lodgepole pine, juniper, and red fir. The difference in 

 their resistance to sulphur dioxid fumes is very marked and can 

 easily be observed. 



Lnmediately surrounding the smelter practically all trees are either 

 dead or severely injured. A very few trees still stand, to which those 

 who do not believe in the injurious effects of smelter fumes point with 

 pride as examples of the fact that sulphur dioxid does not injure 

 vegetation. Since, however, hundreds of the same kinds of trees 

 are. killed outright at ten times the distance from the smelter, the 

 force of the argument is entirely lost and the few seemingly uninjured 

 trees near by only appear to a disinterested person as curious ex- 

 amples of individual resistance. 



NORTH OF THE SMELTER. 



Going north from the smelter a trip was first made from Anaconda 

 in a direction slightly east of north, until the road running along the 

 east side of Deer Lodge River was reached. This road was followed 

 to the vicinity of Race Track. Here the river was again crossed and 

 the road running on the west side of the Deer Lodge River was fol- 

 lowed as far as Deer Lodge. On the return the same route was fol- 

 lowed, except that the trip along the east side of the river was con- 

 tinued farther south to a point beyond J. R. Perdee's ranch. Various 

 samples of cattle-food materials, soils, and Deer Lodge water were 

 collected and observations on the general appearance of the vegetation 

 were made. It was noted that the bushes and trees along the streams 



