17 



these large patches the snow gradually melts, causing the grasses 

 even at this season of the year to spring up fresh and green and 

 make excellent, nutritious forage. Large patches of service-berry 

 and snow-berry were also found near the summit ot these moun- 

 tains. The grasses on the sides of the mountains were too far 

 removed from the snow to receive any benefit from it and were 

 dried up with an abundance of seed on them. The sheep passed 

 over them without either destroying or eating them. In A act 

 they aided in the distribution of the ripe seed by scattering it and 

 trampling it into the ground. 



The most noticeable features on this range were that a dwarf 

 plant with conspicuous yellow flowers, belonging to the sun- 

 flower family, was not touched; the abundance of dried-up 

 grasses, the distorted bushes of the service-berry and the loosening 

 of the soil by driving sheep down the steep mountain sides, ren- 

 dering it more liable to be washed away by the fall rains. 



CREEKS. 



Throughout the entire region visited were many creeks, 

 varying greatly in size. These can easily be detected at some 

 distance on the low lands, by the growth of willows, alders and 

 trembling aspen growing along their banks. Skunk cabbage, 

 grasses and clovers are the most important forage plants found in 

 these locations. During the early summer months the sheep do 

 not feed on the vegetative growth on the borders of these streams, 

 as they have a striking distaste for forage on wet lands. But 

 when the creeks dry up in August the sheep readily eat up the 

 skunk cabbage and other forage plants. Some difficulty some- 

 times has to be contended with by the herders in getting the 

 sheep across the larger creeks. The method adopted is usually 

 that of crowding the sheep together from the rear, until the 

 foremost ones are forced over, when the rest follow readily. 



No particular harm is done to the forage in the vicinity of 

 the creeks, as the plants are not eaten off until late, and the 

 autumn's rains soon come and start them growing again. 



VALLEYS. 

 The region of the Sierra Nevadas north of the Central Pacific 



