242 TREES 



The Western Yellow Pine 



P. ponderosa. Laws. 



The Western yellow pine forms on the Colorado Plateau 

 the most extensive pine forests of the American continent. 

 Mountain slopes, high mesas, dry canyon sides, even 

 swamps, if they occur at elevations above twenty-five 

 hundred feet, furnish suitable habitats for this amazing 

 species, in some of its varying forms. From British 

 Columbia and the Black Hills it follows the mountains 

 through the Coast Ranges, Sierras, and the Great Conti- 

 nental Divide, to the highlands of Texas and into Mexico, 

 forming the most extensive pine forests in the world. 

 All sorts of construction work draw upon this wonderful 

 natural supply of timber, from the droughty western 

 counties of the Dakotas, Nebraska and Texas, to the 

 Pacific Coast. 



The typical tree has thick plates of cinnamon-red bark, 

 a massive trunk, five to eight feet in diameter, one hundred 

 to two hundred feet high, with many short, thick, forked 

 branches in a spire-like head. In arid regions the trunk 

 is shorter and the head becomes broad and round-topped. 

 Near the timber line and in swamps, the trees are stunted 

 and the bark is nearly black. 



The leaves of this pine tree are two or three in a bundle, 

 stout, dark yellow-green, five to eleven inches long, decid- 

 uous during their third season. Their color has given the 

 name to the species, for the wood is not yellow, but fight 

 red, with nearly white sap-wood. 



On the way to the Yosemite, the traveler meets the 

 yellow pine — splendid tracts of it — with the giant sugar 



