34 



FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1912. 



tion by the streams draining the high glacier-clad peaks. There 

 may also have been an admixture of volcanic ash deposited directly 

 in the waters or eroded from adjacent slopes, and the material may 

 include some alluvial valley filling washed from the slopes of adjacent 

 more elevated soils. 



In the White Salmon Valley a greater part of the type was origi- 

 nally covered with a dense stand of fir, and along the stream courses 

 heavy growths of deciduous timber and underbrush were always 

 present. Much of this forest still remains, but it is now rapidly dis- 

 appearmg before the agricultural development of the valley. In the 

 Hood River Valley the native vegetation mcluded pine and scattering 

 oak, with but little brush and grass, and at present comparatively little 

 of the original forest remains. With but few exceptions, this part of 

 the type is devoted to the production of fruit, the only other crop 

 being a small amount of forage grown between the fruit trees or on 

 the moist lands in the vicinity of Odell. 



Wliere adequately drained this type of sod is well adapted to the 

 production of apples. Where the soil is unusually moist forage crops 

 do exceptionally well, and m this area, where there is such a lack of 

 these products, the prices obtained are sufficiently high to warrant 

 the use of all such areas for hay and forage production. 



The following table gives the average results of mechanical analyses 

 of the soil and subsoil of this type: 



Mechanical analyses of Hood silt loam. 



WIND RIVER STONY LOAM. 



The Wind River stony loam consists usually of 6 feet or more of a 

 light-brown to reddish-brown heavy loam. It is generally granular 

 and friable, and contains large quantities of rock, consisting of sub- 

 angular fragments of basalt scattered over the surface and through- 

 out the soil profile. In places this coarse material is so abundant that 

 it is impracticable to clear the land. Some areas have a rather shal- 

 low soil and are underlain by basaltic rock m place. Here a small 

 amount of undifferentiated residual material may be included with 

 the alluvial sod. 



This soil occurs as a single body occupying a bench or terrace in the 

 White Salmon Valley, lying about 600 feet above the level of the 

 Columbia River. On the west and north sides it merges with the 



