would soon bo on the mountain road. It was then after 13 o'clock 

 and our lunch, which Mr. Dieft'enbach had purchased that morning 

 at a small store along the way, was in Mr. Buckner's car and he had 

 not yet put in an appearance. However we did not wait for him but 

 continued on, passing many beautiful spots. One in particular, at 

 an angle of the road where a large hemlock tree stood close to a 

 small mountain stream, formed a most inviting and romantic spot 

 for a way-side lunch. These mountains, while not heavily timbered, 

 are covered wath a good growth of hemlock and poplar. Among the 

 latter are many fine large specimens, straight and clear for a distance 

 of from fifty to seventy-five feet. There is little or no undergrowth 

 except the rhododendron and gaylax, which latter grows in great 

 profusion along the ledges and moist spots, also the trailing arbutus. 



On this National Forest of 50,000 acres are deer, bear, elk and 

 many smaller aninmls, which, under the careful supervision and 

 untiring pursuit and conviction of all poachers, by ^Ir. DiefFenl)ick. 

 are increasing in a most satisfactory manner. It is the general 

 opinion that within a few years the' overflow from this increase will 

 tend to restock the adjacent territory arid afford good hunting, pro- 

 vided the game is given a certain amount of jirotection by suitable 

 game laws. 



After a few more turns we came to a point where the road liad 

 been cut through a rocky ledge and here, on either hand were great 

 masses'' of moss-covered rocks,- and boulders that lay piled on one 

 another as far up the mountain sid.e as one could see. It was the 

 first and only spot of this character to lie seen thus far along 

 the mountain road. Forest Ranger Carlin remarked ^Tiere is where 

 the apron string broke." 



After a short ride l)eyond the point of rocks, on turning a corner 

 we suddenly came to a large clearing. This was the elk ])asture and 

 future home of the buffalo. It consists of about two hundred and 

 seventy acres surrounded by a fence of wo\t'u wire, supported on 

 good size locust posts.' ^ The road, which runs directly through the 

 pasture, divides it into two parts. A runway has been dug beneath 

 the fence and road to allow the transfer of game from one pasture 

 to anotlier. - . ■ 



"We arrived at the main gate shortly after 3 o'clock and proceeded 

 to inspect the arrangements that had been made for unloading the 

 Iniffalo. Two narrow trenches had been dug close to the gate, of 

 sufficient depth to admit the hind wheels, thus placing the back of the 

 wagon and crate on a level with the ground. As everything seemed 

 to have been attended to and little else to do l)ut wait for the teams, 

 concluded to examine the pasture. 



The top soil is composed of a dark loam, a depth of several 

 inches, but the grass mat is not as heavy as the apparent richness of 

 the soil would support and no doubt could be improved by sowing 

 a good mixture of guch grasses as would thrive at this altitude. 



During our absence quite a crowd had gathered and it seemed 



41 



