STORY OF OUR NATIONAL FOREST 95 



mann spruce, western hemlock, western larch, and 

 many lesser species. Farther south, in southern 

 Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada 

 on the Rocky Mountain sides, and California on the 

 Sierra side, we find most of the same in lesser and 

 different proportions, with white spruce and a num- 

 ber of pines importantly added in the Rockies, and 

 redwood, sequoia, incense cedar, red and white fir, 

 and yellow, sugar, and foxtail pines in California. 



Cataloguing and proportioning these very im- 

 portant trees and many others less important either 

 for lumber or landscape would make a fascinating 

 story in itself, but one unnecessary for the purposes 

 of this book. 



What is necessary here, because it helps differ- 

 entiate the eastern and the western forests, is not- 

 ing the complete subordination of deciduous to co- 

 niferous trees in the lofty western forest. Oaks are 

 fairly numerous and beautiful, but comparatively 

 small. Maples are bushes in comparison with coni- 

 fers which in vast stands approach and sometimes 

 exceed two hundred feet in height. Aspen adds 

 brightness to moist places in the altitudes. There are 

 numerous others. The most conspicuous deciduous 

 tree at lower altitudes is the cottonwood. Together 

 the gracious hardwoods are the lacy trimmings to 

 the dark majestic court-dress of the high mountains. 



Splendid the contribution of the Rockies and 

 their attendant ranges and plateaus to the magnifi- 

 cence of the western forest, but far greater is that 



