'GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TE^RRITORIES. 225 



the bfisaltic caiion, this action even now appears to be in process, many 

 of the blocks of stone having recently been loosened and rolled down- 

 ward, carrying with them the pines, which may yet be seen. Here every 

 stage of the process can be distinctly seen. 



Secondly. In many places, as at the last-mentioned point, at the head 

 of Black-Tail Deer Creek, along the head-waters of Sweet Water, the 

 largest trees appear to be dying without any apparent cause, no evi- 

 dence of fire being visible. 



Thirdly. With the exception of two or three points, when the forest is 

 once destroyed it never renews itself. At one point west of the range, 

 on the road from Helena to Deer Lodge, I noticed a grove of young pines 

 or firs, which were growing up on what appeared to be a burned district. 

 At one or two points in the interior of the mountains, back of Denver, 

 I noticed the same thing 5 also on the Eaton Mountains. But the 

 reverse is not only the general but almost the universal rule throughout 

 this immense extent of country. Add to this the immense destruction 

 by fire and the wanton destruction by human hands, and the prospect 

 for timber in this section in the future is not very flattering. Unless 

 there shall be some remarkable change in climatic agencies this decay 

 must go on, as man has no power to prevent it ; he may cease the 

 destruction occasioned by his own negligence and wantonness, but he 

 cannot stop the process on the mountains. 



The late severe snow-storms (January, 1872) are somewhat remarkable. 

 I have not obtained the particulars in regard to them, but if the news- 

 paper reports are correct, they indicate the possibility of reacting cli- 

 matic influences, which it would be well to study with care. 



But our only reasonable hope of a change in the amount and distri- 

 bution of moisture and a supply of timber is through the planting of 

 forest-trees. Each Territory and State within the area under consid- 

 eration should take this matter in hand, and by means of x^roper laws or 

 premiums carry the planting of trees parallel with the settlement of 

 the country. And directly connected with this matter is the want of 

 hard wood in the entire i>ortion of the United States west of the one 

 hundredth meridian. I learn, to my great astonishment, that there is 

 no hard wood suitable for wheelwright purposes, or for the manufacture 

 of agricultural or other machinery, to be found on the western coast of 

 North America, from the Arctic . Ocean to the Isthmus. Whether this 

 is correct or not I am not able to state, but I am satisfied it is true within 

 the limits of the United States. All the material of tliis kind which is 

 used even in making wagons anywhere west of the ninety-ninth or one 

 hundredth meridian to the Pacific has to be brought from the Atlantic 

 States. Now, if anything can be done to relieve this want, surely it 

 would be of great benefit to future generations if of a permanent char- 

 acter. It is probable that no wood can be grown in this dry district of 

 a tenacity equal to that grown in the rain-moistened districts of the 

 Atlantic slope ; but it is possible that such as will be adapted to all 

 ordinary purposes may be produced, and the experiment is one that is 

 worth trying. 



The industrial agent of the Kansas Pacific Railroad is trying the 

 experiment of growing forest trees on the plains without irrigation. 

 It is to be hoped that this will not be given up until it is thoroughly 

 tested ; and I would suggest that although the experiment may not suc- 

 ceed along the whole length of the belt across the plains, yet it is of 

 vast importance, should it fail in part, to know how far west it is pos- 

 sible to encroach upon the plains. If an inch can be permanently gained 

 by the first experiment, an ell may be gained by perseverance. 



15 G S 



