10 FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 



FOREST CONDITIONS OF THE PAST. 



An uniaterrupted forest, extending from Michigan througli 

 "Wisconsin into Minnesota, originally covered almost the entire 

 surface of these 27 counties. Along the southern and south- 

 western border, this forest faded into oak and jack pine "open- 

 ings" and in places gave way to regular prairies. It was gen- 

 erally a mixed forest of white pine and hardwoods on all loam 

 sjid. clay lands; it approached to the regular pinery on the tracts 

 of sandy loam and the red clays of Lake Superior, and on all 

 sandy and loamy sand districts, it was invariably pinery proper, 

 generally a mixture of white and red (ITorway) pines. This 

 great forest changed in character along a line extending approx- 

 imately through Kange 7 W. from Lake Superior to Town 31 

 E"., from here to the southwest comer of Marathon county 

 and thence east to Green Bay.* To the east and north of this 

 line the hemlock joined the hardwoods and pine on all gravelly 

 clay and loam lands; the birch (not white birch) disputed prec- 

 edence among hardwoods, so that we may designate the forest 

 as birch forest with admixtures; the red oaks were thinly scat- 

 tered and the white oaks practically wanting. To the south 

 and west of this line, the hemlock generally did not grow at 

 all, the birch became scattering, white oaks were abundant, and 

 the oaks gave character to the hardwood mixture, making the 

 bodies of pure hardwoods distinctly oak forests. These bodies 

 of hardwood were much more common on this side of the line. 



Along the edge of the forest to the south and west the dense 

 ■cover of a variety of tall hardwoods and conifers gave way 

 rather suddenly to monotonous brushwoods, composed of scat- 

 tered, bushy oaks, either alone or mixed with jack pine. (Port- 

 age, Dunn, St. Croix, Polk counties.) 



In almost all parts of the mixed forest of the loam lands, the 

 hardwoods formed the body of the forest and the conifei-s the 



* The lines of distribution as here laid down refer only to the occurrence 

 of trees as timber of economic importance, and not to their botanical dis- 

 tribution . 



