CONDITIONS IN COUNTIES. 63 



;good hardwoods and hemlock are practically wanting. A few iso- 

 lated island-like bodies of mixed forest on heavier soil, a small tract 

 in the southwestern and larger ones in the southeastern part of the 

 ■county disturb the general uniformity. The pine has been cut along 

 nearly all streams and railways, and the remaining timber occurs in 

 interrupted stands and is estimated at 1,200 million feet, of which 

 a considerable part is red (Norway) pine. Of about 60 million feet of 

 hardwoods 40 belong to birch and basswood, the rest being elm and 

 maple and very little oak. The hemlock is believed to cut about 20 

 million feet and is too scattering to be considered at present. The 

 numerous swamps, formerly stocked with tamarack, cedar, and some 

 spruce have suffered much from fires. Large tracts of burned over 

 and bare land occur in all parts of the county. and of the numerous 

 pine thickets, which occupy thousands of acres, a great many have 

 been injured and killed by fire. 



Polk. — The northwestern corner from Wolf creek to the St. Croix 

 river is sandy jack pine woods, which continue into Burnett county. 

 The remainder of the northern half is generally a hardwood forest, 

 quite pure on many of the ridges, mixed and often entirely displaced 

 by pine in the sandier depressions and valleys. The southeastern 

 portion, about two tiers of towns along the east line from the south- 

 ■ern boundary northward, was pinery with light mixture of hardwoods 

 ■and better bodies of hardwoods in places and the southwestern por- 

 tion was jack pine and oak openings. The pine is mostly cut, the 

 standing timber is in isolated bodies and is estimated at about 240 

 million feet. The hardwoods have been extensively culled except in 

 the northern townships, where a stand of about 600 million feet is be- 

 lieved to exist. Of this, oak and basswood form over half, while 

 birch is comparatively scarce. Polk county has few swamps and no 

 large quantities of merchantable timber are claimed for these. Cedar 

 IS practically wanting. The jack pine woods are quite extensive and 

 "will yield a heavy cut. Bare areas are common here as in other coun- 

 ties. A few of these tracts are stocked with fair-sized poplar which 

 ■on this sandy loam seems to thrive better than elsewhere. 



Portage. — The southeast quarter is oak openings with groves of jack 

 pine, especially in the western part. The southwest quarter is jack 

 pine woods and in the southern portion, a marshy pinery, forming 

 part of what is known as "Little Pinery." The northern half, 

 "broader on the western side, was a mixed forest of pine and hard- 

 woods with some hemlock and was divided by strips of sandy pinery 

 following up the Wisconsin and Plover rivers. Both pine and hard- 

 woods have been cut in nearly all parts of the covmty, but there are 

 «till smaller bodies and scattering timber to warrant an estimate of 



