26 ABSAEOKA DIVISION OF YELLOWSTONE FOREST RE8EEVE. 



CUTTING. 



The logged and culled areas comprise 41,650 acres, of which 22,000 acres are 

 forested tracts and 19,650 acres are woodland.- Probably all or a greater portion 

 of the woodlands, 37,200 acres, have been more or less culled during the last thirty 

 or thirty-five years, but many of the traces of the early cutting are now obliterated. 

 Except in the areas adjacent to upper Boulder River the cutting is confined to the 

 north, east, and south edges of the area discussed. Most of the cutting has been for 

 the purpose of obtaining mine props, fuel, and fencing material. A smaller quantity 

 has been used for railroad ties and burned for charcoal.- 



In the valleys of Boulder and West Boulder rivers, 50 to 90 per cent of the 

 sizable red fir, spruce, and lodgepole pine was cut in 1882 or 1883, or possibly in 

 1881. The cutting extended south from the north line of the reserve up the West 

 Boulder 2 or 3 miles and up the Boulder 10 or 12 miles, while comparatively little 

 timber appears to have been taken out of the valley of the East Boulder. Cutting also 

 ~ took place on Boulder River near its head and is still actively carried on. In addition 

 to this, a small sawmill is now established a few miles below the former camp of Inde- 

 pendence. A small sawmill is established in the valley of the East Boulder, about 3 

 miles south of the north line of the reserve, and another in the middle Stillwater 

 drainage in T. 5 N. , R. 15 E.' These mills are small and as yet have made little inroads 

 on the forests in their respective localities. From the East Boulder, skirting the foot 

 of the range around to the Rocky Fork drainage the forest has been cut and culled 

 from 10 per cent to total. The cutting has been confined to a narrow strip and is not 

 in a continuous belt. A large portion of the timber taken here within the past six or 

 seven years had been fire killed. In the Rocky Fork Creek drainage the cutting area 

 extends 3 to 4 miles up the two forks of the stream. A great deal of timber has 

 been taken for mine props in the coal mines at Red Lodge, for fencing and fuel for 

 the ranchers, and for cordwood for the lime burners in T. 8 S., Rs., 19 and 20 E. 

 Here much of the timber cut had been fire killed. 



Around Cooke City in T. 9 S., Rs. 14 and 15 E. Y,000 acres have been logged or 

 culled, the cut varying from 10 per cent to total. The cutting was for the purpose 

 of supplying mining timber to the various properties around Cooke City, fuel to 

 stamp mills which formerly milled the ores of that region, and charcoal to one or 

 two small smelters which have long since ceased operations. Very little cutting is 

 going on there at present, merely enough 'to supply fuel to Cooke City and timber 

 to the few miners doing assessment work. In the southwest corner of the area 

 discussed, in the Crevice district,, there has been some cutting for mining timbers and 

 fuel, but the cut has been small. Various other tracts in the reserve have been cut 

 over and culled, but the total amount removed has been insignificant. The large 

 body of the forest at middle elevations and nearly all of the subalpine stands have 

 not been touched by the ax. 



