TOWNSHIP DESCRIPTIONB. 67 



TowNSHii" 6 South, Range 10 East. 



Topography. — The township lies almost entirely in the Mill Creek drainage. 

 The northern areas comprise high ridges, with elevations up to 10,000 feet, cutting 

 oflE the Mill Creek drainage from the tracts which slope into Elbow Creek Basin. 

 The remainder of the township is composed of the wide canyons of North, Mid- 

 dle, and Mill creeks, and of the divides separating the two streams. 



Mining. — Portions of the lower areas of Mill Creek Basin are mineral bearing 

 and contain scattered prospect holes. No active mining is carried on. 



Minerals. — Said to be gold and copper. 



Soil. — Usually thin and of no great fertility. The surface is covered with a 

 loamy mixture. 



Agricultural adaptability. — The township contains no tillable land, being too 

 stony and mountainous for agriculture. 



Grazing capacity. — The grazing areas, consist wholly of small glades along Mill 

 Creek forks, not properly grazing lands. 



Drainage conditions. — The township contains the principal waterheads of the 

 Mill Creek drainage, and the outflow is large and continuous. The water is used in 

 the Yellowstone Valley to some extent for irrigation. 



Snow and rock slides. — Most of the slopes in the basin have acquired a certain 

 degree of stability, and slides either of snow or rock are not frequent. 



Towns am,d settlements. — None. 



Forest conditions. — The Mill Creek basins are well stocked with forest, chiefly 

 lodgepole pine of middle age or large sapling stands. On the southern slopes along 

 the main canyons the stands are rather open and scattered, with red fir as the leading 

 species in their composition. At the highest altitudes the growth is largely com- 

 posed of spruce, with young sapling stands of lodgepole pine marking burns of 

 recent years. As a rule, most of the growth is too small for mill timber, and is 

 diflScult of access owing to the narrow and rocky character of the main canyon of 

 Mill Creek in the township adjoining on the west. 



Cutting. — None. 



Burns. — None. 



Reproduction.. — Young growth is abundant in most places. As a rule the 

 lodgepole-pine stands and those chiefly composed of spruce are stocked so closely 

 that further additions to the density of the stands are impossible. 



Undergrowth. — Sparse. 



Litter. — Litter, composed of timber killed by overcrowding, is abundant in 

 all the closely stocked stands. In the subalpine stands there is a scarcity of such 

 material, and the forest is clean and open. 



Humus. — In the canyons and on the northern slopes a thin moss cover on the 

 forest floor constitutes the humus. On the southern slopes this cover is lacking. 



