towkship descriptions. 95 



Township 8 South, Range 11 East. 



Topography. — The tract chiefly consists of the upper basin of Hell Roaring 

 Creek, a broad, semicircular depression between ridges having altitudes of 9,000 to 

 10,000 feet. The depression forms a sort of valley with low ridges, gullies, and 

 ravines intersecting its bottom in various directions. Hell Roaring Creek is in a rift 

 in the solid granite, 50 to 60 feet wide and 40 to 60 feet deep, with nearly perpen- 

 dicular walls. The east side of the valley rises to the summit of the inclosing 

 ridges through a series of broad terraces; the north and west sides mount on the 

 steep fronts of high spurs stretching out from divides in the townships adjo^ining, 

 while the south side forms the entrance to the canyon portion of Hell Roaring 

 Creek Valley. 



Mining . — Non e . 



Soil. — Thin, gravelly loam, stony; many of the slopes are covered with talus 

 devoid of soil. The surface of the central part of the depression consists of a 

 sheet of bowlder and gravel drift. 



Agricultural adaptability. — None of the lands in the township are tillable. 



Grazing capacity. — The grazing areas of the township are mostly fire glades 

 slowh' reforesting. A few marshy meadows occur in the central areas, and some 

 small subalpine glades on the ridges inclosing the valley on the east. 



Drainage conditions. — A large amount of water flows from the township. The 

 tract abounds in large springs, points of seepage, subalpine rivulets, and small 

 ponds. It is practically the water head of Hell Roaring Creek. 



Snow and rock slides. — Infrequent or altogether lacking. 



Towns and settlements. — ISTone. 



Forest conditions. — The forest conditions are the results of fires during the past 

 one hundred and fifty years. The central areas are covered chiefly with lodgepole 

 pine, varying in age from 60 to 100 years. The younger stands are reforestations 

 after fires in modern times; the older growths are stands that escaped the last 

 great fires, and are scattered throughout the sapling growths. The subalpine 

 forest, covering 30 per cent of the township, consists of spruce, white-bark pine, 

 and subalpine fir, with occasionally some lodgepole pine. The white-bark pine is 

 very abundant, and at the highest levels forms 76 per cent of the forest. Along 

 the lower edge of the subalpine stands Engelmann spruce constitutes 60 to 80 per 

 eent of the timber. The timber on the high eastern slopes of the valley is chiefly 

 an old growth, varying from 160 to 200 years in age. Poplar and aspen groves are 

 common in the central parts and form thick fringes around the tarns and ponds, 

 or entirely cover the more seepy areas where coniferous growth is not possible. 



Cutting. — None. 



Bums. — The recent burns, not j'ct reforesting, or only very tardily, aniount 



