TOWNSHIP DESCRIPTIONS. 99 



valley on the west and on the east, the northeast corner being an exception. Here 

 the spurs rise to altitudes of 10,000 feet and form Horseshoe Mountain. 



Mining. — The summit and upper slopes of Horseshoe Mountain are mineral 

 bearing. 



Minerals. — Gold, both quartz and placer. 



Soil. — Thin, gravelly loam, generally very much littered with bowlders. 



Agricultwral adaptability. — ^The region is situated at a too high altitude for 

 agriculture. 



Grazing capacity. — Small glades on Horseshoe Mountain and in Slough Creek; 

 in the latter several ancient fire glades afford pasturage. 



Drainage conditions. — ^The township is abundantly supplied with springs, marshy 

 areas, and places of seepage, besides giving rise to several large creeks. The outflow 

 is carried by Slough Creek, which evidently has a great underflow through the vast 

 mass of glacial debris littering the valley. 



Snow and rock slides. — Snow and rock avalanches are copimon along the west 

 slopes of Horseshoe Mountain where it abuts on the valley of Slough Creek. 



Towns and settlements.— :^\i&y& are two permanent mining camps, both small, on 

 Horseshoe Mountain. Outside this area the tract is not inhabited. 



Forest conditions. — With the exception of the summit of HorSeshoe Mountain 

 the township is well stocked with forest, carrying the greatest quantity of timber of 

 any of the townships in the Absaroka division of the Yellowstone Forest Reserve. 

 In the valley of Slough Creek and in the bottoms and middle slopes, of the trib- 

 utary creeks entering from the east the stands are chiefly composed of lodgepole 

 pine, varying in age from 50 to 200 years. Some of the stands carry timber, 

 mostly of logging dimensions; others have nothing but slender pole growths. At 

 the middle elevations on the west slopes spruce largelj"^ replaces the lodgepole pine 

 of the valley. In stands where it is the dominant species it attains diameters up to 

 3 feet with trunks 100 feet in height. At subalpine elevations the usual thin and 

 scattering stands of white-bark pine, spruce, and subalpine fir form the forest. 

 With the exception of the lodgepole pine the trees are limby and knotty throughout, 

 rarelj' showing any clear trunk. The tract is easily accessible by way of 

 Yellowstone National Park and the lower portion of Slough Creek Valley. 



Gutting. — None, except a small amount on Horseshoe Mountain, culled out for 

 local use by the miners. 



Burns. — There are two small burns, amounting to 100 acres, in the Slough 

 Creek bottoms near the south line of the township. 



Rep7'oduction. — Young growth is abundant in the stands where the forest is 

 not too closely set. In the j'oung and close-set lodgepole-pine forest seedling and 

 young-sapling growth are almost entirely lacking. In most of the older and open 



