126 ABSAROKA DIVISION OF YELLOWSTONE FOREST RESERVE. 



Township 9 Sottth, Range 30 East. 



Topography. — The western and central areas of the township consist of a 

 plateau-like region varying in elevation from 10,000 to nearly 11,000 feet. The 

 surface is broken into long, low swells, short combs of rock 200 to 400 feet 

 high, broad levels, and intersecting shallow draws or ravines that form the 

 water heads of various creeks. The eastern areas consist of excessively steep 

 and precipitous breaks to the levels which border Clark Fork, forming a front 

 to the plateau nearly 5,000 feet in height, and of a narrow strip of level or 

 rolling desert land fringing the foot of the plateau. 



Mining. — None. 



Soil. — The soil is gravelly, except along the foot of the plateau, where it is 

 more or less loamy. The summit of the plateau is mostly bowlder strewn. 



Agricultural adaptability. — The plateau areas are situated far above the 

 altitudinal limits for agriculture; the desert strip at the eastern foot of the 

 plateau is without water for irrigation. 



Grazing capacity. — The summit of the plateau and the level areas at its foot 

 are grass or sedge covered. Dp to the present the tracts have been closely and 

 excessively sheeped and have therefore only a very low grazing value. 



Drainage conditions. — The run-off is small. Springs and points of seepage 

 occur in many localities on the summit of the plateau, but the small creeks to 

 which they give rise are mostly dry runs before they reach the levels at the 

 foot of the plateau. 



Snow and rock slides. — Frequent along the steep declivities of the eastern front 

 of the plateau. 



Tovms and settlements. — None. 



Forest co^iditions. — The forest is thin and scattered. It consists wholly of the 

 subalpine type, white-bark pine and Engelmann spruce being the dominant species. 

 It is chiefly an old growth, and is mostly coniined to the slopes and breaks of the 

 eastern front of the plateau. Its value is principally for fuel and the stability it 

 imparts to the loose talus slopes where it grows. Most of it is inaccessible. The 

 summit of the plateau lies for the most part*above timber line. 



Cutting. — None. 



Burns. — A tract in the east-central area, amounting to 600 acres, has been 

 burned over within the last six or eight years. 



Reproduction. — Young and sapling growth is scanty throughout; the burned- 

 over tracts are reforesting tardily. 



Undergrowth. — Sparce throughout; mostly willows and Shepherdia. 



Litter. — In the burned-over districts there are moderate quantities of dead and 

 down timber. Elsewhere the litter is light or lacking. 



Humus. — None. 



