1922] Swarth: Birds and Mammals of the Stikine Region 131 



In the Telegraph Creek region the principal feature of the vegeta- ■ 

 tion is the poplar woods. Poplars grow everywhere in the lowlands, 

 sometimes in almost pure stands with but a sprinkling of other trees, 

 and for miles in extent. In swampy places willow thickets form dense 

 growths that are hard to penetrate. On some of the drier ridges 

 these willows form open woods that are quite easy to traverse, com- 

 posed of rather large trees, widely spaced and with little brush below. 

 At some points there are stretches of dry, gravelly benches, with a 

 sparse growth of small lodgepole pines {Pinus contorta) and here 

 and there a few cottonwoods, birches, and poplars, with very little 

 undergrowth and all together very park-like in appearance. 



Pig. B. Looking down the Stikine River from a point about a mile below 

 Telegraph Creek, just above the junction of the First South Fork. The Stikine 

 today follows the same general course to the sea as it did before the present 

 coastal ranges were elevated; the river valley was cut deeper and deeper during 

 the slow uplift of the mountain barrier. In the Telegraph Creek region, here 

 shown, the valley consists of a series of sharply defined terraces, rising step by 

 step from the river to the bases of the mountains on either side. These terraces 

 presumably indicate the level of the river at different periods of its history. 

 Photograph taken June 24, 1919. 



The valley on the north side of the river, extending west and south 

 at least as far as Glenora, is relatively level with a few low hills and 

 ridges here and there, stretching from the abrupt banks that border 

 the river up to the higher mountains some miles to the northward. 

 This rolling country is nearly all covered with forest of poplar, willow, 

 Cottonwood, and birch, and a few scattered pines. In places the woods 

 are quite dense, sometimes fairly open j some of the hills and ridges are 



