8 SURVEYS OF FOKEST RESERVES. 



In general the timber is dense, but the forest is broken in many 

 places by parks and mountain prairies, and enormous tracts have been 

 denuded by recent forest fires. The entire area within the exterior 

 limits of timber is about 2,600 square miles. Of this 2,000 square 

 miles are covered with forest, the rest being either parks or prairies or 

 covered with a scattered growth of young timber. 



The amount of merchantable timber within the Black Hills is esti- 

 mated at 1,440,000,000 feet B. M. Besides this, it is estimated that the 

 hills contain 13,150,000 cords of firewood, poles, ties, etc. 



The only tree in the Black Hills of commercial importance is the 

 yellow pine. The other species are so small, occur in such limited 

 numbers, or have so few uses that they are of little or no economic 

 importance. By far the greater ijortiou of the hills is covered with a 

 pure forest of yellow pine. 



The forest, as it is found to-day, does not i epresent at all what the 

 yello w pine is capable of producing in this region. The forest is irregu- 

 lar and broken and is composed in many places of defective and scrubby 

 trees. There are trees of every age and class, and there are large areas 

 where there are uo trees at all. For a pure pine forest the yield in 

 merchantable timber is extremely small. In some places it will yield 

 15,000 to 20,000 feet per acre, but such localities are small in area. In 

 general a district which will yield 5,000 feet per acre over the whole 

 area is very good, and the average yield of the forested regions is prob- 

 ably not over 4,000 feet. For this condition forest fires are directly 

 responsible, and the present aspect of the forest is the result of long 

 abuse and the struggle of the forest to reestablish itself The broken 

 condition of the forest, the large proportion of defective trees, the many 

 wind breaks, the prairies, parks, and bald ridges, are due to the destruc- 

 tive forest fires which have swept the hills periodically for years and 

 probably for centuries. 



The natural forest of yellow pine is dense and composed of trees of 

 about the same age. It often comes up in bodies, the trees of which, 

 over considerable areas, have the same age, and the irregular condi- 

 tions now found are due entirely to external influences. The original 

 forest, uninfluenced by fire or windfall, is found in but few places in 

 the Black Hills. Such localities are distinguished on the map as those 

 of the heaviest growth. They are found on rich soil and in protected 

 situations. The trees aAcrage about 20 inches in diameter, with a maxi- 

 mum of 3 feet. This timber reaches a height of from 80 to 100 feet, and 

 the stems are straight and clear of limbs for from 30 to 50 feet. 



There is a large amount of young growth scattered throughout the 

 original forest, and in the northern part of the hills the timber is com- 

 posed almost entirely of second growth, i. e., of thrifty growing trees 

 not yet large enough for lumber. 



Although the plains surrounding the Black Hills are within the arid 

 region, having a rainfall of less than 20 inches annually, the Black 

 Hills, by virtue of their greater altitude and broken character, enjoy a 

 greater rainfall, giving them a subhumid climate. In some years there 

 is sufacient rainfall for the maturing of crops, and in others there is 

 drought, consequently the practice in regard to irrigation is by no 

 means uniform. Some farmers prefer to irrigate, and thus insure their 

 crops, while others take the chances on the rainfall. In some localities 

 the soil is more moist than iu others and irrigation is unnecessary in 

 the majority of seasons, while in other and drier localities the reverse 

 is the case. Hence it is difficult to say whether the criterion of agri- 



