BITTER ROOT FOREST RESERVE 391 



agricultural and mineral development, and the hydrography of 

 the Reserve, and many of the facts mentioned here are taken 

 from his report. 



No exact definition of what might be properly included in 

 the Bitter Root mountain range has ever been authoritatively 

 determined, and it is very doubtful if sufficient information as 

 to the physiography of the region exists to satisfactorily settle 

 the question present; but there can be no doubt that all of the 

 Reserve under consideration is within the limits of the Bitter 

 Root mountains. The conclusions of the writer in the matter 

 are therefore to be taken as a broad generalization, to be modi- 

 fied as new facts are brought to light. 



First, with reference to the crest line. This may be consid- 

 ered as extending on the north from the vicinity of Lake Pend 

 d'Oreille to the low divide at the south end of the Bitter Root 

 valley between the drainage of the Bitter Root creek and that of 

 the north fork of the Salmon river. It is thought that these 

 mountains should not include territory further southward, as it 

 is considered desirable to classify the Bitter Root range as en- 

 tirely tributary to Pacific drainage. The continuation of the 

 divide southward is drained to the eastward by the tributaries 

 of the Missouri and should properly be included in the Rocky 

 Mountain system. The northern portion of the Bitter Roots, as 

 thus defined, will include 'the Cceur d'Alene mountains, as it is 

 believed that the latter should not have a coordinate rank in the 

 orography of this region, but should be assigned as a subordinate 

 range of the Bitter Root system. If an attempt is made to dif- 

 ferentiate these two ranges as independent systems, St Regis 

 pass would serve to break the continuity. With the assumption 

 of continuity, the eastern and northeastern limits of this system 

 become very easily defined — that is, by the drainage of the 

 Clarke's Fork of the Columbia. It seems also very clear that the 

 Salmon river should define the southern limits of these moun- 

 tains. Just how far to the westward they should be considered 

 as extending is not clear, but, as a preliminary classification, 

 they may be determined as extending toward the Snake river 

 plains until they lose their identity as mountain masses. This 

 classification would assign the Clearwater mountains to a sec- 

 ondary position in the same manner as the Cceur d'Alene have 

 been subordinated. 



In detail, the principal drainage systems in and adjacent to 

 these mountains are the Bitter Root, the Clearwater, and the 



