398 BITTER ROOT FOREST RESERVE 



The foregoing illustration depicts a scene of which all Ameri- 

 cans should be ashamed. The aborigines held this region for 

 many ages as a sacred trust transmitted from generation to gen- 

 eration. They recognized its beauty and utility and did naught 

 to impair the grandeur of the one or the permanence of the 

 other. And what has the Anglo-Saxon done? Asa commu- 

 nity is visited by a devastating scourge, as a face is disfigured by 

 some foul disease, so have the forests been visited and disfigured 

 by him. Reaping where he has not sown and failing to restore 

 where he has destroyed, a noble heritage is slipping away through 

 carelessness and cupidity. A hunter or traveler leaves his camp- 

 fire unextinguished, a herder starts a fire in the fall that the 

 coarse grass may be burned and in the spring be replaced by a 

 tender growth which is more nutritious to his flock, the pros- 

 pector burns the undergrowth that the mineral-bearing rocks 

 may be uncovered, the result being that thousands of acres are 

 devastated. 



Illustrations are presented showing groves of yellow pines, 

 cedars, and firs that have been undisturbed by fire, an area that 

 has been burned over, and a view of the crest of the Bitter Root 

 mountains. 



The question may suggest itself as to why the area included 

 in the Bitter Root Reserve should be set aside from entry or settle- 

 ment. Three distinct reasons exist from a forest standpoint, and 

 there are other interests that would be incidentally subserved. 



First. The numerous streams which have their sources in the 

 Reserve furnish the water supply for the irrigation of the Bitter 

 Root valley on the east, and could be turned to a profitable ac- 

 count for a similar purpose to the westward. Indeed, it has 

 been forcibly suggested that the possibility of irrigating the 

 extensive plains of southeastern Washington exists only in the 

 utilization of the Clearwater river for this purpose. There is at 

 present considerable hydraulic mining in the Idaho portion of 

 the Reserve, and this industry is limited only by the amount of 

 available water supply, which, according to the testimony of the 

 miners, has been materially decreased since the forest fires have 

 become so extensive. It is safe to say that fully 98 per cent of 

 the Reserve is unfit for agricultural purposes on account of the 

 altitude and irregularity of the surface. The only possibilities 

 in this respect, or even for grazing, are in the numerous alpine 

 meadows ; but it would be a dangerous experiment either to dis- 

 turb the surface of these meadows with a plow or to allow cattle 

 to occupy them extensively, as in either case they would lose 



