NATIONAL FORESTS OF WYOMING 3 



Fort Collins, Colo., and Laramie, Medicine Bow, and Saratoga, 

 Wyo., are all entrances to the Medicine Bow National Forest. 



Thirty-three miles west of Laramie is the forest boundary, just 

 above the old mining town of Centennial, and 12 miles farther on 

 is the foot of Medicine Bow Peak. From here a foot trail 2 1 / 2 miles 

 long goes up to the fire lookout station on top. The lookout station 

 gives a commanding view of the whole forest area of over half a mil- 

 lion acres, and the lookout guard's knowledge of the surrounding- 

 country will help in picking out the important points within view 

 and in understanding the significance of the activities on the forest. 



Immediately at the foot of Medicine Bow Peak are signs of old 

 burns, but they are small and are soon lost in the continuous exj^anse 

 of deep green, unscarred forest, which stretches away in every direc- 

 tion. Below, over to the west, the solid canopy of the forest is broken 

 by a fold that grows constantly deeper and deeper until in the dim 

 distance it flattens out and merges imperceptibly into the surrounding 

 greenness. This fold is North French Creek, thickly timbered all 

 the way to the forest boundary. A little to the left is South French 

 Creek, and around to the south are the many branches of Douglas 

 Creek, the upper courses of which are marked by gentle depressions 

 in the rich green carpet that extends on and on across the line into 

 Colorado as far as the eye can reach. Ties cut on Douglas Creek are 

 floated down to the North Platte River and then down the river to 

 Fort Steele, where they are landed and shipped to Laramie for 

 preservative treatment and distribution. The experienced eye of the 

 lookout guard picks out a hill many miles due south as a point that 

 marks the location of Foxpark, where most of the tie operations are 

 concentrated. Ties are shipped from there to Laramie over the 

 Laramie, North Park & Western Railroad. 



Most of the ties produced on the Medicine Bow are hewn out by 

 hand. Because of the small diameter and slight taper of the typical 

 lodgepole pine (see p. 2) ties can be made by merely slabbing two 

 sides of the tree, peeling the rest, and then cutting it into 8-foot 

 lengths. Woods workers skilled in the use of the broadax can hew 

 "faces" which for smoothness might have been planed. And they 

 work with speed too, turning out regularly 25 to 30 ties a day. 



In sales of lodgepole pine for ties on the Medicine Bow Forest, 

 trees too large or to rough for tie making are sawed into lumber. In 

 some instances very small portable mills replace the chopper in mak- 

 ing ties. This is the case chiefly where the stands are exceedingly 

 scattered or are made up of trees which, because of form, are not 

 suitable for hewing. 



East of Medicine Bow Peak lies Laramie, and beyond, across the 

 plains, is a ridge, hazy because of its distance from the lookout tower. 

 It is the Pole Mountain Military Reservation, recently added to the 

 Medicine Bow National Forest for peace-time administration as a 

 forest unit. It is also a Federal game refuge, like Sheep Mountain, 

 between Medicine Bow Peak and Laramie. 



After a complete survey of the forest from the vantage point of 

 the lookout tower on Medicine Bow Peak we are not surprised at 

 the statement that the whole stand of timber on the forest is esti- 

 mated at more than 4,000,000,000 board feet. This is an imposing 

 figure, so imposing that it is not easy to grasp its significance. The 



