12 Miscellaneous CLrculai +i , U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 



An incident connected with the Targhee National Forest may be 

 referred to as typifying the change in attitude toward the value 

 of timber on the national forests of this region, which has come 

 about during the past 20 years. In 1905 some of the land which has 

 since become part of the Targhee National Forest was being con- 

 sidered for inclusion in the forest. Its inclusion was urged by one 

 of the prominent men of the region on the score that "the entire 

 region supports no industry but grazing . . ." and that "they [the 

 lands] are not valuable for lumber but are exceedingly valuable to 

 protect the very important streams. . . ." Mention was also made 

 of the very limited amount of merchantable timber on the land, 

 most of it consisting of "inferior lodgepole pine, with occasional 

 bodies of red fir." In 1924, from the forests consisting of such lands 

 as this, covered with " inferior lodgepole pine " and " valuable only 

 for grazing," sales of lumber reached a total of 66,327,000 board feet. 

 This was possible not because this amount of timber had grown dur- 

 ing the past 20 years, but because of the striking revision that had 

 taken place since 1905 in the idea of what timber is merchantable. 



THE LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY 



EARLY CONDITIONS ON THE RANGE 



The earliest settlers in the intermountain region brought with 

 them their horses, cows, and other domestic animals. For a long 

 time they kept their stock on the ranches, a precaution necessary 

 because of the danger from Indians. As the Indian menace grew 

 less and less and finally became negligible — about 1870 in Utah and 

 rather later in Idaho — the settlers began to turn their cattle out into 

 the adjacent mountain lands during the summer season, rounding 

 them up in the fall. With the opening of these public grazing areas 

 the sheep industry became increasingly important, and sheep herds 

 spread rapidly and widely through the mountains. Through Utah 

 and Nevada, where the mountain range lands were not distant from 

 settlements, the livestock business became very intensive, and the 

 ranges were used by a great many more stock than was good for 

 them. In Idaho, where, in general, settlement came later and was 

 not so great, the number of stock was much smaller in proportion to 

 the mountain areas than in Utah, and such heavy utilization of the 

 range did not generally occur. 



WHAT THE FOREST LANDS MEAN TO THE LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY 



All through the region the mountain ranges have contributed im- 

 mensely to the prosperity of the livestock industry, allowing it to 

 grow to a much greater size than it possibly could if it were limited 

 all summer long to the valley lands in the vicinity of the ranches. 

 The latter course would necessitate the maintenance of much larger 

 pasture lands, which in turn would mean less land to be used for 

 the production of cultivated crops, a much more remunerative use. 

 According to the census of 1920, there are approximately 1,220,000 

 beef cattle and nearly 5,000,000 sheep in the intermountain region. 

 Upon the national forests of this region, which include a large part 

 but not all of the summer grazing lands, range 43-4,404 cattle, 2,821,- 

 308 sheep, and 20,651 horses, animals under 6 months old not being 



