NORTHERN IDAHO FOREST RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 



Description of Northern Idaho 



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Physical Characteristics 



NORTHERN Idaho is rich in physical contrasts 

 (fig. 3). On the west lies the fertile prairie of 

 Washington and Oregon and on the east the 

 generally mountainous country of western Montana. Its 

 principal geographic feature is a series of rugged mountain 

 ranges extending lengthwise of the "panhandle." The 

 ridge of the Bitterroot Mountains, at elevations between 

 6,000 and 9,000 feet above sea level, follows the eastern 

 boundary as far north as Pend Oreille Lake. Along the 

 southern boundary is a high plateau dropping off in sharp 



breaks to the Salmon River, a mile below in some places. 

 Sloping generally westward and northwestward from the 

 steep and rugged mountains of the Montana line and the 

 Salmon River plateau, the land grades into rounded hills 

 and then the rolling prairie lands of the famous Palouse 

 farming country at elevations of 2,000 to 3,000 feet. The 

 reader unacquainted with this region can obtain an 

 essentially correct picture by thinking of it as a westward 

 slope grading from mountain peaks to prairie, with the wide 

 local variations in altitude that are common to moun- 

 tainous country. 



North of Pend Oreille Lake, a series ot ridges separates 



Figure 3. — The wealth of contrasts iti northern Idaho is indicated in this view from Salmon Mountain on the Bitterroot National Forest looking east to the 

 Bitterroot Mountains. From high ridges and peaks 6,000 to 9,000 feel above sea level, the country drops westward to 700 feet along the bottom of the Snake 

 and Clearwater River Canyons, changing from steep and rugged mountains to rolling prairies containing some of the finest farm land in the United States, 

 and from stunted and twisted alpine timber to magnificent virgin western white pine stands with 8-log trees. 



