42 
exposure and elevation. Similar information was received regarding 
various other areas, and the general fact that the timber covering 
retards the melting of snow is abundantly and conclusively shown. 
FUTURE OF SHEEP GRAZING IN OREGON. 
Before proceeding to a consideration of the method of dealing with 
the sheep-grazing question, an estimate of the future of the industry, 
so far as it affects the Cascade reserve, will not be without value. In 
general, the progress of sheep grazing in the Cascades has been from 
the north toward the so.th and from the eastern toward the western 
Slope. The areas over which grazing is likely to extend in the imme- 
diate future are westward and southward from the Three Sisters on the 
west slope and southward to some extent from the Diamond Lake area 
on the eastern slope. This extension will not be rapid, provided the 
number of sheep to be pastured in the Cascades does not continue to 
increase. If the number does increase and all the present available 
areas become overgrazed, fires are almost sure to occur in areas now 
well timbered—fires which are not countenanced by the best element of 
stockmen, but which will be caused by irresponsible packers and herders, 
A general belief prevails that the increasing value of wool and mut- 
ton will cause an important and conspicuous increase in the number of 
sheep and that the summer grazing land will in a few years become 
overgrazed. This conclusion at first sight appears plausible, but it must 
be remembered that Oregon is a country on which other parts of the 
United States draw very largely for their lambs, and as the demand for 
stock sheep is on the increase and will probably continue to increase 
for some years, it is unquestionable that a large part of the expected 
increase in eastern Oregon will quickly leave the State. So fully and 
reasonably were the probable results of these fluctuations of the mar- 
ket and their effect upon stock sheep explained to me by a prominent 
owner in eastern Oregon, Mr. J. N. Williamson, of Prineville, that I 
ain disposed to accept his judgment that within the next few years the 
number of sheep in eastern Oregon will not materially increase, but 
that, succeeding this period of a large outside demand for stock sheep, 
an overproduction in Oregon will take place, so that at the end of, say, 
four or five years a marked increase will probably have shown itself. 
In this connection it may be said that an increase of the available 
range, should the demand for range increase, seems not impracticable. 
Under the peculiar conditions that exist in the lodgepole pine forests 
on the pumice soils of the southern portion of thesheep range (described 
on page 39), there seems to be no reason why, under a system of intelli- 
gent and skilled forest management, experiments can not be made. It 
seems probable that the forage output of Crane Prairie, for example, 
might be doubled; but the experiment must be conducted with great 
care and the effects carefully watched by measuring the run-off of the 
main fork of the Deschutes. 
