65 
numerous swamps, formerly stocked with Tamarack, Cedar, and some 
Spruce, have suffered inuch from fires. Large tracts of burned-over 
and bare land occur in all parts of the county, and of the numerous 
Pine thickets, which occupy thousands of acres, a great many have 
been injured and killed by fire. 
Polk County.—The northwestern corner from Wolf Creek to the St. 
Croix River is a sandy Jack Pine woods, which continues inte Burnett 
County. The remainder of the northern half is generally a hard wood 
forest, quite pure on many of the ridges, mixed and often entirely dis- 
placed by Pine in the sandier depressions and valleys. The southeast- 
ern portion, about two tiers of towns along the east line from southern 
boundary northward, was originally pinery with a light mixture of 
hard woods and better bodies of hard woods in places, and the south- 
western portion was Jack Oak openings. The Pine is mostly eut; 
the standing timber is in isolated bodies, and is estimated at about 
240,000,000 feet. The hard woods have been extensively culled, except 
in the northern townships, where a stand of about 600,000,000 feet is 
believed to exist. Of this, Oak and Basswood form over half, while 
Birch is comparatively scarce. Polk County has few swamps and no 
large quantities of merchantable timber is claimed, for the Cedar is 
practically wanting. The Jack Pine woods are quite extensive and 
will yield a heavy cut. Bare areas are common here as in other 
counties. A few of these tracts are stocked with fair-sized Poplar, 
which on this sandy loam seems to thrive better than elsewhere. 
Portage County.—The southeast quarter is Oak openings with groves 
of Jack Pine, especially in the western part. The southwest quarter 
is Jack Pine woods, and in the southern portion there is a marshy 
pinery, forming part of what is known as “ Little Pinery.” The north- 
ern half, broader on the western side, was once a mixed forest of Pine 
and hard woods with some Hemlock, and was divided by strips of sandy 
pinery following up the Wisconsin and Plover rivers. Both Pine and 
hard woods have been cut in nearly all parts of the county, but there 
are still smaller bodies and scattering timber to warrant an estimate of 
about 20,000,000 feet of Pine. The hard woods and Hemlock, of which 
some fair bodies exist in the northeastern part of the county, represent 
a probable cut of about 150,000,000 feet, 50,000,000 being Hemlock. 
The extensive and dense Jack Pine woods will furnish 150,000,000 feet 
of material for special mills or pulp purposes, and will in time prove 
of considerable value. The swamps, of which a large part are open 
marshes, have suffered much from fires. Large tracts of burned-over 
Pine slashings exist throughout the lumbered part of the county. 
Price County.—The entire county is a level loam and gravelly loam 
area, formerly stocked with a most luxuriant mixed forest, in which 
Pine prevailed in most of the northern two thirds, and the Hemlock 
and hard woods in the rest. On afew small tracts in the central part 
and also along the Oneida Couuty line in the uortheastern part of the 
16479—No. 16--—5 
