ALPINE FIR 



Abies lasiocarpa (Hooker) Nuttall 



The alpine fir, commonly called balsam fir in the mountains, is the 

 tree best known to those who follow the trail in the Canadian Rock- 

 ies; for it is the substitute par excellence for a soft hair mattress, if the 

 bed is properly made, and no sleep is more restful than that obtained on 

 such an aromatic couch of "Rocky Mountain feathers". From the 

 numerous blisters in the bark a thick juice may be collected which 

 makes an effective dressing for cuts and bruises. The Canada balsam 

 used by microscopists in mounting specimens is obtained from a re- 

 lated species, the balsam fir. By some of the Indian tribes the fir tree 

 was called "cho-koh-tung", meaning blisters. The wood is soft and 

 coarse-grained and, though it grows rather rapidly, is not of much value 

 commercially. In the lower valleys of the Canadian Rockies the tree 

 attains to some size, and at timber line holds the final outposts with 

 the Lyall larches, often affording a striking exhibit of nature's adapta- 

 tion to adverse conditions of soil, temperature, and wind. 



This fir has a wide range. It survived the glacial period in the 

 southern Rocky Mountains, in northern Arizona and New Mexico, 

 and since the ice retreated has migrated northward along the coast 

 ranges to the Olympic Mountains of Washington, thence into Alaska, 

 and through the eastern Rockies into Alberta, Canada. 



The specimen sketched was obtained north of Bow Pass, one day's 

 ride from the Saskatchewan River, at the foot of Pyramid Peak, at 

 6,000 feet elevation. 



PLATE l8 



