208 



of the mountain lies Heart Lake, with a surface area of 3 square miles. 

 All three of these lakes are importaut feeders of Snake Eiver. 



The greater part of the Park plateau and the adjacent mountains, 

 more especially the western slope of the Absaroka Eauge, are densely 

 covered with timber. After a careful study of the forests, I think it 

 may be safely said that 84 per cent, of the area of the country is forest- 

 clad. The broad bottoms of the main river valleys, the steeper mount- 

 ain slopes, the meadows, marshes, and geyser basins, and the tops of 

 ridges above timber-line, comx)rise the timberless areas. Frequently 

 the broad summits of the higher elevated ridges present more or less 

 barren areas due to the almost incessant exposure to high winds, but 

 over the greater part of the country timber line rauges from 9,600 to 

 9,800 feet above sea level. Over the Park i)lateau the timber offers a 

 somewhat monotonous aspect, with little variety of species. Fully 

 two-thirds of the forest trees belong to one si^ecies, the Black Pine 

 {P'mus Murrayana), a straight, slender tree which rarel^^ attains a height 

 exceeding 75 feet. Frequently it occurs only a few inches in diameter,^ 

 when it is generally known as ''Lodge pole Pine, l^ext to the Black 

 Pine comes the Balsam {Abies suhalpma)^ which also covers considerable 

 areas, most frequently on steep slope? and generally on moist ground. 

 Associated with this last species is found the Spruce (Ficea Engelmanni), 

 more abundant, however, on the slopes of the Absaroka Eauge than 

 over the plateau. The grandest tree of the region is the Douglas, 

 or Eed Fir {Pseudotsnga Douglasii), which occurs scattered over the 

 Park, more especially in the neighborhood of Mount Washburn and 

 Specimen Eidge. The only other species common enough in any way 

 to characterize the forest, or to call for special mention, are the Finns 

 flexilis, and its associated variety, Finns albicaidis, the latter widely 

 distributed in the southern end of the Park at high altitudes, where it 

 occurs as a common tree on the slopes of Mount Sheridan and Mount 

 Hancock. According to Mr. Frank Tweedy, only five genera and eight 

 species of coniferse are known to occur within the present Park limits, 

 the additional species being the Jnmjjerus communis and J. Virginiana^ 

 both found over very limited areas. The arborescent growth in no way 

 equals the grand forests of California, Oregon, and Washington Terri- 

 tory, either in size and development of the trees or in the quality of 

 the wood. It is in general stunted in growth, and furnishes but a poor 

 quality of timber in comparison with the magnificent forests found to the 

 westward. Its importance to the nation does not consist in its market- 

 able value, but rather in its power to store up the water an/il to regulate 

 the flow of streams. For this purpose it is of incalculable value, and 

 quite as serviceable in its way as the timber of the western Cordilleras. 



The life of the forest is of short duration. The scanty, gravelly soil 

 affords at best but slight i)rotection to the roots against the force of 

 the winds blowing almost incessantly from the west, as is only too well 



' Owing to its dense growlli, — B. E. F. 



