Vol. XL.— No. 1646.} 
_ NEW YORK, AUG. 18, 1881. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by the Rural New-Yorker, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
[PRICE FIVE CENTS 
l $2,00 PER YEaR, 
EXPLORERS OF PACIFIC SLOPE F0BEST8. 
As one of the special investigations underta¬ 
ken by the United 8tates Government in con¬ 
nection with the tenth census of the United 
States, a thorough 
study into the forest 
area and forest wealth 
of the count) y, and of 
the economic impor¬ 
tance of the American 
forests in relation to 
agriculture, commerce, 
the railroads, etc., was 
determined on. Profes¬ 
sor Sargent, Director of 
the Arboretum of Har¬ 
vard College, was 
placed at the head of 
this Department. He 
organized his investi¬ 
gation by dividing the 
country into several 
sections, placing at the 
head of each a compe¬ 
tent observer whose 
duty it was to examine 
and report on the ex¬ 
tent and nature of for¬ 
ests in hie section, the 
development of the 
lumbering industry, 
and the other industries 
dependent on the for¬ 
est. The forests of the 
Pacific Coast being 
least known, both in 
their economic impor¬ 
tance and the distribu¬ 
tion and specific char¬ 
acters of the trees com¬ 
prising them, Professor 
Sargent reserved this 
for his individual in¬ 
vestigation. Accompa¬ 
nied by Mr. Robert 
Douglas, of Illinois, 
the well-known grower 
of trees, and Mr. Skin¬ 
ner, his private secre¬ 
tary. he left Boston in 
June, 1880, passed some 
time in Eastern Kansas 
studying the western 
limit of the Atlantic for¬ 
est, and then devoted 
some weeks to a hur¬ 
ried examination of 
the forest of Cen¬ 
tral Colorado. Then 
the Professor and Mr. 
Skinner went by rail to 
California, being joined 
en route by their asso¬ 
ciates, Dr. George Eq- 
gelinann, the distin¬ 
guished botanist of St. 
Louie, and Dr. C. C. 
Parry, who for more 
than thirty } ears has 
explored the botany of 
Western, and especially 
Southwestern, North 
America. From S*n 
Francisco the parly 
went by sea to Port¬ 
land, Oregon, and then 
thiough Puget’s Sound 
to Vancouver’6 Island, 
and up the Fraser Riv¬ 
er In British Columbia 
to above Yale. In de¬ 
scending the river they 
ascended a high peak 
south of it near .... 
the town Of Hope. • PEOFE880B SARaBNT. 
a Hudson's Bay station. Here much was 
learned In regard to the northern distribu¬ 
tion of the coniferous species of the Pacific 
forests, and there the party was fortunate 
enough to re-discover the Abies amabilis, a 
specieB discovered by Douglas more than 50 
years before in Oregon, and about which great 
confusion and doubt have always existed 
in the minds of botanists. The re-discovery 
of this truly magnificent species, the most 
beautiful representative of the genns in North 
America, and the determination of its range 
and specific character may be considered, per¬ 
haps, among the moat important of the scien¬ 
tific results of the expedition. The party 
then returned to Portland, stopping at various 
sARGUNX. MR. SKINNER DR. ENGELMANN. 
EXPLORERS OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE FORESTS.— Fig. 301. 
points to study the forests in their different 
aspects. 
They then, Dr. Parry having left them to ex¬ 
plore the botany of Mt. Adam?, ascended the 
Columbia River to the Dalles on the eastern 
edge of th i Pacific Coast forest, and in return¬ 
ing Prof. Sargent made the ascent of the high 
mountains south of the Cascades of the Colum¬ 
bia River and succeeded 
in reaching tbe very 
spot where, 50 years 
earlier, Douglas dis¬ 
covered his Abies am- 
abilis and Abie6 no- 
bili8, a spot which no 
botanist since Douglas 
had visited until August 
4,1S80, when Professor 
Sa-gent made the as¬ 
cent. 
From Portland the 
party went overland 
to Southwestern Oregon 
aad txp’ored tbe mag¬ 
nificent forests of Law - 
son’s Cypress which 
abounds in the neigh¬ 
borhood of Coos Bay 
) nd Port Orford. Then 
crossing the Coast 
Ringe. they proceeded 
south to tbe Mt. Shasta 
region in Northern Cal¬ 
ifornia, where several 
weeks were passed in 
exploring the forests of 
Northern California. 
Thence they returned 
to Ssn Francisco and 
then went sonth to the 
forest of the “Great 
Trees "(Sequoia) in Tu¬ 
lare Comny. and then 
to Los Angeles and to 
the San Bernardino 
Mountains. Then by 
rail eastward through 
Arizona to Tucson, tbe 
then eastern terminus 
of the railroad. From 
this point they went 
south by wagons to 
near the Mexican boun¬ 
dary into the huh 
Siuta Rita Mountains, 
where many interest¬ 
ing discoveries were 
made and many trees 
peculiar to the Mexican 
fl /ra were collected. 
From this point the 
pa'ty returned to San 
Francisco, and then af¬ 
ter a short stay in the 
Sierras near the cross¬ 
ing of the railroad, 
Professor Sargent re¬ 
turned home, after an 
absence of over four 
months, during which 
nearly 15. COO miles had 
been traversed. 
Tae expedition was 
thorcuiLly successful, 
and resulted in the 
most comprehensive 
and thorough survey of 
the Pacific forest wnich 
has ever been made, 
and which extended 
from far north of the 
British boundary to 
the Mexican boundary- 
in the south. A vast 
amount of information 
was collected in regard 
to the distribution of 
IGELMANN. species, their specific 
, character and economic 
