, iron pyrites.
CHAPTER XVI.
A TALK ABOUT THE FORESTS OF THE NORTHWEST.
In the Northwest the forests are found almost exclusively on the mountains. Along the margins of streams there is usually a belt of timber a quarter of a mile in breadth; and on Puget Sound the timber reaches from the mountains down to this inland sea, the same as on the outer coast. On the Columbia this belt, even on the low grounds, is wide, and, as there is a range of highlands of considerable elevation extending from the mouth of this river to and beyond its passage through the Cascade Mountains, with only occasional depressions, there is a great body of timber within reach of tide-water.
The base of the Coast Mountains on the west comes within two to six miles of the sea, and frequent spurs reach quite to the beach, forming high promontories. From the coast to the eastern base of the Coast Mountains is a distance of from twenty to thirty miles. Allowing for the margin of level land toward the sea and for openings among the foot-hills on the eastern side, here is an immense body of forest lands extending the whole length of the State, from north to south.
Again, the Cascade Range has a base from east to west of about forty miles, including the foot-hills. All the west side of this range is densely wooded, making another great supply of timber. The east side, having an entirely different climate, does not support the same heavy growth of trees.
These forests furnish a most interesting study to the botanist. Beginning our observations on the coast, we find that near the sea we have, for the characteristic tree, the black spruce (Abies Menziesii ). It grows to a diameter of eight feet, and to a considerable height, though not the tallest of the spruces. Its branches commence about thirty feet from the ground, growing densely, while its leaves, unlike the other species, grow all round the twig. The foliage is dark green with a bluish cast. The bark is reddish and scaly, and the cones, which grow near the ends of the branches, are about two inches in length, and
