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ARNOLD ARBORETUM. 7 ceedingly rough mountanious territory watered east of the divide by the north fork of Sun River and
west of the divide by the south fork of the Flat Head River and by the Swan River, a large tributary of Flat Head Lake. The
forests on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains are here similar in character to those in the eastern part of the proposed
Flat Head Reserve; they protect the sources of innumerable streams trioutary to the Missouri and essential to the existence
of a considerable population residing on their banks and dependent on their waters for themselves and their stock. West of
the continental divide the forests are heavier and are composed of Yellow Pines, Lodge Pole Pines, Larches, Douglas Spruces,
Balsam Firs, and some White Fine these Forests are valuable for their influence on the flow of water in tributaries of the
Columbia and for their timber which can be easily floated into Flat Head Lake and then distributed by rail. In this proposed
Reserve there are no agricultural or grazing lands and no evidence of valuable mineral deposits; and no land whatever has
been legally settled on. The desirability of this forest Reserve has been discussed for many years and numerous petitions
favoring it have been filed in the office of the Secretary of the Interior. 6. The Priest River Forest Reserve. This proposed
Reserve occupies the basin of Priest Lake and Priest River in the extreme northern part of Idaho and in northeastern Washington,
and extends from a point a few miles north of the line of 02231 ARNOLD ARBORETUM. 8 the Great Northern Railroad to the
International Boundary; it is bound on the east by the summits of the ridges separating the waters flowing into Priest lake
from those tributary to the Kootenay River, and on the west by the summits of the ridges separating the waters of Priest Lake
from those flowing into Clark's fork of the Columbia. It has an estimated area of 552,960 acres, and is covered with what
is believed to be the most valuable body of timber in the interior of the continent. This is composed of the western White
Pine which grows here to its largest size and in its greatest perfection, Tamarack, Cedar and Spruce, all of large size. The
forests on this proposed Reserve have no significance as protectors of moisture and the flow of rivers, for this region is
abundantly supplied with water, and its streams will always be able to meet any drain which may be made on them by the needs
of irrigation. The establishment of this Reserve is recommended, therefore, that this body of timber may be preserved illegible
it is actually required by the demands commerce, and that the Government may obtain for it its true market value. If scientific
management of the forests on the Reserves is ever attempted, the proposed Priest River Reserve from the nature of its forest-covering
and the case with which its timber can be marketed, will be found admirablysuited for silvicultural experiments. No land in
this proposed Reserve has been entered, out it is covered by the land grant to the 02231