The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1905-02-25
LARGEST PINE RESERVATION
Immense Tract in Oregon Which Is
a Closely Guarded Forest
Empire.

The greatest forest or sugar pine on
the globe begins at klamath and EXTENDS
northward past the glittering peaks OF
Mount Pitt, Diamond, Thielson, Scott
and the Three Sisters to the very foot
of Jefferson, 200 miles to the north. IL
is a vast forest empire, ruled over py
the wild things of the deep woods, says
the Portland Oregonian. 1t embraces
territory over 1000 miles in extent.
Think Of it! AS large as the entire
state of Connecticut, one-half as large as
Massachusetts and three times as large
as the state of Rhode Island. Five hun
dred square miles of this is protected by
the guarding hand of Uncle Sam, an
army of vigilant rangers patroling every
district of it during the summer months.
Past the Lake of the Woods, in the
shadow of Mount Pitt, we followed the
Dead Indian road, driving deeper into
the land of everlasting greenness.
Above all is protecting, impenetraple
canopy. AS we march along silently,
there is but little change in the general
aspect. Sometimes the ground is matted
with underground, with manzanita,
cinnamon and chaparral; at other times
It is as open as the tabled forests OF ROD
in Hood with a carpet of green grass,
and the straight brown trunks bare OF
limbs for many feet up; again we pass
through frowning depts and over
ground strewn with dead leaves, twiga
and worm-eaten trunks and limbs OF
giants that had gone on before. But al
ways and above all there is the primevai
woods. the deep shadows, unbroken save
by few filtered beams at MONDAY.
The giant trees of this great forest
tower 200 and 300 feet high and are ex-
celled only by the famous redwoods OF
the Golden State. While the sugar and
yellow pine predominant. there are also
many frs, spruces, cedars, digger
pines. and on the higher attitudes the
somber black hemlocks. In the quail
ties of lightness, durability and strength
1t is superior to the celebrated and nov
extinct white pine of the eastern
states. For finishing, sash, door anf
box material sugar pine is unsurpassed
| On the borders of this great forest and IL
the purveyed and open districts hun
bred mills buzz industriously. the prod
ucts of which reach north to Canad;
and Alaska, south to Mexico and across
the Pacific and Atlantic to foreign lands
Over 100000 fruit boxes made of suga
pine cut from the border of this fores
are manufactured each year for the or
ange orchards OF southern Californi'
| alone.
At frequent intervals along the road
and trails warning signs are posted con
spicuously, cautioning hunters or camp
ers against leaving camp fires burning o
smoIdering. Violators Of the forest re
serve rules are liable to fine of $3.50, an
each ranger, as a government officer, ha
full power to arrest 1t is murder to Gu
tree in this forest empire. Falle
wood and broken boughs can be freel
used, but no tree can be hewed withou
q permit from the ranger of the distric
In which it is located. The purpose {
forest preservation is, primarily, for tn
benefit of future generations, and in SCI
ting aside the forests of the Uppe
Rogue, Oregon, the government ha
placed q guarding hand over as valuabl
belt Of timber as the world contains.