The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1929-09-06
ON THE TRAIL
THRU WYOMING
Continued from page one)

Nu iht III OafCo GIL
in loading up.
And now our road wound down
the mountain, much of the way
cut through a forest of pine or
quaking aspen, with here and
there a glimpse of a mountain
stream, with here and there bands
Of sheep grazing on grassy patches
or lying in the shade. Occasional
summer homes were to be seen
back from the road and once in a
while a forest rangers home, or,
set in a little cleaning, a red kiosk
in which is kept fire fighting tools.
Brooklyn lake where we lunched
was up in the air 10,400 feet, and
we came down more than 1000
feet in about ten miles.
Laramie is the headquarters Of
the Medicine Bow forest and the
division through which our route
took us, comprises about $4,000
acres. Railroad ties, telephone
poles and mine timbers are the
principal timber products of this
region and during the year, an
average of 10000, 900 board feet
of timber is cut.
Forest Conservation
A well planned system of forest
conservation is in effect on all
timber lands owned by the gov
eminent in the Medicine Bow
forest. Cutting is planned on a
basis of sustained yield, and only
an amount of timber equivalent to
the anticipated yearly growth of
timber on the forest at large is
cut each year. Timber is adver-
tised and sold to the highest bid
der, but before cutting begins for
est rangers trained in the work
designate for cutting, by a blaze
and United States stamp, all trees
which the purchaser may cut.
The mature and diseased or in
jured trees are first marked for
removal, and if trees are growing
too closely in groups, certain trees
are marked for cutting to properly
thin the stand. The smaller trees
are left for future growth, and
serve the further purpose of fur
nishing seed to re-stock the areas
cut over, as we'll as leaving a
stand of timber on the ground to
retain and conserve snow and
rainfall. This is an important
function of forests and of great
value to Wyoming, where a we'll
regulated and bountiful supply of
late irrigation water is essential
to the ranching industry.
Forest rangers supervise the
logging operations in enforcement
of the timber contracts and the
regulations, as well as scaling or
counting all timber cut.
The only town on the route of the,
road from Laramie to Saratoga,
crossing the Snowy Range, or
Medicine Bow mountains, is Cen
tennial, first started as a mining
town and later reached by the
Laramie, North Park & Western
railroad. Gold was formerly pro-
duced in paying quantities both at
Centennial and at Battle and other
places on the Hayden division in
lode mines, and on Douglas Greek
from placer workings. At the
present time considerable mining
development work is being done in
various parts of the forest.
The Laramie Flats
The Sunday that we were taken
for an interesting ride up into the
Pole Mountains we had climbed
up on a lookout tower at the sum
nit of this range and had looked
down at the smokestacks of Lar
annie, eleven miles away, and be-
yond the city a vast gray plain
that was spoken of as the Laramie
flats. This plain was a dust color
in the distance and there were u
number of pools scattered over its
surface. | thought | was looking
at a bit of desert, but when we
~traversed the miles and miles of
these plains that lay between the
foot of Sheep mountain, the forest,
and the city of Laramie, we found
that the desert" of my imagin-
alton was covered with lush gray
green grass and we p e d
hundreds of head of w~hitefaces
that we're being fattened for mar
ket there. The pools resolved
themselves into fair sized lakes.
An Unfinished Story
At a grade crossing several
miles from Laramie we came upon
evidence of an accident-a dam
aged car at the side of the road,
broken glass, blood on the ground.
Although there were several cars
parked neal the spot, one of the
bystanders could tell what had
happened. The people who be-
1onged with the car were gone.
Had the car been grazed by a
train, how badly was someone
hurt, were questions that still re-
main unanswered as far as we are
concerned. A good story, perhaps,
but an unfinished one that the