Siskiyou County California

noted. Fifty sawmills produce an average of 200,000,000 hoard feet annually.Under the heading of Markets was told something of the demand for theseproducts of Siskiyou's forests in the interior and how the advantage of moredirect transportation counted to the profit of the lumbermen of this county.Thus far, this legion of lumbermen has only thinned the front ranks ofthe far-reaching files of forests. Fifty billion feet remain to be cut. Patriarchalsugar pines, ponderous trunks of yellow, or Western white pines, lordlyDouglass spruces, or firs, as they are commonly called, incense cedars andthe magnificent silver firs are massed in serried ranks over the ridges ofSiskiyou County. The more accessible tracts arc held in private tenure, whilemost of the remaining areas, especially on the upper watersheds of the manyfull-flowing streams, are under time jurisdiction of the United States ForestServiee. One large reserve, the Klamath Forest, covers all the public landlying in Siskiyou County that drains into the Klamnatli River from Goose NestMountain, near Butte Valley, westward. 'The Shasta National Forest includesMlount Shasta and the region draining into the Sacramento River in thesouthern portion of the county.While the activities of the Forest Service have been largely devoted to theconservation of the water supply that means so muelh to the farmers in tlovalleys, the Government administrators are opening up large tracts for lumberingoperations, subject to moderate stumpage charges. Several hundredthousand dollars a year are expended by the Forest Service officials inSiskiyou County in paying the fifty per cent. pro rata on receipts from timbersales, prescribed by federal statutes, and in further allowances for the constructionof roads, trails, bridges, telephone lines and wages for laboremployed.Soils and Their AdaptationTo come to a better understanding of the soils of Siskiyou County, let usfancy we are descending its mountains from the timberline, a mile and moreabove the velvety floors of the valleys. Between upthrust blades of lava andmasses of disintegrating granite, little pockets appear on the mountain sides,where soil has accumulated. Here the primeval forest grows higher anddenser than on the steeper slopes. At intervals glades, brilliantly green withluxuriant grass, intersperse the woodlands. Like the pay-streaks of placermines, the hinums derived from. decaying vegetation lies rich and deep inthese more nearly level recesses. Farther down, the humus coverlet widensout. It mingles with gravels of varying degrees of fineness. These gravelsbring potash, lime, magnesium and iron from the lava rocks from which theywere eroded.As the slopes diminish in gradient, the heavier gravels remain behind;the lighter continue on their downhill careers, keeping company with thehumus, or forest mold. Spreading out from foothill to the lower levels ofthe valley floor, this admixture of mineral and vegetable ingredients changesfrom light sandy soil to varying grades of loam.The upland layers of soil and subsoil are best adapted to the growing offruits, vines. berries and alfalfa.The lighter loam of the midway valley region is splendidly adapted to thecereals, potatoes and sugar beets, while alfalfa is a banner crop on this soil.The lowland loam darkens in color from brown to black and therein willbe found growing phenomenal yields of celery and asparagus.To the north of Mount Shasta are certain wide stretches that at first glancedo not appear inviting to the observer from the car window who is unfamiliarwith the so-called arid lands of the interior. Sandy soil, with sparse vegetationis open to question. In humid lands sand is sand, generally barrenquartz. Any question that may be raised concerning these sandy areas ofSiskiyou County has already been answered by Professor E. J, Wickson, for11