This is a fourth region of short summers and long winters, where the moisture is collected to fertilize adjacent lands; but the altitude is not great enough nor the area large enough to accumulate a large supply of water, and the amount furnished by the Tavaputs Plateaus is comparatively small.
Such are the lofty regions of Utah that furnish water to irrigate the lowlands.
TIMBER.
In these elevated districts is found all the timber of commercial value. This is well shown on the map. The map also exhibits the fact that many portions of the elevated districts are devoid of timber, it having been destroyed by fire, as explained in a former chapter. Doubtless, if fires could be prevented, the treeless areas would in due time be again covered with forests, but in such a climate forest growth is slow. At present, the treeless areas will afford valuable summer pasturage for cattle, and doubtless such pasturage would be advantageous to the growth of new forests, by keeping down the grasses in which in part the fires spread. It has already been shown that, to a great extent, the fires which destroy the forests are set by Indians while on their hunting excursions. The removal of the Indians from the country will further protect the forests. Eventually, the better class of timber lands will fall into the hands of individual owners, who will be interested in protecting their property from devastation by this fierce element. By all of these means the standing timber will be preserved for economic uses; but it will be a long time before complete immunity from fires will be secured.
The demand for lumber will never be very great. A variety of causes conspire to this end. The adjacent country will sustain but a small agricultural population, because the irrigable lands are of limited extent. The people of the lowlands will eventually supply themselves with fuel by cultivating timber along the water courses and by using the coal so abundant in some portions of Utah. The lumber will never be carried to a foreign market because of the expense of transportation: first, it will be expensive to get it down from the highlands to the lowlands, and, second, there are no navigable streams by which lumber may be cheaply transported from the country. In general, the lumber is of inferior quality, and cannot successfully compete for a permanent place in the markets of the world. But there will be a demand for lumber for building and fencing purposes in the valleys, and for mining purposes in the mountains.
If the timber region can be protected from fire, the supply of timber will equal the demand.
From the brief description given above, it will be seen that the timber region will never support agriculture. Much of it is mountainous and inhospitable, and the climate is cold. The timber region is ever to be such; mining industries will slightly encroach on it on the one hand, and pasturage industries on the other, but lumbermen will control the country.
The forests of these upper regions are monotonous, as the variety of tree life is very small. All of the timber trees proper are coniferous, and belong to the pine, fir, and juniper families. The pine of chief value is Pinus ponderosa, locally distinguished as the “Long leaved pine”; the wood is very heavy and coarse grained, but is suitable for the ruder building and mining purposes. It is usually found on the slopes between eight and nine thousand feet above the level of the sea. It attains a large size, and is a stately tree, contrasting grandly with the darker and smaller firs that usually keep it company.
Pinus aristata is of no commercial value, as it is much branched and spreading with limbs near the base; it grows on the crags at an altitude of from nine to eleven thousand feet.
Pinus flexilis grows at the same altitude as the last mentioned, and often shows a similar habit of growth. On the southern plateaus it is less branched and has a tolerably straight trunk, but it is too small and scarce to be important as timber. It is highly resinous, and is called “Pitch pine.”