RIlPORT FOR FOREST ATLAS
OACHE NATIONAL FOREST, UTAH A..." IDAHO.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
The general charaoter of the cauntr in~lu4 d
in the Cache National For_st is mountainous, consistIng
ot spur of the asatoh Ran e extending in a north and
louth direction, cut up b.Y n rous valleys e tendin in a
gene ral east and west direotion, and draininp into Cache
Valley and GentIle valley on the est and into Bear Lake
11 on t.'le east . The elevati on of C he V:alley 1e ap ..
proxtmately 4500 feet, of Gentile V lley 5000, and of
Be r Lake Valley 6000 feet. The altitude the area in ..
cluded in this Foreet ranges from the elevation at the
vall ys t o high peaks over 9000 teet in elevatIon . The
larger peake are : Log Pea.: floutheast the City of
Lo an, approximately 9000 teet; Parie P ak west of Paris
i"l Idaho, 9500 teet j S3herman Peak near the north end ot
th orest, 9800 te t. There are nUll1orous other mall
peake having pproxi, tely an ole tiOD ot 9000 teet .
The hole ~ orest is drai ned ry Bear River w'ic
f 0 s in a northwest direction through Boar L.~e Valley
on t e east of this l orent and in a southwelt direction
ttrough Gentile and Caohe Valleys on the west . The stre
a rule are 11 and of no reat length, but are very ir-po~
t a the agricultur 1 leys ~ntioned depen d upon
the 1 r ely t or water supply both ~ o r cullna~' ar i rrig
tion punoses. The largest stre..- fl owfnl:. 1m this
orest is Logan RiTer 'ich fl ows about 250 sec. feet
w r~ it Ie TOS the Forest . I t furnia'los power t o t wo
po er plants, and the Cistanoe from the nead t o t.'le Forest
boundary 1s a proxImately 25 miles. Other import nt streams
re Cu River Whioh fl o I through the t ot Frankli n,
Idah o; ink Cr ek Which fl o •• thr h the town of Uink
Cr ek, Idahol Big Creek tl ow ln ~ thro~~h tn~ t own of st .
Charles, Idaho; Eightm11e draininc quite a 10 valley in
the northern extremity of thiB Foreet and fl o ng in a
northerly direction into Boar River not t r from Soda
~r1ngs . If the 8ize of these stre~e ie import nt, I
11 refer you to my report on etre fl ow f or this Fore t
oade in September 1908. Practically all at the agricultural
eettlements cover in" the three valleye rrounding this
For st are dependent UI'o" tr.e small stre s of this Forest
for t~cir water supply.
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l;ATURAL llESOURCES A.'ID IlIDUS'rRIES
Water:f'l ow
The princ ipal reason B f or oon8erving and regulating
the fl ow ot atreoms froll! th1s Forest are i ntimated
1n the remarks on drain'lge above. No recla.mat10n
work has been taken up Qy the government in this v1ci nity
cr that i s dependent upon the fl o of water from UliB Forest.
Several po ~rplants are in operation us1ng water
drained from this ~ore8t. The large p erplant at Grace,
Idaho, belonging t o the Telluride Power Comp ny is l ocated
on Bear River which 1s partially 8uppll ed with water
from this Forest. This plant develop approx1mately 18000
horse per. Four other plants are in op_ration j but one
pl~~t is l ocated on the Forest. It is on Logan River and
belongs to tlE C1ty of L03&11, devel ops appro 1ma.tely 150
horse power. The Telluride Power C o~any hae a plant at
the mouth of Logan Canyon just below the Forest boundary.
Tl e dam and part of the flume are l ocated on the .:'oreet.
The power devel oped by this plant is about 1500 horse pewe
A po .r plant on Cub Riv.r belonglnr to the High Creek
Po or Company Preston, Idaho, develops about 200 horse
power. The Paris Electric Light P1 nt l ocated on Pari s
Creek below the Forest bound y 1 of small si ze and devel
ops approximately 100 horae power. The development of
water power in water from thi6 Forest and in Bear River i
pro ably to be deTeloped in the future nuoh more than it
has been in the past. The power 16 abundant and should
be devel oped as rapidly as the inoreased demand f or it
rrants the inve6tment of oapi tal. There are no na.vi gable
strea.ms dependent upon this Forest.
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FOREST COVER
For a ful l discuoalon of the ~ orest Cover of
this Foreat and a type map desoribi ng it I wi sh to rafe r
you t o the work i ng plan report made ~ George PhilIp Bard,
Forest Assistant, durinG tl:o Il st l!Ulmler and submitted in
NovEmber 1908 .
Originally, no doubt , these mountains were well
stooked wi th a "'0 od Btand of red fir, Engelmann npruco ,
balsam, and l od,epole pine . Durin~ the pa t 40 years ,
ho rever, fires rmd destruotive'lumberi np have reduo d t he
original stand t o s all i olated patche that have escaped
the fireB , ann on ocount of inaccessibility the axe of"
tha l=berman.
The principal pnrpoce for which t 1s, ore t
shpuld be fully stocked with timber nd made to produoe
such as possible 1s the eupplyln~ of timber f or uildinc
purposes to be used in the valleys adJaoent to this
F or ~st . The 0 0 niti es in t e valleys have besn built
p ctioally from timber seoured in these mounta1ns. For
t 1e future de elopment a oonstant supply 01" timber at a
reasonable pri ce 1s necessary. and f or this reason ae muoh
good saw timber aa possible should be grown. The etr"
fl o nich is very important to the innustrieB of the valleys
depends also larg ly upon the prot ction afforded by a
plentiful stand of t i mber on the watersheda.
Rofor station t bein~ aec omplirhed at present in
many places by protection against Forest fire. . So 0 plaoea
howey ~ no reproduction 1s appeari ng due to laok of aeed
trees of valu ble spec1es and t o the presenoe in iMpenetrable
OAS3es or a spec ies or oeanothus, known 1 00 lly as
I rb or oh.parral . In these places &!foreatati on s~ould be
p ~tice nd the north lopes hieh are mo t pranieing r or
t suoc sstul growth or trees 8h ~11d be planted with Douglaa
F1r (Rrd F1r) L~ Engelmann spruce in the hi er alti tudes .
The que"tion of afforestation and plant1n~ 1s as yet without
the necessary r ound tion of careful experiments . Such experiments
shouJd be m de as ~ o on as means are available .
Appro 1~Ately 60 peroent of the i orest area as
no tree COT r but is covered with grass and herb ceous
plants. For this rea- on the grazing indust ry i s one of the
most important with Tlhich this Forest has to do . yareas ,
ho ever. covered with chaparral (larb) are no v ue hat-ever
eitner for graz1ng purpo es or timber supply alth h
this brush is of considerable value 1n the w~te rshed protectioR.
Sources of T1mber Supplies
The principal silvicu1tural types f ound an this
Foreet are moot conveniently named and descr1bed by the principal
co ere ial .,paeias found in each type. These typ s
are given ~s follows in order of c ereial importance :
Doublas Fir type, ~ngelmann cpruoe type, Lodgepole pi ne
type, ~~d Quaki ng aspen typ •
Praotically all t..loJe timber used in the valleys
Burr nd1ng this Foreet during the past for the building
of farm hOUS03, barns, and for bu1lding the numprouB ~ll
towns has bean out from the Dour,las Fir type t hat originally
c overed the north sl opes up to an ele va+.10n of about
7500 feet. Practically all the easily accessible D ou~las
Fir has been lumbered tl~at was not burned before it ~'as
re c"sd 'by the lumbermen. At present there 1'8 about 17
111ion feet B. ll. of Douglas Fir th.t can bo out :from this
Forest thout inj ury to the future Forest crop. Th" reproduction
of Doue-Ias ,bir 1. as a rule eood on the old
cuttings,
The ~ngelmann spruce type occupies tho highe r
north or gentle slopes and is one of the pr1ncipal av ilable
smlrce~ of the present timber supply. Thi s type 1s
ade up partly of Alpine Fir . till! amount 0 ;t. each of t'see
s!lecies that is capable of being out without injury to the
future crop 1s appro x~Ately 22 million feet B. ' . of Engelmann
opruce and 7 1/. million feet B. M. of Alpi ne Fir.
Repro ction o:f Alpine Fir pre do, inates 1n thio type and
is pparently cro ,dine out the Engelmann cpruoe which i a
superior corom rcial species.
Th Lodgepole pinc type oocurs on t..~e ~ioher ele-v
tion~ abov. 7500 :reet on the east side of the Jj'('Irect. There
is abort 2 1/ 2 "lillion feet of this species that oan be cut.
A a ruls the reproduotion of this pecies is splendid .
This type 13 often composed of pure stands of lodrepole pine .
The quaking Aspen type i o found on t~e hieher
elsv tiona above 7000 f et on the nortrerly slopes. I t 1s
de up almos t entirely of uakinr: Aspen vfuich c CI!l8 s in
good aft r a fire. This species 10 considered valuable
chiefly as firewood, fenoe posts, and as a watershed r,roteotion.
Ees1des the quantities of l i vi ng sa' t i mber abo
mentioned thsre is about 2 million teet~ . • of dead saw
timber and 35,000 cords of dead firewood t hat stQuld be
re oved fr om th1s Forest.
The market for the timber on tl,is Forest is f ound
in the valleys i mmedi toly surrounding them. Practically
no timber has been shipped from this reGion duri ng the
paet and there are no indicat10ns that it 11'111 be shipped
Sources of timber supply
1n the future as it i3 practioally all needed for the fu·
ture development of the valleys 1nmediately surrounding
thia Fore t .
The pr1ncipal towns l oc ated in th~oe valleys
are the f ollowing : Logan , Utah; Smithfield, Utah ; Rictu.lond ,
Utah; Franklin, I da",oj Preston, Ida' 0; 'ink Creek, I daho;
Soda Springs, I daho; }. ontpe11e", I daho; St.C',arles, IdaJ'1ol
~ieh Haven, Idaho; Laketo ,Utah; Bloomington , Idaho .
The only railroad 1n this region 10 the Oregon
Short I,ine which has a br nch in Cache VaJ.ley and arch
rU!lS frol':'l 1 cC8.l!Jllon throurh Soda SprinGS and fontp"'licr,
I'ich towns are nellr t r'e north end of this Forest, to the
Union Paoific in Wyomin •
The proba.ble future demand for t i mber 1'1111 exoeed
the demand durin'" the pa.st , l·ut c n be euppli.ed to t'leee
va.lleys by this Forc"t for an indefinite peri od 1n the
future if the lar~~r tOW18 on the railroad otill continue
to purchase considera.ble lumber hipped in from Ore~on and
other atatell as ill bein~ done a.t preS81't. Th'.l small "II~ste
in lumberin as co!!tp red wit tho.t in t:!1c pa.st Md more
c reful protection ag inst fire will do a great deal to
preserve the upply or lUl:lber for t!lis rer-ion . Durin.,. the
past very large pel'cent of the sup .ly of ti:nber on t'i8
Forest has been consumed by fire . Thie hal!! b"on due to
neglect ~~d lack of attenticn by tho settlers in the re ion.
Formerly no one ever considered it hie business to r o u~
and atop a fire , and no pains or 0 ro w s exer ieed to pre vent
one starting . lro de structi ve f ires "avo occurred on
this orect since it has been placed under Forest A~iniz tration,
and t ere is no likllhood of destructive fires 00 -
curring in the futuro as this is not a di ff i cult Foreet to
patrol or protect against firo , and the people liv1n~ adja.
oent to the Fore t and usinG t'1e Foreet have become ~du·
cated to the ereat 101ls to t'1C through this seri ous wast •
I
Agriculture
Agri culture is t}.e leading industry. .'heat, oats ,
b rley, ha;y , sugar beetn , and p otatoos are raised . 'These
are the principal product 0 the i'arm. Grain 15 raised
in lar c quantitics on both dry and irrigated lMd . ~IO
sugar factories ro in operation whic~l BUPI,ly the farmer
ith a good market for beets, The climate varie accordin
to loca.tion. _ e vallcy~ lying to t ,0 'cst of t _
r Foe re lesD liable to frost than thosctorderlng on the
ea t, al"d SOl!le seanons the crops are Bor ioullly o.f ected
frost in the Be r r,", e COl ntr,f which ia about 1500
feet Lie aI' tum C che V 110y. L rge Cfu Itities of o;rain,
otatoes, nrl bled h y re nhlpped to CTutoide markets,
al 0 tel:ulk of eug r nufa-ctured at the f ,c' ories,
Two condensed ilk factor1eo ai,d the creameries flhip to
o t lde =rketc l~r e qua.r.titie::; of t~leir produots. '1'h16
in' st y afforue a goo~ loc.l ~rket tor ~ll Burp us ~lk
produced by tl farmers.
AD t' co ntry develop; and t· e IJO[ulat10n in-crea
the 1 rge fB.l1n '~ll be divided and a mar inten-oj
ve ysto of till1I'.[' tre 3011 will be introduced Ilhich
.ill p:reatly dd to the outpltt of the so11 . ~ie 1 ng beets
for f ctoriec nnd vegetalleB for shipping 111 increase.
T cec ind tries require irrirat10n and consequently de-p
n upon tl-a mountain streams. Tho waterBbeds nco under
gov rnmcnt protection iII lncr(laec t'le later flo and acslst
in bringing about these C'l mged conditions .
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Graaing
From tho beginning of settlement stook raising
h& been one of th industries; and before the val~eyo sur rounding
t.ls Forest were settled they were used for summer rango,
and the stock was driven to other looalities for the winter.
The early settlers made stook raising the leading feature, built
stockades, cut and stacked wild hay which grew in abundance
along the river bottoms. They generally herded the1r stock in
the valleys and along the fo ot h11ls durin the day, a..1 fathered
them at night and stood guard over the to protect them
from the Indians. Toda,y a TCry small peroent of the people
make stoc}- raising their exclusive business, alt"'ough the ml'jority
of farmers raise stOck. Thes are mostly miloh cown and horsss
which they usually pasture in summer and feed at ho in ,rlnter.
The auntain range is suited only to G~r grazinr due to elev -
tion and depth of snowfall in winter." Range condit!" i .prove
fro ye r to year under Forest ~Anage nt. This io encouraging
to t e stockcen and a satisfaction to the officers . The najority
of t'le stock o'llIlers are bona fide settlers with their homes
end property locally situated. The output of stock is uold in
eastern rkete, principally Omaha. The stook are shipped by
railroad to t~ stock y ds.
Before the range was placed under government
supervision tran ient stoCk, moro espeoially sheep, filled the
mountains and canyons coming from all direotions. They !limply
took possession of the range Whioh the resident farmers largely
depended upon for their summer graz1ng, compelling the f ers to
se k other pastures or feed t. eir stoCk at home. This wa.s not
all, sheep men were accustomed to bed upon streams polut1ng the
ater makl it unfit for culinary pur OBPS, and giving to the
hole r~ge the odor of sheep .
Tod~ the looal stock 0" 'Iler is protected against
theae free for 11 invasions, ~d his stook usually st~ on the
range dur1ng the :raz1ng seasan if they not drived off t o
market. The gr e of stock improves from year to :ear with the
increase of teed and better management. The pub110 in general
is benefited by the proteotion or streams :"ld spring!) {hieh has
purified the water.
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)lin1ng
The mining induatry is very l1m1ted, and while there
baa been coneiderable proepeoting done no ore bodies or veins
of any commercial value have been found. The mining industry
would have to depend al togethar upon the timber trom the li'orest.
•
Leading Industries
The leading industry of the valleys lIurrounding thia
Forest is agriculture. Of this industry the branch of stock
raising is one of the most important. But few stoak owners depend
eltirely upon etock ra1sing and make it their ohief industry,
but it 1s considered 0. part of agriculture. The businesB of the
small towns surrounding this Forest is dependent pr imarily upon
agrioulture. About eight banks are doing business in these towns.
C ohe Valley h s several faotories that depend entirely upon
agriculture, namely, two su' r factories, two oondensed milk
factOries, a d quite a number of creameries hav also been established
in this valley. There ar~ three kni tHng factories located
in the town of Logan whioh ,ivo considerable employment, and
are not dependent upon a~riculture. The Telluride Power Com
pany has a power plant on Lo n River whioh is belo the b ounda
of this orest, and one at Graoe, Id~10, on Bear River and eir
miles west of the w.st 'oundary of this Forest.
Practio lly all of the industries abovo are dependent
uIon the Forest for their supply of timber and firewood hieh
are indispensable I ~or good summer range so neoeSJ y to the
most profitable rai ing of beef, mutton, and wool; and for water
supply for irrir;ation Purl.oses. While a large part of the land
in the valleys is not i rrigated and is not dependent upon the
tar supply from thie Forest, still the irri ated lands are
flO ttered throughout the valleYIl and mary farmers hav part of
heir fanr.s irrigated and the rest managed on the dry land plan.
The Bug r beet industrJ i praotically dependent upon irrigated
llUld.
-8-
SET RS
In 1859 the first settlers came into Cache Valley to
build permanent homes. The first winter they built a f ort on
the wsst side of the valley in what is now called Wellsville,
being nece ssa.ry to fo rtify themselves aga.inst the invasi on of
Indians. They were , young , full at hope aul detoninatl on, a
class used to frontier life and roughing it. They were all
poor being limited to a tean of horsee or oxen and fe',i milch
eows. They were attraoted to Caohe V",lley by the quality of
oil, the beautiful streams, and gradng possibilities. T11rough
their industry and perseveranc e houses wer built, and land was
fenoed, tilled and made producti? This attracted other home
seeker and new settlements spr nge up from ye r to year camp
posed largely of the same olass of people . As time el psed 1d
the Indi ns were subdued, s 11 vilages and ranc os ~cr in
evidence riherev r fa.vorable conditions pre iled, until th
hole oircumference of tho Forest is nOl'-I ore or less sottled
a1 thou 11 very scatt sring in some parts due to 5urrounding condition
•
A very limited number have tried fanning within the
Forest, and there is not likel:,' to be any futUre inoro8.so as
thet'e is little or no land suitable f or agricultural pur ,oses.
Another clas' of settlers were attracted as the co ntry
grow and the people prospered--the speoulative or business class
seokin~ investment . They could S06 tho opportunity for open1ng
mercantile est blishmente, ba.ks , ater po er faoilities , buy-in
and shipping the produots of t ho farm, building factories,
flour ,mill and other enterprises , until today th country is
made up of ~l cIa se ••
eathor the Forest wi ll attract other classes t am
unable to s~, but all t~~t are now her~ enj oy the benef1ts of
Foreat ~gement , and the maj ority are 11 satisfied lith the
changed condit1on bro ht about through protection .
-,-
FUTURE D'll:VELOP liT OF THE Fe ST
After stating the industries as t have it can be
easily eeen in what manner dOTelopmentot these 1ndu tries
can be increased by proper m.nage ent ot this Forest. To
produoe the best results Forest management must produoe a
lar e supply at timber, tence posts, and t irewood f or developing
he ranohes. Roads sh Id be built to make this timber
ooessible. Waters[~ds must be protected to supply the most
constant 1'10 in the stream upon whioh tJe irr1gated lands and
power plants depend . The r nge must be .andled in the beet
possible nner so as to give the great est :"lount or go od to
the gre t st n~ber of l ooal users . Thi Forest must theretore
be looked upon &s being created and man d to acoomplish
these tree purposes, tlm~er supply, waters' ed proteot1on,
and fora~e supply.
MEANING AND DERIVATION OF N OF THE FOREST
The na.me Cache Valley first IIoP jeared in pri nt i n
Fremont'3 Otficial Report of hiB explorations publiahed in 1843.
In 1847 t he Kormon Pi oneers met a. ' r. Farris eaat of the Rocky
auntains. Thill man was a tr pper and guide of l ong expe r ience.
He gave them the most favorable account of a. small region under
the B. r River Mount ain!! called Cache Valley. He at ted t~e
place derived its nar.e from tho fact ti1at trapperll and traders
had been in the habit of ca.~~ing their robaa, furs, and sup:liee
there to ide them from the I 'diane . Thill i ni ormation i a contained
in a clipping from tho Utah Gazetecr relating an int er viewby
~m. Clayton, Secretary to Bri&~am Young, with a trapper
and CUide by the name of Harris .
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The most important his torioal i ncident conneoted with
the settlement of Caohe Valley atter the settlers first arrived
in 1859 was the battle with the Indians on 3&ttle Creek a small
tributary of :Rear piver in the north end of Cache VOUlcy on
January 29, 1,63. Before this date t he I '1d1alll!! had oontir::ually
hara8sed t he Hettlers by stealing their oattle and making invasions
upon thei r 81'11.11 farms. Durinr, the winter of 1862 and
1863, about 300 warri ors with thei r fa!rJ.l1es w _re ccmpcd a.l'ld
f ortified on Battle Creek very near i tn mouth. Col onel P~trick
O'Connell, afterwards general, who Vias the r' in eommand of Fort
Douglas, Salt Lake City, with about 30e cavalry and infantry of
the California volunteers attacked the Indians and practically
annihilated them. The Indi a.ns Vlere of the tribes of "the ;'annocks
an~ Shoshones under Chiefs Bear Hunter, Pocatello, and San Pitch.
Chief Bear Hunter was killed , but Pocatello and Sa.n Pitch cscaped.
Bancrofts history r ives t he number of soldi er s killed
outright as 14 . Th er ~ were a large number of ',I'ounded ',':, . 0 after wards
f. ied. About 40 are said t o have died as a result of this
battl~ A monument was erected to their memory a.t Camp Douglas .
As a result of thio battle the reibn of terror exer-cised
by the Indians over the settlers was broken and very l i ttle
trouble 7i£\0 experienced by the settlers w1 th the I ndians thereafter.
- SeTeral large springs are f ound on thb Fcrest v.hi ch
are somewha.t of natural viOnders in t he amount of water t hat i8-
suea from one plac e . The f ormation being limestone under ground
ohannel-s must exist whi ch are fed by slnk holes in the h i Gher
country. Ricks Spri ng in Logan Canyon i s t he most acce ssible
of these springs, and 10 l ocated about 18 miles fr om th o:) city of
Logan. Th.e fl ow of this st~am in summer i s about 15 second feet .
Bi g Spril'!g in Cub RiTer issues in two op eni ngs about ten feet
apart ancS- fl ows about 25 second te cto T':'.e sp ri nt: at t..'1e head of
Swan Cr4tek in I daho near the Ut-ah line just b 'J10w the east b,undary
of tC1e Forest fl ows a. stre ar. of over 10<, second feet.
