The Seeley Lake larch: Living link to indian and frontier history

Abstract

Western Montana’s Big Blackfoot River was once the gateway to a magnificent forest and the conduit that fed an immense sawmill. Epic log drives once choked the waterway full of timber each spring. The Big Blackfoot drainage was known for its majestic, centuries-old ponderosa pine and western larch trees. Although stately old ponderosas were widely distributed across the American West, western larch (Larix occidentalis), locally called tamarack, is restricted to the inland Northwest and occupies only limited areas there. It is a deciduous tree with needlelike leaves, and it stands out among the darker pines and firs as a towering, ramrod-straight tree with bright green foliage that turns yellow and then golden before falling in autumn.

Citation

Arno, Stephen F. 2010. The Seeley Lake larch: Living link to indian and frontier history. Forest History Today. Spring/Fall: 13-19.