Richald N. Mack, Departmenlof Botany Washngton StateUn versty, Pulman, Washngton 99164.4230 First ComprehensiveBotanical Survey of the ColumbiaPlateau, Washington:The Sandbergand LeibergExpedition of 1893 Abstract In 1893two field agents of tbe U.S. Departn€nt of Asriculture, John H. Sandbergand John B. Leibers, made the firsr com prehensivebotsnical survey of the Columbia Plateau.Leiberg's never'publishedreporr of rheir expedition provides a generat accountof lhe dislribulion of nuch of the region's flora and irs early agricuhure. ln addirion, he identified the compararively few native sp€ciesthat were becoming nore prominent lhrough disru.bancele.g., Deschanpsia d.anthonioides,Descuruinia richa sonii, aadFestuca at.rosld.4s)and nembers of tbe enlargingalien flora (e.g.,Ama.anthus retrcfleau, Arteniis &taati:, B.onus mo is,Bronus secalinus,Ercdiun cicutdiun, an<Jlterbucun thopsas).His narrativeprovides a her€roforeunavailable viel' of the region's flora just before the masive transformationof the steppethrough the introduclion of aggreslivealiens, including Bromzs tectorun, Salrola kati, and Sisymbriun ahisimum. Introduction earlyexplorers seldom mentioned the region's vegetationand physicalenvironments except in The naturalgrasslands or steppein the Pacific referenceto their own hardships.For example, Northwesthave been drasticallyaltered since in l84l Brackenridgetrekked along the northem Europeansettlementi the frequencyof fire, the rim of the ColumbiaPlateau (McKelvey 1955). magnitudeof erosion,the cyclingof minerals,the Neitherhis notesnor thoseof Ceyer(1846) are compositionand productivityof the biota have little beyonda diaryof the plantsseen each day. all been changedirrevocably. The steppein Residentplant collectorssuch as Suksdorf(1892) Washingtonexemplifies these changes (Dauben- compiledmuch of the regional flora but provid- mire 1970, Rickard er aL. 1977, Busaccaet al. ed little ecologicalinformation. No detailedcom- 1985,Mack I986).Although this region wasonce mentarywas prepared of unplowedgrasslands dismissedas the "Creat ColumbiaDesert," a until Criffiths (1902)and Cotton(1904) examined land rush was sparked by the discoveryin the the 0kanogan Valley and no hern half of the late 1870'sthat much of thesegrasslands was ColumbiaBasin, respectively. The first ecological eminently suitablefor growing winter wheat.By investigationthat included quanlification was nol 1890almost 25,000 km'? was in privateownership conducteduntil l9l3 andwas restricted to Whit- as farms or pasturage (Meinig 1968). These man County(Weaver t9l7). Shantz'scommen- grasslandsdisplay low resiliencyto disturbance tary on the regional vegetationwas basedon a (Mack and Thompson I982, Harris et al. 1987), rapid trip that waslargely restricted to railways and the introduction of wheat agriculture, (Shantzand Zon 1924).Comprehensive study of livestockand alien plantstransformed the region the steppevegetation in Washingtondid not by 1920 into arable fields and rangelands begin until 1937,culminating in Daubenmire dominatedby alienspecies suchas Bromus tec- (1970). torum, Poa pratensis, and Sa/solakali' (Mack l986). Civen this paucity of information from the l9th century,the recentdiscovery of a heretofore This levelof destructionis particularlyun- unknownrnanuscript based on a botanicalsurvey foltunate because the record of the natural on the ColumbiaPlateau in lB93 providesthe vegetationcompiled before 1940is almosten- earliestknown account of the originaldistribu- tirely anecdotal.Each plant collectorbeginning tion of much of the steppeflora. Unlike other with the Lewisand Clark expeditionof 1805-1806 accountswritten before 1940, many of the includednotes on vegetationalong with his her- botanicalobservations in the manuscriptcan be barium specimens(Thwaites 1905). But these verifiedbecause the field notesand mostof the cataloguedspecimens to which it refershave 'Nomenclatnre follo{s Hitchcocl et ol. (1955.69). been preserved.The report was apparently ll8 NorthwestScience, Vol. 62, No. 3, 1988 "Catalogue writtenby JohnB. Leibergbased on the expedi- of plantscollected by J. H. Sandberg tion heand J. H. Sandbergundertook as U.S.D.A. and J. B. Leibergin Washingtonduring 1893" field agentsin the springand summerof 1893. (Anonymousn.d.), Leiberg's list of plantscol- The timing of their trip wasfortuitous because lectedon this trip (unpublishednotes in the Ar- they wouldhave seen the ColumbiaPlateau in chivesof the Universityof Oregon),and the ex- transitionfrom native steppeto agro-ecosystems. aminationof 613 of their 837 vascularplant As early as 1893, it was becoming widely specimensthat are depositedat Washington recognizedthat the region's original bunch- StateUniversity (WS) and the National Museum grasses(particularly Agropyron spicatum and of Natural History (US).(They also made44 col- Festuca idahoensis)were severelyover-grazed lections of bryophytesand hepaticsthat I have and were being rapidly destroyed(e.g., An Il- not examined.)I will refer throughoutthis paper lustrated History of Whitman County 1901, to Leiberg'sreport, thereby acknowledging his Shear l90l). The Union Pacific Railroadhad authorshipof the manuscript. alreadyended the openrange policy on its land in a futile attempt to reducethe damageby Leiberg'sRepon of the 1893Trip "Acting itinerant herders(Brodie 1898),and feeble and und€r orders fron the Hon. Sefietary of often misguidedattempts were being launched Agriculrure, J. Sterling Morton and the chief of the to find substitute forage grasses(Mack l98l). Botanical Division, Irederick V. Coville to make a colleclion of the flora o{ the Plains of the Colunbia, Despitethe potentialscientific value of an ac- to determine its east and wesl linits and to make count of the 1893expedition, it was not pub- observationson the climate,pasture, and agricuhural lished.Much of the manuscripthad beencom- areasof the reeion, and later in the season10 asc€.d pleted by early 1896 becauseLeiberg then in- the easternslopes of the Cascadesto the sunmit of formed C.V. Piper, a botanist at what is now sone of the higher elevarions, {e proceeded lo "I WashingronState University that, think the Spokane, Washington, this city having been reportof the Washingtoncollection of '93 will designatedas th€ outfitting and starting point." appearnext spring, possiblyalso that of the '94 Oregontrip of and the onein Idahoof'95, Upon leaving Spokane, Sandberg and but am not sure." (papersof C. V. Piper, in Leiberg'sfirst campwas established on May l5 Manuscripts,Archives, Special Collections, on HangmanCreek south of the city; while based WashingtonStare University).In the annual at this site theycollected in northernWhitman Report of the Botanist (U.S.D.A.)for 1897, Countyand southernLincoln County. The rest Leiberg's report is noted as forthcoming, of the trek proceededin a generallywestward ". .but its publicationhas been postponed in direction:at Coal Creek(Carnp 4), alongCrab orderto permitthe incorporationof the databy Creek(Camp 5,6, & 7),to WilsonCreek (Camp nowbeing se,"ured br loi^albotanists in remote B),and arriving at Egbert Spring (near Ephrata) portionsof the area." Further delayprobably on June30. They carnpedon the ColumbiaRiver resultedfrom Leiberg'stransfer to the U. S. nearRock Island, and thenfollowed the Colum- Geological Survey. Leiberg continued his bia to its confluencewith the WenatcheeRiver. botanicalwork in the Pacific Northwest(Leiberg The rest of the surveywas conducted along the 1900),but neitherthe report for the lB93 trip WenatcheeRiver or its tributariesuntil they in Washingtonnor for his lB94 trip to eastern campedat the summit of StevensPass on 9 Oregonwas completed before his deathin I9l t. August.They stayedup to two weeksat each The appearanceof Piper'smore comprehensive campsiteand made daily collectingtrips (Figure Flora of Washingtonin 1906probably signalled l). Ar the end of AugustLeiberg recrossed the the end of anv need for further U.S.D.A. ColumbiaPlateau to Spokanealong a more botanical surveys. Fortunately, the 122 page northerlyroute so as to ensurethat no taxawere typedmanuscript of the I893 trip waspreserved overlooked.By Leiberg'saccount they travelled in the archivesof the now defunctDivision of 413km from Spokaneto the summitof Stevens Botany in the NationalArchives and Records Passin the CascadeRange in about four months. Service. Including the side trips and daily forays,he My paper is based on this unpublished estimatedthat the expeditiontravelled a totalof manuscript(Sandberg and Leiberg n.d.), the 2000 km. The Sandbergand LeibergExpedition of lB93 I l9 j PEND FERRY' RE/LL E OKANOGAN 0kono)00! Hiqhlt f'" S TE , t ,,t i-4.. L/NCOLil IsPbt ANE I s\e!en! ,._), -, qr .,i Q t\ i\) .01 q tv. III ,,,b '.K/TT/TASt I 'MS -l WH/TMAN -lI I g\\ , L/N I i,oa n r- I -- t it.o 5 lr=: UMB/A YA K/ M A LIA L L A WA L L A ''ASOT/ BENTON KL/CK/TAT O 20 40 Mrles F-L_ t _rr rl A 20 40 60 Kilomeier N Figure L The westward trek of Sandberg and Leiberg's expedition across the Colunbia Plateau in 1893 generally folloned the roedray of the Creat Northern Railroad. The circled nurnbers indicare Sandberg and Leiberg's designation of their campsites as welJ as the campsites' locations and the chronology in nhich the carnps l,ere established. Ronan numerals refer to their four najor bolanical districtq the Columbia River is the boundary between Districrs II and IIL Comparedto earlier collectorsSandberg and to C. V. Piper,Leiberg described plant collect- Leibergwere more mobile because their ragons ing in the regionas a slowand