The Ozette Prairies of Olympic National Park - Natural Resources ...

Appendix 2
Quote from James Swan’s Unpublished Field Notes
On July 21, 1864, James Swan had lunch at the Ozette Village and then took off by foot down
what is now called the Cape Alava Trail, bound for Ozette Lake, accompanied by Indians from Badda,
Kiddecubbut (a Makah summer village), and Ozette. On the way they walked through West Prairie and
Ahlstrom’s Prairie, both of which Swan described in the following passage (1859-1866):
“The trail commenced a short distance south of the village and runs up to the top of the hill or
bluff which is rather steep and about sixty feet high. From the summit we proceeded in an easterly direction
through a very thick forest half a mile and reached an open prairie which is dry and covered with
fern, dwarf sallal [sic] and some red top grass, with open timber around the sides. This prairie has the
appearance of being long and narrow. Its length running in the direction of the coast and about a quarter
of a mile wide where we crossed it, although from the appearance of the land south I infer that it is much
wider at intervals. From the prairie we pass through another belt of timber to another prairie lying in
the same general direction as the first but somewhat lower and having the appearance of being wet and
boggy. This was covered in its drier portions with a coarse grass and some red top and in the lower portions
with water grass and thick moss which yielded moisture on the pressure of the feet.”
Had Swan taken photographs, made accurate field measurements, and done a vegetation tran-
sect, we would have had a better idea of what the Ozette Prairies were like before they began their change
to forested habitat. But his description offers some vital clues nevertheless. It appears that West Prairie, at
least, was much bigger than it is now. It was a quarter of a mile wide where Swan crossed and appeared
‘much wider at intervals,” whereas a 1984-edition quadrangle map shows a maximum width of little
more than a quarter mile as well as constrictions that make it discontinuous along its length. Swan also
described the wetland as being surrounded by “open timber,” whereas the present bordering forest is
dense and thick with undergrowth.
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