on- . 1899. 1 



STREAMS. 



23 



of smaller ])lauts. These places, in Mud Creek and Ash Creek canyons, 

 are the homes of the mountain showt'l or sewellel {Aplodontia major), a 

 curious bob-tailed rodent resembling a, large muskrat, wliich lives in a 

 labyrinth of subterranean passages in wet ground, and cuts and drags 

 to its burrows bundles of coarse plants on which it feeds. Weasels 

 {ruforin.s ((rizonen.si.s) are usually found in the aplodontia colonies 

 and it is safe to assume that their presence there is the most serious 

 factor in tlie life of the rightful owners of the land. 



STREAMS. 



The streams that come from glaciers are rapid, turbid, and muddy, 

 and have cut deep V-shaped canyons down the steep slopes of the 

 mountain. Those that come from melting snow are clear as crystal 



Fig. 10. — Heather meadow on ujiper S<iiiii\v Cit-ek, .showini; i-oiKeiitration of vej^etation near stream. 



and usually flow on the surface or in shallow channels hardly more 

 than a foot or two in depth. They are smaller and less constant than 

 those from the glaciers, and in times of high water carry so much 

 gravel and pumice that they often block their own shallow channels 

 and overflow, cutting new courses near the old ones. During the fluc- 

 tuations incident to the irregular melting of snow they often reopen the 

 older channels and at the same time retain the new, so that on the 

 higher slopes it is not unusual for a mountain rivulet to occupy several 

 beds at the same time. These are commonly separated by intervals of 

 a few feet or a few rods, and the spaces between are often covered with 

 l)atches of red heather, dotted Avith flowering plants of many kinds. 



