of 



delayed the water running off; but this, un- 

 checked, had carried off with it tons of earthy 

 material. One slope on the first burn suffered 

 heavily; a part of this day's "wash" was de- 

 posited in a beaver pond, of half an acre, which 

 was filled to the depth of three feet. The beav- 

 ers, finding their subterranean exits filled with 

 wash, had escaped by tearing a hole in the top 

 of their house. 



Leaving this place, I walked across the range 

 to look at a fire that was burning beyond the 

 bounds of the snowfall. It was in a heavily for- 

 ested cove and was rapidly undoing the con- 

 structive work of centuries. This cove was a 

 horseshoe-shaped one and apparently would 

 hold the fire within its rocky ridges. While fol- 

 lowing along one of these ridges, I came to a 

 narrow, tree-dotted pass, the only break in the 

 confining rocky barrier. As I looked at the fire 

 down in the cove, it was plain that with a high 

 wind the fire would storm this pass and break 

 into a heavily forested alpine realm beyond. In 

 one day two men with axes could have made 

 this pass impregnable to the assaults of any fire, 



166 



