16 



PAPEES READ BEFORE THE ASSOCIATION. 



A few years ago Clear Creek, Boulder and 

 the other canons were tilled with forests. 

 To-day their naked rocks present melan- 

 choly pictures of desolation. On the west 

 side of the range it is different. There one 

 imagines he is in another country. The 

 scenery is the most beautiful in Colorado. 

 Lofty trees cover the mountains, and the 

 traveler can easily believe himself in the 

 loveliest portion of Switzerland. Colorado 

 has sixty-three million acres of land. A few 

 years ago it was said that three million acres 

 could be irrigated. Now the estimate is re- 

 duced to two million acres. Fully one-half 

 the entire State, especially that portion de- 

 voted to mining, can never be cultivated 

 nor used for stock raising except to a 

 limited degree. The timber now on it 

 should be protected. If the mountain 

 timber were burned and all the trees grow- 

 ing along the rivers and foothills destroyed 

 precious few tourists would remain here be- 

 yond a few weeks. The hunting would be of 

 little-value, the rainfall would decrease, and 

 the mountain districts would become as un- 

 attractive as the broken wastes of Syria. Vis- 

 itors to Colorado cannot make any visible 

 use of trees. They cannot eat them nor carry 

 them away as souvenirs. They can only ad- 

 mire their beauty, and appreciate their use- 

 fulness in breaking the monotony of the land- 

 scape, and in shading the water-courses. The 

 Great American Desert can be made as beau- 

 tiful as any of the Eastern countries. With 

 alfalfa to keep the soil moist, comparatively 

 little irrigation will be required to nourish 

 trees. The groves of Greece, and those 

 lovely wooded parks of England, can be re- 

 produced here in Colorado. If the trees in 

 Denver and Greeley were burned their real 

 estate would depreciate 10 per cent. 



It is not claimed that the cottonwood 

 shade trees in Colorado towns add to the 

 length o^ human life, or the healthfulness of 

 the climate. It is their beauty that is 



Srized. The man who walks to his friend's 

 ouse, under arching trees, is conscious of a 

 charm that neither architecture nor impos- 

 ing walls can give. The tired traveler, who 

 has seen nothing more inviting than th.e 

 shade of his mule, during his journey across 

 the plains, at last reaches the bank of some 

 swiftly-flowing river, where, weary, and be- 

 grimed with dust, he throws himself on the 

 ground, beneath the overhanging trees. 

 Does he stop to consider whether they are 

 maples, or elms, or cottonwoods? He only 

 looks at the blue sky, through the fringes of 

 their foliage, and, closing his eyes, in grate- 

 ful repose, thanks Heaven for the beauty 

 and shade around him. 

 In regard to the uses and influence of 



beauty there ought to be but one opinion. 

 Beauty is one of the elements of civilization. 

 There is an indescribable charm about trees 

 that awakens the best side of one's nature. 

 We instinctively associated beautiful faces 

 with beautiful surroundings. The well-kept 

 lawn and deep-shaded avenue generally be- 

 tokens a man of intelligent refinement. The 

 drapery which clothes the earth is as benefi- 

 cial to mankind as the decorations and carv- 

 ings in our houses. A shiftless, worthless 

 man, always in debt, with a swarm of ignor- 

 ant, sore-eyed children about him, lives in 

 bare walls, with no vines around his gate, no 

 glass in his yard, no shade to welcome the 

 visitor who comes to his door. What is a 

 tree to such a man? Corn and pork are his 

 life. 



How beautifully Bret Harte writes of the 

 forests of California. It was the poet-spirit 

 of reverence for trees that made the early 

 fathers worship in the groves of Britain and 

 Germany. 



It was this spirit that lead the masters of 

 the artistic centuries to make cathedrals like 

 the aisles of the forests. In this way we 

 know that Gothic architecture was created, 

 and those who have walked with uncovered 

 head under the arches of Westminster Abbey 

 realized the sacred beauty of the place. Man 

 does best when he follows most closely after 

 nature. Who has not been moved by the 

 eloque ice of the trees. What a history have 

 the pines on our mountains. The rings 

 date them back to the French Eevolution. 

 What august events have transpired since 

 their young boughs first swayed in the 

 wintry storms. The contemplation of beauti- 

 ful nature is medicine for the mind. Phi- 

 losophers and poets have found inspiration 

 beneath their favorite trees. 



What lessons of innocence and beauty come 

 on the wings of the whispering winds from 

 the trees. Columbus was in despair until he 

 saw drift-wood floating on the tide. It was 

 a branch of the olive tree that brought joy to 

 the ark. 



In the far-away land of Circassia and Geor- 

 gia, where the lofty peaks of the Caucasus 

 lift vast forests above the clouds, the world is 

 as beautiful as a dream. Such scenes would 

 make Colorado a paradise. The beauty of 

 the people is celebrated, and their costumes 

 an admiration of Paris to-day. Even the im- 

 perial garments of the Czar's household are 

 fashioned after the wardrobes of Circassia. 

 It is there that beauty in nature and beauty 

 in the human face blend like imagery of a 

 poem. Here in Colorado we have mountains, 

 plains, rivers, valleys, and the skies of fair 

 Persia. All we need is verdure. "With ver- 

 dure clad," sings the chorus in the oratorio 



