(preface 



^f^His book contains the record of a few of the 

 ^^ many happy days and novel experiences 

 which I have had in the wilds. For more than 

 twenty years it has been my good fortune to live 

 most of the time with nature, on the mountains 

 of the West. I have made scores of long exploring 

 rambles over the mountains in every season of 

 the year, a nature-lover charmed with the birds 

 and the trees. On my later excursions I have 

 gone alone and without firearms. During three 

 succeeding winters, in which I was a Government 

 Experiment Officer and called the " State Snow 

 Observer, " I scaled many of the higher peaks 

 of the Rockies and made many studies on the 

 upper slopes of these mountains. 



"Colorado Snow Observer" was printed in 

 part in The Youth's Companion for May 18, 

 1905, under the title of "In the Mountain 

 Snows " ; " The Story of a Thousand- Year Pine " 



vii 



