Qtlounfoin (patite cm* Cmptffim 



escaped with their lives. Since we had been 

 spared, we all sent out our seed for tree-colonies as 

 rapidly as we could, and in so doing we received 

 much help from the birds, the squirrels, and the 

 bears, so that it was not long before we again had 

 our plumes waving everywhere over the Rockies. 

 About a hundred and sixty years ago, an earth- 

 quake shook many of us down and wounded 

 thousands of others with the rock bombardment 

 from the cliffs. The drought a century ago was 

 hard on us, and many perished for water. Not 

 long after the drought we began to see the trap- 

 pers, but they never did us any harm. Most of 

 them were as careful of our temples as were the 

 Indians. While the trappers still roamed, there 

 came a very snowy winter, and snow-slides mowed 

 us down by thousands. Many of us were long 

 buried beneath the snow. The old trees became 

 dreadfully alarmed, and they feared that the Ice 

 King was returning. For weeks they talked of 

 nothing else, but in the spring, when the moun- 

 tain-sides began to warm and peel off in earth- 

 avalanches, we had a real danger to discuss. 

 " Shortly after the snowy winter, the gold- 



25 1 



