658 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



than yure upinded river, the difference bein' that there'll 

 be no wather in it, save for me own drinkin', which 

 same'U be all I'll be drinkin' this day forth." 



As to his success in fulfilling his promises, it may 

 be said, in passing, that upon his death he left an 

 estate of such size that the income from it pays the 

 traveling and other expenses of his two progeny, 

 who annually go abroad for mountain scenery. 



Mr. G r o g a n 

 found, as others 

 have found and 

 others will ever find, 

 that health of body 

 is only one of the 

 rewards of travel in 

 the rugged moun- 

 tains. There is the 

 effect upon the mind, 

 the imagination 

 upon the soul, as 

 well. 



The statements of 

 the doctors, that a 

 -trip to the moun- 

 tains each year will 

 keep us in better 

 health, has lost its 

 punch. The fact that 

 the capacity to re- 

 sist the' inroads of 

 disease and the lure 

 of the fleshpots de- 

 creases inversely, as 

 the square of the 

 waist measure has 

 lost its terrors. So 

 long as the business 

 is running along 

 smoothly and the 

 tango tea is popular, 

 why worry about 

 the increasing pres- 

 sure of the waist- 

 coat ? Why heed 

 the cry of wolf? 

 But it frequently 

 occurs that the busi- 

 ness ceases to run 

 so smoothly, and ali 

 efforts fail to bring 

 imagination, inspi- 

 ration and ingenu- 

 ity to the rescue. Here is a pure case for the mountains. 



There is no doubt that certain of our mental faculties 

 become sluggish through disuse. Few men can follow, 

 for many years, the humdrum existence of daily business 

 life, and retain all their mental faculties in healthy, active 

 condition. Generally it is the imagination which flags 

 first. When this condition comes on, what is needed is a 



HERE IS FOUND REST AND PEACE-THE STILLNESS OF THE WATER AND THE 



QUIET OF THE HILLS 



Not all the Alpine scenery of this continent is to be found in the Northwest. Colorado and 

 the Rocky Mountain National Park boast of some of the best that we have, which claim 

 attention on the ground of propinquity as well as for their native beauty. 



shock, such as Mr. Grogan received when Yosemite Falls 

 burst upon his view. It is a sort of mental shower, act- 

 ing upon the mind much as a cold plunge after the steam 

 room acts upon the body. 



The high mountains give you just this, and more. 

 After your dormant faculties have been shocked into 

 life by their stupendousness, they present you, on every 

 side, with sublimity, magnificence and grandeur that 



stimulate the imagi- 

 nation and rejuve- 

 nate ambitions. It 

 is a serious case, in- 

 deed, which does not 

 return, after a three - 

 week treatment with 

 Nature's mental 

 glove stretcher, fill- 

 ed with new ideas 

 and fired with the 

 ambition to carry 

 them out. 



I was once work- 

 ing up the trail that 

 leads along Bubbs 

 Creek from King's 

 River Canyon to 

 Kearsarge Pass, on 

 the summit of the 

 high Sierra of Cali- 

 fornia. There is a 

 climb of about 8,000 

 feet from the floor 

 of the canyon to the 

 summit, but the 

 view from the top is 

 worth the climb. 

 The crest of the 

 Sierra Nevada i n 

 this vicinity is an 

 endless line o f 

 jagged peaks and 

 minarets which, sil- 

 houetted against a 

 sapphire sky, ap- 

 pear as sharp as saw 

 teeth. These moun- 

 tains rise more or 

 less gradually from 

 the west to an ele- 

 vation between 13,- 

 000 and 14,000 feet, 

 and, as if satisfied 



with having reached the highest elevation in the United 

 States, drop off abruptly to an elevation 3,000 to 4,000 

 feet above sea level. 



As we approached the summit, a motionless figure was 

 distinguished, sitting upon a rock on the very edge of 

 the Divide. He was so still that he seemed a part, as he 

 was in color, of the brownish-grey rocks of this edge of 



