190: 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 





of the changing conditions. In regard to 

 forests and agriculture he writes as fol- 

 lows : 



"There were, all told, at the beginning 

 of the year 1900, only a little more than 

 6,000 square miles of forest land left in 

 Colorado ; barely enough to protect the 

 snow holdings and watersheds below tim- 

 ber line. It .will be a serious matter for 

 the valley farmers if this limited area 

 shall be materially reduced. Already 

 complaints that the climate is changing 



be destroyed, it is safe to say that autumns 

 ot low water will cease to i 



and become the rule, and t m;i | 



territory must shrink. 



"Forest fires can be avoided b\ an en- 

 forcement of laws and regulations already 

 listing. It is to be hoped that this mai 

 be done during the next season. 

 lively small increase in the numbei 

 forest employes and a rational man; 

 mentmay preserve whatever fori 

 remains in Colorado." 



1 /<*g^ - ~.jT 



SCENE IN NORTHERN PART OF PIKES PEAK RESERVE, BURNT OVER ABOUT 1 sx ". 



are being made. Domestic and stock 

 water is scant during the late summers 

 and the long, dry autumns. 



" There has been a marked alteration of 

 the volume of water in all streams flowing 

 eastward. Formerly a nearly regular cur- 

 rent flowed, moderately increased at times 

 by rains or melting snows. In recent 

 years, spring floods, with increasing vio- 

 lence, have overflowed the banks of the 

 streams, washed aw r ay and destroyed grow- 

 ing crops in the bottom lands, sometimes 

 eroding the lands themselves. And every 

 summer now witnesses a drouth. In 1S99 

 the crops of Las Animas county were less 

 than half an average from lack of irriga- 

 tion. If the forest cover shall continue to 



Mining is easily second among the in- 

 dustries of Colorado, in the value of pro- 

 duction and the number of persons enga 

 in it. In discussing the question of min- 

 ing and forests the following paragraph 

 from a paper l>v Mr. Gifford Pinchot, 

 read at the Trans-Mississippi Commer- 

 cial Congress, held al Cripple Creek in 

 July, is most appropriate hei e: 1 *r< >s- 

 perous mining is impossible without pi 

 perous forest-. With the rare exception 

 of such surface mines as those of the 

 Messaba District, mining requires tim 

 and requires it in enormous quantities. 

 Thousands upon thousands of cords are 

 needed \c;nl\ in the larger mines to sup- 

 port the galleries and make possible the 



