

!< >RESTRY AND [RRIGATK 



169 



wliu . . -t will be based. 



. men in all .1 in 



radii 



that :k w1 ^ ' H 



t j iat :t iua\ be made dur- 



sumr. Tin- Yuma 



.11. n -.n tlu- California 



may U- thrown 



open ' ntry wlu-n tin lands are irri- 

 ( _r. ltt -, ::ients., ' '.ade 



t",, IT,', is n<>\\ residing there* m 



>idc th' Icrable 



laiul that can be re< laimcd. 



an d amount \\ Inch is now cither 



entii id <>r pa: n ill ! in 



priv ding an be benefit 



Tli 'ii the 



Colon " River aie diliicult ami p: 



he most complex thai uill 

 Altered in the arid region. 

 no reason t'..i Lx li( v ing how 

 thev cannot l>e favuably 



solved ami works constructed that will 

 give satisfactory results. Probably the 



pportunities in the Southwest 

 \ tensive irrigation develop- 

 ment lie along this great stream. The 

 volume of the available water supply, 

 the area of the irrigable lands, the fer- 

 lilily of the soil, and the character of 

 the climate, all point to a very great 

 development, 'i'he district would be 

 tributary in trade to the towns of 

 them California and is believed to 



'ably the greatest latent re- 

 si uircc back of the C< >a-t district. Reser- 

 voir Mies of large capacity have been 

 found in the upper portions of this 

 stream to supplement the low stages of 

 the river, which fortunately occur in 

 mid-winter. The locality, however, is 

 what maybe termed a " twelve-months 

 country ' one that can be farmed con- 

 tinuouslv throughout the year. 



TH: SOUTH PART OF IMKK'S PEAK FOREST 



RESERVE. 



[NTERESTING NOTES ON FIRE CONDITIONS, WATER 

 CONSERVA1 MD MOUNTAIN TIMBER IN COLORADO. 



BY 



JACOB C. BLUMER, 



\ OF FORESTRY. 



T'.XTpartof the Tike's 1'eak For- 

 st Reserve lying south of the 

 Manou and Pike's Peak Railroad, or 

 "Cc Road," embraces seventy-nine 

 squr>! miles of the Rampart Range of 

 the r.ckies in central Colorado. 



Th tract extends through fully 7 ooo 

 feet c altitude. The vast, shadowy 

 heiets that form it rise abruptly out 

 of a reat plain that lies at 6,500 feet 

 abo*. sea-level, and culminate at 14, 147 

 feet i Pike's-Peak itself. All but a half 

 doze square miles in the southwest por- 

 tior , :hich approach an undulating pla- 

 tea. is either extremely rugged, or 

 steeiv sloping in every direction, save 

 a fe- ' parks ' ' or mountain meadows. 



The geologic feature is a coarse, pink, 

 rapidly disintegrating granite. Hardly 

 another formation occurs except in the 

 irregularly projecting southeast arm of 

 the reserve, where a hard, gray granite, 

 occasionally mixed with massive quartz, 

 predominates. 



The paucity of the flora is noticeable, 

 and yet the number of species on this 

 comparatively small tract is surprisingly 

 large. The paradox explains itself when 

 one" bears in mind the great variety of 

 altitudes, slopes, and aspects which 

 occur, each with a climate of its own. 



The Cripple Creek gold-mining dis- 

 trict, with its 35, ooo people, begins about 

 five miles away in the mountains to the 



rations, including frontispiece, through courtesy of the Bureau of Forestry, U. S. De- 

 of Agriculture. 



