170 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



west; Colorado Springs, Colorado City, 

 and Manitou, with nearly as many, lie 

 eastward just under the mountains; and 

 Pueblo, supporting as many more, some 

 thirty-five miles south on the plain. The 

 Short Line Railroad (which cost $80,000 

 per mile)connects Colorado Springs with 

 Cripple Creek, winding over the east and 

 south parts of the region. Many thou- 

 sand tourists view the scenery from its 

 trains every summer. The "Cog Road, ' ' 

 running one to six or more of its unique 

 trains daily during the season, unites 

 Manitou with the summit of Pike's 

 Peak. Several wagon roads lead over 

 the more approachable parts of the tract. 

 One of these, called the ' ' Circle Drive, ' ' 

 was constructed at considerable cost by 

 Gen. William J. Palmer during the past 

 summer, and opened to the public. 

 Burro trails follow many of the moun- 

 tain streams, giving rest and refreshment 

 to the jaded health-seeker from the hot 

 and dusty thoroughfares of the city. 

 The prospector, in search of gold, pene- 

 trates every cove and gulch, and truly 

 leaves no stone unturned. Numerous 

 shafts and tunnels have been sunk, but 

 no pay ore has been shipped as yet. 



Perhaps the most refreshing fact that 

 appeals to the visitor upon arriving at 

 Colorado Springs is the abundance of 

 clear, cool, mountain water that flows 

 from the street-corner fountains. At 

 great cost the city secured this priceless 

 boon of nature by an extensive system 

 of pipe lines, tunnels and reservoirs, 

 chief among the latter being Lake Mo- 

 raine, between Pike's Peak and Mt. 

 Baldy. The per capita water consump- 

 tion, some 300 gallons daily, is said to 

 be the largest of any city in the United 

 States.* The supply becoming inade- 

 quate, the city is now building two 

 large new reservoirs at Seven Lakes and 

 boring a half-mile tunnel as an outlet. 



On the west slope of Pike's Peak, at 

 timber line, lies a reservoir that waters 

 the city of Victor, in the Cripple Creek 

 district. At the southwest corner of 

 the reserve is the large reservoir of the 

 Woods Investment Co. , valued both for 

 the water itself and as a source of power 

 for the ore mills and factories of Pueblo 

 and the Cripple Creek district. The 

 * See frontispiece. 



aggregate capacity of the present reser- 

 voirs within the tract is nearly one bill- 

 ion gallons. 



Grazing is allowed to 2,000 head of 

 cattle inside the reserve lines. Since 

 they forage only on the ' ' parks, ' ' no 

 harm is done to the forest. They will 

 need to be held within bounds, how- 

 ever, to save the sources of water sup- 

 ply from pollution. 



There is a current impression that, be- 

 tween the wildcat saw-mill and the fire, 

 the remnants of the Colorado forests are 

 of late years fast disappearing. , How- 

 ever truly this may apply to other parts 

 of the state, it is not true on the south 

 part of the Pike's Peak Reserve. Here 

 the forest conditions are greatly im- 

 proved from those of forty years ago. 

 The bulk of the forest disappeared with 

 the advent of the white man at the mid- 

 dle of the last century. About 1848- 

 1850 a conflagration, or series of them, 

 of gigantic magnitude swept almost 

 every height and canyon of these moun- 

 tains. Collected data prove this fact 

 beyond a doubt. Fully 75 per cent of 

 the area was devastated. Folk-lore has 

 it that the Indian upon the approach 

 of the whites set fire in order to drive 

 out the game and keep it from falling 

 to the latter' s thieving shots. Ruxton, 

 an English traveler who visited these 

 parts in 1846, speaks in his diary of 

 forest-covered mountains. 



Since 1850 the fires have been few and 

 small in comparison, partly because of 

 the lack of fuel. Following the Crip- 

 ple Creek gold discovery in 1892, much 

 young growth was burned along the 

 newly opened gold-seeker's trail. The 

 latest fire occurred last August, on the 

 slope of Big Chief, sixty acres of virgin 

 or old timber being destroyed. There 

 is at present one ranger to patrol the en- 

 tire seventy-nine square miles of moun- 

 tains. This is entirely insufficient. 

 Moreover, the largest two tracts of tim- 

 ber yet remaining are practically inac- 

 cessible. This fact has saved them. 



The decreasing water supply had 

 much to do with the awakening of the 

 people to the status of their forests. In 

 July last this active interest resulted in 

 the formation of the Colorado Springs 

 Forestry Association. 



