THE STONE FOREST OF FLORISSANT. 



479 



THE STONE FOREST "OF FLORISSANT. 



By Pbof. ANGELO HKILPEIN. 



TO the many who annually wander forth in quest of a " change 

 of scene," and have not yet fully exhausted the wonders of 

 Nature in their search after the purely beautiful, any locality 

 that offers material for special wonderment comes with pleasing 

 interest. One such, which is less generally known than other 

 localities of a somewhat similar character in the United States 

 indeed, is hardly known beyond the pale of a limited coterie of 

 geologists is the region of ranch and meadow land which lies 

 within a mile and a half of the line of the Colorado Midland 

 Railroad near to the station of Florissant. In reaching it we have 

 crossed the front or outer range of the Rocky Mountains, traversed 



The Giant Stone Forester of Florissant, Colorado. 



the charming flower gardens of Summit Park at an elevation of 

 nearly nine thousand feet, and have again descended to eight thou- 

 sand one hundred feet. A gently undulating plain of meadow-land 

 is in the main occupied by Costello's and Halthusen's ranches, and 

 around and about sweep up the chain of heights which help to 

 make up the great backbone of the North American continent. 

 There is little to suggest in this landscape that we are in the heart 

 of the Rockies ; the rugged crags to which the mind has affection- 

 ately attached itself from childhood's study are hidden beneath a 

 dense covering of piny woodland, or else wander off much in the 

 manner of the Eastern Appalachians. Here and there in the not 



