(Roc6g QYloun^ain Jx>re0te 



of them distorted. Conditions at timber-line are 

 severe, but the presence, in places, of young trees 

 farthest up the slopes suggests that these severe 

 conditions may be developing hardier trees than 

 any that now are growing on this forest frontier. 

 If this be true, then timber-line on the Rockies 

 is yet to gain a higher limit. 



Since the day of "Pike's Peak or bust," fires 

 have swept over more than half of the primeval 

 forest area in Colorado. Some years ago, while 

 making special efforts to prevent forest fires from 

 starting, I endeavored to find out the cause of 

 these fires. I regretfully found that most of them 

 were the result of carelessness, and I also made 

 a note to the effect that there are few worse things 

 to be guilty of than carelessly setting fire to a 

 forest. Most of these forest fires had their origin 

 from camp-fires which the departing campers had 

 left unextinguished. There were sixteen fires in 

 one summer, which I attributed to the following 

 causes: campers, nine; cigar, one; lightning, one; 

 locomotive, one ; stockmen, two ; sheep-herders, 

 one ; and sawmill, one. 



Fires have made the Rocky Mountains still 



209 



