TREES AT TIMBERLINE 73 



and fox come to this edge of the woods to watch 

 and wait, and here concealed gaze out upon the 

 upland open. 



Beautiful lakes, gouged by glaciers out of solid 

 rock, are scattered along the farthest edge of the 

 forest. They are one of the distinctive charms 

 of these Arctic gardens. With a border of wild 

 cliff, a waterfall, a fringe of brilliant flowers, grassy 

 spaces, picturesque trees in clusters and singly, 

 these lakes are wildly, poetically lovely. 



On the whole, the heights are becoming dryer. 

 Many summits are no longer tolerant to the trees. 

 Parts of the Rocky Mountains are in the arid belt, 

 and their winters are often extremely dry. Dry, 

 high winds frequently sweep their summits, suck- 

 ing moisture from all vegetation. The unpro- 

 tected trees in the forest front of dry ridges suffer 

 greatly, thousands perishing during a single dry 

 winter. 



I walked for hours along a dry summit slope 

 strewn with the bleaching bones of millions of 

 veteran pines and spruces. Here over a long front 

 the battle had gone against the forest. The near- 

 est frontier was half a mile down the slope. 



Timberline is not fixed. In places it is creeping 

 forward and upward; in other reaches it is being 

 driven back. Still other boundary lines, like those 

 of nations, are stationary for years, then suddenly 

 these are obliterated and redrawn, as territory is 

 lost or won. 



