LIGHTNING AND THUNDER 127 



Arizona and New Mexico the lightning strikes with 

 remarkable frequency, and the prevailing species 

 struck is " loved by lightning/' 



So far as I have noticed, the particular species of 

 tree most likely to be badly smashed or blown to 

 pieces by lightning is the fir. I cannot account for 

 this, unless it be due to a peculiar combination — ■ 

 much moisture, which is a good conductor for 

 lightning, and much pitch and rosin, which are 

 supposed to be almost non-conductors. At any 

 rate, I have seen numbers of fir trees from forty 

 to one hundred feet high that were cut down to the 

 roots by a single stroke. 



Over an extensive area on Mount Meeker, Colo- 

 rado, balsam fir is the species which shows the most 

 lightning wounds, with limber pine second in 

 numbers. Yet the dominant species in this zone, 

 which lies between the altitudes of nine thousand 

 and eleven thousand feet, is the Engelmann spruce. 

 The spruce is several times as numerous as the 

 other two species combined, and in most areas is 

 the taller. It is possible that it is struck with 

 equal frequency but rarely receives wounds that 

 record the experience. In the fir a slit or burst 

 rent through the bark down one side of the tree 

 was the lightning's mark. This is the common 

 lightning sign. 



I have always considered storms especially good 

 exhibitions, and during camping trips often sought 

 a commanding place to watch one. From the rim 



