(Rainy 



Planning to return and give more attention 

 to the waters of both branches at this place, I 

 started to inspect first the forested sides. The 

 lower of these slopes were tilted with a twenty 

 to twenty-five per cent grade, and covered with 

 a primeval Engelmann spruce forest of tall, 

 crowding trees, the age of which, as I had learned 

 during previous visits, was only a few years less 

 than two centuries. 



The forest floor was covered with a thick car- 

 pet of litter, one which the years had woven 

 out of the wreckage of limbs and leaves. This, 

 though loosely, coarsely woven, has a firm feel- 

 ing when trodden during dry weather. To-day 

 however, the forest floor seemed recently up- 

 holstered. It is absorbent; hence the water had 

 filled the interstices and given elasticity. I 

 cleared away some of this litter and found that 

 it had an average depth of fifteen inches. The 

 upper third lay loosely, but below it the weave 

 was more compact and much finer than that on 

 or near the surface. I judged that two inches of 

 rain had fallen and had soaked to an average 

 depth of eight inches. It was interesting to 



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