This locality has been swept by fire again and 

 again. Most of the forest is less than two hun- 

 dred years of age. During the past two hundred 

 years, beginning with 1707, there have been no 

 less than seven forest fires, two of which appear 

 to have swept over most of the region. There 

 probably were other fires, the records of which 

 have vanished. The dates of these scourges and 

 in many cases the extent of their ravages were 

 burned into the annual rings of a number of 

 trees which escaped with their lives and lived on, 

 carrying these fire-records down to us. These 

 fires, together with the erosion which followed, 

 had something to do with the topography and 

 the scenery of this section. There are a few 

 ugly scars from recent fires, but most of the 

 burned areas were reforested with reasonable 

 promptness. Some crags, however, may have 

 lost for centuries their trees and vegetation. 

 Other areas, though losing trees, gained in mead- 

 ows. I am strongly inclined to ascribe much of 

 the openness the existence even of Estes, 

 Allen's, and Middle Parks to repeated fires, 

 some of which probably were severe. Thus we 



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