UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO MOUNTAIN LABORATORY 93 



In choosing the location for the laboratory attention was given to 

 accessibility, suitable climate and richness of flora and fauna. Tolland 1 

 is a mountain hamlet of less than two score buildings but is provided 

 with excellent train service by standard gauge railway and also post- 

 office, express and telegraph facilities, good hotel, lodging-houses and 

 restaurant. There are two general stores. Gold mining and timber 

 cutting are the chief industries of the country 'round, the cool summers 

 not permitting agriculture. Only five miles down the valley there are, 

 however, mountain ranches which produce hay and grain. 



The laboratory differs from other biological stations in offering special 

 opportunities for field study of plant distribution in different climates. 

 At Tolland the summer is cool, with a mean July temperature of about 

 58 F., while within an hour's ride by railway down the valley to the 

 foothills or to the edge of the plains the July mean is nearly 70°. A 

 trip by rail of forty-five minutes takes the student to the upper limit of 

 tree growth (timberline) with its alpine tundra and scrub willows. 

 Almost at his door, it may be said, the student has as wide diversity in 

 climate as could be found in a trip from Illinois to Ellesmereland. Just 

 as in making this latter journey various zones of plant and animal life 

 would be encountered, so in passing from arid plain to alpine height there 

 are many belts of vegetation each with its own characteristic plants. 



Although the laboratory building was originally designed for business 

 purposes it is admirably adapted to its present use. It is well lighted 

 from the north, is provided with ample shelf room, counters and tables 

 and there is a large room for storage and a good photographic dark room. 

 Jars, bottles and chemicals, plant driers, insect nets, water bath, drying 

 oven, soil cans and soil borers are kept at the laboratory while reference 

 books, microscopes, microtomes, forestry instruments and cameras are 

 taken up from the university at Boulder for use during the summer 

 session. 



The village of Tolland is situated in a mountain park (Boulder Park) 

 surrounded by mountains. South Boulder Creek, a stream fed by 

 melting snows of the alpine peaks, flows in winding course through the 



1 See also an article in the Plant World, Vol. XII, pp. 105-10, by the present writer and Mr. W. W. 

 Robbins for further account of Tolland and vicinity. 



