CHAPTER I. 



COLORADO DISTRICT* 



FLORA OF THE OPEN GROUND. 



The most obvious division of the botanical regions traversed during the 

 season of 1873 would be into the open grounds, including under this head 

 the plains from Denver to the foothills, the flat portion of South Park, the 

 immediate valley of the Arkansas, and San Luis Valley proper. There 

 would then remain the mountain region, including here the entire flora from 

 the lower limit of timber to the highest mountain tops. 



There is at first sight a wonderful sameness about the flora of the 

 plains, which has not escaj)ed the notice of casual observers. The hoary, 

 dry, stunted plants, with the great preponderance of yellow and red flowers, 

 when compared with the more living aspect of the mountain flora, actually 

 compels a contrast in the mind. 



To what is this difference due 1 Meteorological statistics from Colo- 

 rado are as yet meagre in the extreme. Up to 187:2 from only three points 

 did we have observations for a period of over one year. Such at least is 

 the showing of Mr. Schott's " Tables and Results of the Precipitation in Rain 

 and Snow in the United States", and neither of these points was fairly within 

 the grasp of the mountains, so that any comparison must be somewhat 

 lame. If, however, we sum up and average the fall of rain and snow at 

 Forts Garland, Massachusetts, and Lyon, it appears that the mean amount 

 is 12.09 inches. This, however, can only be taken as an approximate 

 estimate for the more open country just east of the main divide, being 

 probably greater than the fall farther east, and certainly less than that west. 



* I have taken this chapter on the Colorado District from my Preliminary Report, published in 1874. 



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