28 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



Above Dawson Butte the railroad continues up the valley of East 



Plum Creek, winding around a projecting spur of the plateau on the 



east to the village of Larkspur, from which a stage 



Larkspur. |jj^g j.^j^g ^^ ^^^^ resorts in Perry Park, 4 miles to the 



Elevation 6,668 feet. ^est. This is a natural parklike area at the foot of 



Denver 43 miles. . . 



the mountains, made picturesque by natural monu- 



the moisture falls as snow during the 

 winter. The presence of trees con- 

 trols and prolongs this stream flow by 

 preventing erosion and retarding the 

 melting of snow in the spring and 

 early summer. 



The forest on the mountains is com- 

 posed of many different species of 

 trees, and the range in elevation of 

 these species is controlled largely by 

 moisture and temperature. The piiion 

 or nut pine and cedar trees are found 

 near the plains or in the zone of small- 

 est precipitation. Above this zone, as 

 the precipitation increas'es, is that of 

 the western yellow pine (PI. XIV, C) 

 and Douglas fir, with blue spruce on 

 small tracts. Above the zone of yel- 

 low pine is the zone of lodgepole pine 

 (PI. XXXVI, B, p. 76) and above this, 

 extending to timber line, is the zone 

 in which Engelmann spruce (PI. XIII, 

 B) and alpine fir are intermixed. 

 Throughout the zones of yellow and 

 lodgepole pine and even in that of 

 Engelmann spruce quaking aspen oc- 

 curs in abundance. This tree, which 

 presents a wonderful richness of au- 

 tumnal coloring, has a marked tend- 

 ency to seed quickly areas that have 

 been severely burned. As it grows 

 rapidly it soon forms a cover and acts 

 as a " nurse tree," under which coni- 

 fers that require more moisture start 

 to grow and ultimately take possession 

 of the area and kill out the aspen. 

 Several varieties of cotton wood are 

 found in the moist stream bottoms, in 

 the zones of the yellow pine and pinon, 

 and out on the plains. 



One of the white or five-needle pines 

 grows on exposed slopes high in the 

 zone of the yellow pine. This tree, 

 which is called limber pine, has little 

 commercial value but is very pic- 



turesque because of its gray-green 

 foliage and whitish bark. Its pale- 

 yellow cones are larger than those of 

 any of the other pines in this region, 

 and many of the trees are distorted 

 into curious and picturesque shapes 

 by the severe climatic conditions un- 

 der which they grow. 



In the zone of the lodgepole pine 

 and on the more exposed ridges there 

 is another five-needle pine called bris- 

 tlecone or sugar pine. This tree de- 

 rives its names from the recurved 

 prickles or thorns at the extremity of 

 the cone scales, and from the exuda- 

 tions of resin on the surface of the 

 needles or leaves, which when dry look 

 very much like particles of sugar. 



To maintain a cover for an even 

 stream flow and protect the supply of 

 timber all the more extensive drainage 

 basins of the United States have been 

 included in national forests. There 

 are seventeen such forests in Colorado, 

 comprising over 13.000,000 acres of 

 mountainous country. 



A forest, which is based upon nat- 

 ural subdivisions and administrative 

 lines, contains from 400,000 to 1,600,000 

 acres and is in charge of a forest 

 supervisor and a coi-ps of assistants. 

 Every forest is further divided into 

 ranger districts, each containing from 

 50.000 to 200,000 acres. Such districts 

 are in charge of rangers, who police 

 them and look after all business per- 

 taining to the national forest. 



The Pike National Forest includes 

 the mountains west of Denver and 

 Colorado Springs. It includes most of 

 the drainage basins from which Den- 

 ver, Colorado Springs, and many 

 smaller towns, having altogether a 

 population of about 350,000, derive 

 their domestic water supply. In addi- 



