DENVER & EIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE, 



29 



ments of tilted and highly colored sandstone. Although less known 

 than the Garden of the Gods, near Manitou, it is similar in general 

 appearance and by many is regarded as fully equal to it in natural 

 beauty. In these castellated rocks those who have a vivid imagina- 

 tion can see mystic monuments and towers, battlemented walls, 

 minarets and steeples, and the remains of vast cities that still reflect 



tion to this supply its streams furnish 

 water for irrigating 400,000 acres of 

 rich agricultural land at the foot of 

 the mountains. 



The region now included in this for- 

 est furnished an immense amount of 

 timber during the early development 

 of local industries, about 500,000,000 

 feet b. m. having been cut prior to its 

 establishment as a national forest. In 

 the mountains farther west, particu- 

 larly at Howard, travelers may notice 

 rows of domelike structures looking 

 like large beehives of the old-fashioned 

 wicker type. (See PI. XIV, 5.) These 

 are charcoal kilns. They represent all 

 that is left of the charcoal industry, 

 which, before coke was available, fur- 

 nished fuel for smelters, greatly to 

 the detriment of the timber stahds of 

 the regions. 



In Gilpin County considerable areas 

 of forest land were practically denuded, 

 for trees of all sizes and even stumps 

 were removed and utilized. This cut- 

 ting was followed, from time to time, 

 by fires which fed upon the " slash " 

 left on the cut-over areas and killed 

 the remaining trees. The bare hills 

 then permitted a rapid run-off of wa- 

 ter after heavy rains, which caused 

 considerable destructive erosion. Sim- 

 ilar conditions mark other parts of 

 the Pike National Forest, but erosion 

 has not cut so deeply into the slopes, 

 and owing to generally favorable con- 

 ditions, many areas have naturally 

 become reforested. 



In the early days all ranch build- 

 ings were constructed of logs, and 

 even furniture was made by the set- 

 tlers. The trees also furnished the 

 entire supply of fuel. In many locali- 

 ties they serve the same purposes to- 

 day — the ranchers and new settlers 



put up their own buildings of logs ob- 

 tained from the national forest under 

 free-use permits, or established ranch- 

 ers can purchase at a low price, equal 

 to the cost of administering the sale. 

 From 1875 to 1895 most of the rail- 

 roads of the mountain region were 

 built, and practically all construction 

 was done with local timber. Most of 

 the cutting was done by small oper- 

 ators, with sawmills of 6,000 to 10,000 

 feet b. m. daily capacity, who would 

 locate or purchase a small tract of 

 timber land and then cut not only that 

 but the timber on adjoining Govern- 

 ment land. The operators of that day 

 paid little or no stumpage for their 

 timber and cut only that which was 

 the most easily obtained or which was 

 best suited to their purpose. 



Since 1905, when the forests came 

 under the jurisdiction of the Forest 

 Service, the Government's timber has 

 been sold to private purchasers at fair 

 rates of stumpage, and cutting has 

 been restricted to trees whose I'emoval 

 would benefit the remaining stand. 

 The stumpage price charged In each 

 sale is the difference between the mar- 

 ket price of the pi-oduct and the esti- 

 mated cost of production plus a lib- 

 eral allowance for profit to the oper- 

 ator. 



The amount of timber cut in the Pike 

 National Forest for the year ending 

 June 30, 1921, was 3,420,000 feet b. m., 

 for which $4,960 was paid the Govern- 

 ment for stumpage. In addition, about 

 1.000,000 feet b. m., mainly of dead 

 material, was granted free to settlers 

 and miners for their own use. 



The area of the Pike National For- 

 est is 1,256,112 acres, of which 162,956 

 acres is patented or privately owned, 

 and 108,000 acres is above timber line. 



