106 Adventures in Scenery 



of vegetation. Yet nature never sleeps. The hardest rocks 

 yield to the constant attack of the weathering agencies, frost 

 and heat, wind and rain. Many productive acres of meadows 

 and pastures furnish forage for the flocks and herds of the hus- 

 bandman. The latest flow of lava, known as basalt, flooded 

 valleys, and cooling formed dams in valleys which caused the 

 streams to pond forming lakes. These slowly but surely filled 

 with accumulated sediments carried in by streams or blown by 

 winds from meadows. Minerals in the basalt by decomposition 

 and disintegration furnish an excellent soil. Trees find a root- 

 hold in the volcanic sands and in cracks and crevices of naked 

 lava rocks. Two hundred years ago a forest was growing about 

 the base of Lassen Peak when renewed volcanic activity caused 

 hot lava and cinders to cover the land and the trees were killed. 

 Today dead standing tree trunks remain to tell of the forest 

 that once was. In sight of these dead trunks are living trees 

 in green forests. These show by the number of annual growth 

 rings approximately the length of time since the former forest 

 was killed. 



