THE ICE PROBLEM IN COLORADO. 



THE ICE PROBLEM IN COLORADO. 



BY CAPTAIN E. L. BERTHOUD, GOLDEN, COL. 



In February, 1876, the American Journal of Art and Sciences published a 

 short article on the existence of " rifts of ice in the rocks near the summit of Mt. 

 McClellan, Colorado." In that article I have described and shown that in Mt. 

 McClellan the whole mountain is permeated throughout with veins of ice running 

 through the broken up rock, which is rich in veins of argentiferous galena and 

 gray copper ; that this condition extdnds over 500 feet in depth on the face of moun- 

 tain, while immediately opposite, at about 12,400 feet above the sea, Piniis Aristata 

 of large size grows thriftily. Since 1878, I have resided for several months at the 

 north side and at the foot of Mts. Grey and McClellan and westward six miles to 

 the summit of Loveland Pass, an altitude of 11,876 feet, but have nowhere, ex- 

 cept at the Stevens mine, found an equal development of this icy condition. 



In 1874, Prof. Weiser, in the same journal, suggested that the frozen soil 

 and rock found by him on the west and northwest slope near and on McClellan 

 Mountain, " were fragments of the glacial period, thus left ice-bound from their 

 excessive altitude." 



I considered this doubtful, and in the article written in 1876, I concluded 

 that this frozen condition is more probably due to local causes, and that it is not 

 a fragment of the glacial period. Prof. Devor introduced this subject in France 

 at a scientific reunion, and is inclined to side with Prof. Weiser's theory. But 

 another fact remains yet unanswered in this connection : How is it that large pine 

 trees grow in the valley northeast from Mt. McClellan at an altitude near 12,400 

 feet above the sea, or 1,300 feet higher than on Grey's Peak, five miles southwest, 

 and fully 600 feet higher than at the Loveland Pass. 



In reference to this subject of tree growth on high altitudes, in 1878-79-80 

 I have observed in the Rocky Mountains, between Long's Peak on the north 

 to the Sawatch range, west of the Arkansas, that whenever we arrive at from 

 10,400 to 11,000 feet altitude, we find that our mountain forests are composed 

 almost wholly of Abies douglassii and Abies balsamea or balsam fir. These lofty 

 forests of spruce and Canada balsam flourish best where the northerly slopes retain 

 our deep winter snows the longest season in the spring ; and, strange to say, the 

 largest trees invariably are those that we find at the greatest altitude, even up to 

 11,800 feet, where I have measured Abies douglassii ovtr ^ve feet in diameter. 

 In these highest forests all the trees are grown up or have passed their maturity, and 

 have an appearance indicating a long passed period of maximum growth. We find 

 there no new growth of young trees; the ground is covered by low whortleberry 

 bushes, with an occasional yew or juniper bush; and in the many open glades, 

 flowers of colors bright and lovely. The whole facies of these elevated forests 

 breathe age and maturity that has reached and passed culmination. When de- 

 stroyed by fire or the axe of the dendrophagous sawmill man, or miner, no new 

 growth of the coniferae tajce their place — they have no progeny. 



