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WILL THE AVERAGE RAIX-FALL IXCEEASE? 47 



thickly covered with fine pine timber — a treasure almost 

 beyond price in such a region ; and^ curious enough, while 

 the timber grows above, a fine bed of coal lies below the 

 surface. This forest is entered about one hundred and 

 eighty miles from Fort Wallace, and extends for at least 

 forty miles up into the mountains. 



Whether it is that the timber attracts an additional 

 quantity of moisture^ or prevents it from evaporating when 

 deposited, or whether the soil is unusually rich, I know not ; 

 but I can say of my own knowledge, that in thi^ district 

 vegetation is very luxuriant, and the country very beautiful. 

 Along the streams flowing from the mountains around Denver 

 and south of it, fine crops and vegetables can be raised by 

 irrigation ] but as the altitude of these regions is very great 

 (about 6,000 feet), crops do not flourish much farther north at 

 that elevation. As only a small proportion of these streams on 

 leaving the mountains succeed in crossing the comparatively 

 dry part of the plains, and as the few which do not sink flow 

 for one or two hundred miles with much-diminished volume, 

 I fear that but little irrigation can be obtained from- them, 

 and I am decidedly of opinion that, without irrigation, crops 

 cannot at present be raised. 



This leads naturally to a very important question. As 

 settlers advance from the East ; as they sow corn, plant 

 trees, and open up the soil, will the rain-fall increase to 

 any considerable extent ? The knowledge gained from 

 many places in the Western country, where farming on 

 a large scale has already existed for years, leaves no doubt 

 now, that tliis question can safely be answered in the 

 affirmative. The district around Salt Lake is the most 

 striking example I have met with; here, since cultivation 

 has extensively been carried on, the rain-fall has been 



