22 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



where it is called " red pine," and on many parts 

 of the Kocky Mountains and short interior ranges 

 of the Great Basin. But though thus widely 

 distributed, only in Oregon, Washington, and 

 some parts of British Columbia does it reach per- 

 fect development. 



To one who looks from some high standpoint 

 over its vast breadth, the forest on the west side 

 of the Cascades seems all one dim, dark, monoto- 

 nous field, broken only by the white volcanic 

 cones along the summit of the range. Back in 

 the untrodden wilderness a deep furred carpet of 

 brown and yellow mosses covers the ground like 

 a garment, pressing about the feet of the trees, 

 and rising in rich bosses softly and kindly over 

 every rock and mouldering trunk, leaving no spot 

 uncared for ; and dotting small prairies, and 

 fringing the meadows and the banks of streams 

 not seen in general views, we find, besides the 

 great conifers, a considerable number of hard- 

 wood trees, — oak, ash, maple, alder, wild apple, 

 cherry, arbutus, Nuttall's flowering dogwood, 

 and in some places chestnut. In a few favored 

 spots the broad-leaved maple grows to a height 

 of a hundred feet in forests by itself, sending out 

 large limbs in magnificent interlacing arches cov- 

 ered with mosses and ferns, thus forming lofty 

 sky-gardens, and rendering the underwoods de- 

 lightfully cool. No finer forest ceiling is to be 

 found than these maple arches, while the floor, 



