WILD PARKS OF THE WEST 33 



a camp-fire on Mount Shasta with Asa Gray and 

 Sir Joseph Hooker, and, knowing that they were 

 acquainted with all the great forests of the 

 world, I asked whether they knew any conifer- 

 ous forest that rivaled that of the Sierra. They 

 unhesitatingly said : " No. In the beauty and 

 grandeur of individual trees, and in number and 

 variety of species, the Sierra forests surpass all 

 others." 



This Sierra Reserve, proclaimed by the Presi- 

 dent of the United States in September, 1893, is 

 worth the most thoughtful care of the govern- 

 ment for its own sake, without considering its 

 value as the fountain of the rivers on which the 

 fertility of the great San Joaquin Valley de- 

 pends. Yet it gets no care at all. In the fog 

 of tariff, silver, and annexation politics it is left 

 wholly unguarded, though the management of 

 the adjacent national parks by a few soldiers 

 shows how well and how easily it can be pre- 

 served. In the meantime, lumbermen are al- 

 lowed to spoil it at their will, and sheep in 

 uncountable ravenous hordes to trample it and 

 devour every green leaf within reach ; while the 

 shepherds, like destroying angels, set innumer- 

 able fires, which burn not only the undergrowth 

 of seedlings on which the permanence of the 

 forest depends, but countless thousands of the 

 venerable giants. If every citizen could take 

 one walk through this reserve, there would be 



