WILD PARKS OF THE WEST 13 



tions, a magnificent realm of woods, most of 

 ■which, by railroads and trails and open ridges, is 

 also fairly accessible, not only to the determined 

 traveler rejoicing in difficulties, but to those (may 

 their tribe increase) who, not tired, not sick, just 

 naturally take wing every summer in search of 

 wildness. The forty million acres of these re- 

 serves are in the main unspoiled as yet, though 

 sadly wasted and threatened on their more open 

 margins by the axe and fire of the lumberman 

 and prospector, and by hoofed locusts, which, 

 like the winged ones, devour every leaf within 

 reach, while the shepherds and owners set fires 

 with the intention of making a blade of grass 

 grow in the place of every tree, but with the re- 

 sult of killing both the grass and the trees. 



In the million acre Black Hills Reserve of 

 South Dakota, the easternmost of the great forest 

 reserves, made for the sake of the farmers and 

 miners, there are delightful, reviving sauntering- 

 grounds in open parks of yellow pine, planted 

 well apart, allowing plenty of sunshine to warm 

 the ground. This tree is one of the most variable 

 and most widely distributed of American pines. 

 It grows sturdily on all kinds of soil and rocks, 

 and, protected by a mail of thick bark, defies 

 frost and fire and disease alike, daring every dan- 

 ger in firm, calm beauty and strength. It occurs 

 here mostly on the outer hills and slopes where 

 no other tree can grow. The ground beneath it 



