(goc^^ QUoun^ciin T}7onber£anb 



eternally vigilant to hold its territory and to 

 advance. Winds are its most terrible and effec- 

 tive foe. To them is due its weird and pic- 

 turesque front. Occasionally they rage for days 

 without cessation, blowing constantly from the 

 same quarter and at times with the rending and 

 crushing velocity of more than one hundred 

 miles an hour. These terrific winds frequently 

 flay the trees with cutting blasts of sand. At 

 times the wind rolls down the steeps with the 

 crushing, flattening force of a tidal wave. Many 

 places have the appearance of having been gone 

 over by a terrible harrow or an enormous roller. 

 In some localities all the trees, except the few 

 protected by rocky ledges or closely braced by 

 their encircling fellows, are crippled or over- 

 thrown. 



Although I have visited timber-line in a num- 

 ber of States, most of my studies have been 

 made on the eastern slope of the Continental 

 Divide in Colorado. This ragged edge, with its 

 ups and downs and curves, I have eagerly fol- 

 lowed for hundreds of miles. Exploring this 

 during every month of the year, I have had 



52 



