190 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



THK 



WIND HARP OE THF PINES ON FLATTOP 

 MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 



This is a characteristic study of a wind-blown pine found at timber- 

 line on the Flattop trail. 



mountain is buttressed make them inhos- 

 pitable lines of march. 



Here, however, the Frost King turns 

 loose his bombing squadrons, which drive 

 down these mountain hollows with dis- 

 astrous effect. Irresistible avalanches 

 make massed assaults, crushing every- 

 thing within their paths and gathering 

 momentum as they go ; they grind down 

 every tree, often leaving their trunks to 

 decay, half buried in the debris that the 

 floods of rock and snow leave in their 

 wake. 



Yet, undeterred by the vengeance the 

 foe has wrought on their elders, young 

 trees spring up, take the places made 



vacant by the ava- 

 lanche, and begin 

 afresh a courageous 

 but hopeless struggle 

 for the possession of 

 terrain claimed by the 

 snow. 



Conditions in the 

 Rocky Mountain thea- 

 ter of war do not dif- 

 fer essentially from 

 those obtaining in the 

 Sierra, except that 

 some types are miss- 

 ing from the tree 

 armies here that are 

 present in those of the 

 Sierra — for instance, 

 the Sequoia. 



One finds that on the 

 north side of Longs 

 Peak the tree hosts 

 have not been able to 

 press the enemy as 

 closely as on the south 

 side. With the force 

 of the wind somewhat 

 broken and the sup- 

 port of the sun more 

 pronounced, the forces 

 trying to take the cita- 

 del of the mountain 

 from the south are 

 able to scale a thou- 

 sand feet higher than 

 those on the north side. 

 Whenever they find a 

 water-course they suc- 

 ceed in climbing 

 higher than elsewhere. 

 On Mummy Mountain one finds at 

 timber-line that the black spruce is hold- 

 ing the redoubts. Often the trunks of 

 the trees are nearly two feet in thickness, 

 while their height brings their topmost 

 branches only to the shoulders of the 

 war correspondents who chronicle their 

 struggles. 



WHERE: MOUNTAIN FORCES ARE AIDED BY 

 POEAR HOSTS 



Many distinguished writers have visited 

 the Selkirk theater of war in Canada and 

 have given careful pen pictures of the 

 struggle there. In height, the prevalence 

 of glaciers, and the existence of per- 



ROCKY 



