THE NATIONAL FORESTS OF COLORADO 13 



northward to the Wyoming line. The Colorado National Forest is 

 about 84 miles long, north and south, and extends along the Front 

 Range wholly on the eastern slope of the Continental Divide. 

 Within the forest are the headwaters of some half-dozen rivers and 

 creeks which irrigate the large sugar-beet section in the valley imme- 

 diately to the east. 



Fire protection is perhaps of more than ordinary importance on 

 the Colorado and the Pike National Forests, because of recreational 

 use and the intensive demands made for watershed protection by 

 established towns and industries. Prompt location of fires on the 

 Colorado National Forest is provided by five regularly employed 

 fire lookout guards who have different parts of the forest under 

 direct observation. The guards are stationed one on Medicine Bow 

 Peak and one on Somber Hill in the Medicine Bow Forest, Wyo. ; 

 one (employed by the National Park Service) on Twin Sisters Peak, 

 on the boundary between the Colorado Forest and the Rocky Moun- 

 tain National Park; one on Squaw Peak; and one on Devils Head 

 Peak. Map readings of any smoke sighted are reported immediately 

 by the guards to the rangers and supervisors, who, by triangulation 

 from two or more lookout points on a map, can locate the fire with a 

 fair degree of accuracy and dispatch crews to handle it. Aside from 

 the lookout system, which is more highly developed in this locality 

 than in any other part of the State, fire organization and methods 

 are not different from those used on other forests. (See p. 1.) 



In the extreme northern end of the forest are extensive stands of 

 lodgepole pine which are important for the production of railroad 

 ties. This timber is being cut as a part of a large unit which in- 

 cludes the stands in the southern end of the Medicine Bow National 

 Forest in Wyoming, immediately to the north. The tendency of 

 lodgepole pine to grow tall and very trim, of small diameter, and with 

 thin bark adapts it admirably to the hewing of ties. With two oppo- 

 site sides slabbed and the other two " barked," an average trunk can 

 be sawed into three or four standard-gauge railroad ties. This same 

 form adapted it equally well to the Indians' needs in building tepees 

 and lodges. Since the Indian used it first, he gave the tree its name — 

 lodgepole pine to grow tall and very trim, of small diameter, and with 

 be called the " crosstie pine." Other timber types on the Colorado 

 are, in order of importance, western yellow pine, Engelmann spruce, 

 Douglas fir, alpine fir, limber pine, and cedar. 



The stands of lodgepole pine in the north end of the Colorado Na- 

 tional Forest, like those in southern Wyoming, yielded the very 

 foundation of the first railroad construction in this part of the West. 

 It is the purpose of forest management here to provide' for perpetu- 

 ally recurring crops of this product, even though new types of 

 operation may be introduced from time to time to meet new needs. 



Within this national forest, chiefly in the southern part, are some 

 of the historic mining camps of the West. Although production 

 has slumped in recent years, new developments in the mining indus- 

 try are making some of these operations profitable on a conservative 

 and substantial basis. The metals produced are gold, silver, tung- 

 sten, lead, and copper. This local activity has a direct bearing on 

 the development of timber management on the Colorado National 



