130 



baps to loss of timber, causing less absorption and a more rapid flowing 

 off of rain-fall. The forests cause a greater rain fal), and absorb aud 

 more evenly discharge the water supply. 



The snow-fall atDurango is often 6 feet lu de])th. beo-imiing about the 

 ]st of December and lasting until the 1st of April. In the mountains 

 the fall in lc^'.82-"83 was i5 feet, beginning on the 1st of October and 

 lasting until the 1st of May. 



LAEniEE COr^'TY. 

 (Area, 4.000 sixnare miles : estimated forest area, 700 scxuare miles.) 



This county, lying immediately east of the main Eocky Mountain 

 range, upon the northern border of the State, includes within its limits 

 XorthPark. Its surface is greatly varied, embracing plains, mountains, 

 aud valleys. From range lines 69 and 70, in the eastern i)art of the 

 connty, the country rises rapidly to the snmmit of the Medicine Bow 

 range, thence falls to the center of Xorth Park, and rises again to the 

 crest of the main range or Continental Divide. The prominent st«reams 

 are the Little Thompson, Big Thompson, Cache la Pondre, Big Laramie, 

 and the Xorth Fork of Platte Eiver. 



The heaviest timber in the county runs through the central ijart, cov- 

 ering the Medicine Bow range and the northern aud eastern slopes of the 

 Continental Divide. Of the entire forest area about 300 square miles 

 is fully stocked — good for timber, although the timber would not be 

 considered first-class for commercial purposes, it ranging from saplings 

 to trees 2 feet in diameter. White aud Black Pine, White Spruce, and 

 Hemlock are the predominant species. Cottonwood is found along the 

 streams in the valleys, and Aspen in places on the mountain slopes. 



Forest fires and the consumption aud waste for railway purposes are 

 the greatest dangers threatening the forests. There is very little chance 

 for renewal after the forests have been destroyed. It is stated that 60 

 sections of forest land were burned over in the summer of 1886. 



LAS ^XI3IAS COI-^'TY. 

 (Area, 6,503 square miles; estimated forest area, 500 square miles.) 



This county, situated in the southeastern corner of the State, em- 

 braces four distinct topographical regions, viz : 



First, the Park Plateau, which includes about 800 square miles in the 

 extreme western part of the county, sloping from the Culebra Mount- 

 ains eastward to Trinidad. Its elevation is 6,500 to 10,000 feet, and it 

 consists of a sloping plain, broken by numerous canyons into narrow aud 

 rocky ridges. 



Second, the Raton Hills, embracing a strip of basalt-covered Mesa, 

 from 6 to 15 miles wide, and 120 miles long, extending along the south- 

 ern boundary of the State, from Trinidad eastward. Elevation 6,000 

 to 9,000 feet; area, 1,000 square miles. 



