83 



they can use. Again, it is the coinmoii practice to use the butts or 

 hxrger portions of the trees for sawlogs, while the liuibs and smaller 

 j)arts of the truuk are left to waste aud to furnish food for forest fires. 

 In districts where large-sized trees abound it is not unusual, on the 

 other hand, for tie choppers to cut ties from the upper antl smaller por- 

 tions only, and leave the butts on the ground to decay. 



Any laws or customs which allow the cutting of trees and the utili- 

 zation of a portion only, or permit the cutting of i^artly-grown trees 

 (except in forest reserves or plantations, for necessary thinning) are 

 pernicious, as authorizing wasteful and improvident methods. 



SNOW AND LAND SLIDES. 



Snow-slides are frequent in the Eocky Mountain region, more espe- 

 cially among the higher Colorado ranges. They usually occur in the 

 late winter and early spring months, when heavy falls of snow are suc- 

 ceeded by sunshine, causing the partial melting of the. snow, and giving 

 it also great weight. The slides or avalanches destroy both life and 

 property. In some instances entire mining camps have been engulfed. 

 Slides often start near the crests of the mountains, above the timber 

 line, and gaining momentum as they descend, carry every thing before 

 them. Large trees are swept away, rocks of many tons weight are 

 torn from their beds, and human beings who are in their path are en. 

 tombed in the snow, which packs like ice, yielding only to the axe and 

 pick. Again, the impacted snow, after reaching the bottom of a deep 

 gulch, will be forced sometimes far up the opposite side, carrying with 

 it buildings, people, and whatever may be in its way. 



Land-slides, though not frequent, some times occur. Through the 

 action of frost, melting snows, or rain-fall — or all combined — masses of 

 earth and rock are precipitated down the mountain side, overwhelming 

 all beneath. To a beholder, the mass, with its accompanying roar, 

 smoke, and fire, would seem to have evoked the lightnings and thunder 

 to aid it in its destructive course. The path of the slide is usually 

 marked by a strip of naked rock— of greater or less breadth — called, in 

 mountain parlance, a " gouge," and upon which soil or vegetation is 

 not likely to appear again. What means, if any, can be devised for 

 the prevention of these disasters it is hard to say. Stripping the tim- 

 ber from the slopes, if not an original cause, contributes largely to the 

 evil effect. Land-slides would hardly be possible in localities where the 

 soil is sustained by the interlacing roots of a vigorous forest growth. 

 It has been stated that in some of the Alpine regions stakes are driven 

 ui>on the upper slopes of bare mountains to prevent the inception of 

 snow-slides. Such a plan would hardly be feasible here, as the Jiigher 

 slopes of our mountains present steep and rocky surfaces of immense 

 area. 



Note. — It is a well-known fact tliat in Europe, not only torrents but land-slides as 

 well as snow-slides are induced and a<2,\i;ravated by the removal of tbe forest cover, 



