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enjoy storms so noble as this in their homes in the mountains for spending themselves in the open of the plains they are likely to be remembered more by the bridges and houses they carry away than by their beauty or the thousand blessings they bring to the and gardens of nature on the morning of the flood january th all the feather and were covered with running water muddy torrents filled every and and the sky was thick with rain the pines had long been sleeping in sunshine they were now awake roaring and waving with the beating storm and the winds sweeping along the curves of hill and streaming through the woods and on the tops of rocky made the wildest of wild storm melody it was easy to see that only a small part of the rain reached the ground in the form of drops most of it was into dusty spray like that into which small are divided when they dash on rocks never have i seen water coming from the sky in or more passionate streams the wind chased the spray forward in choking and compelled me again and again to seek shelter in the and back of large trees to rest and catch my breath wherever i the river floods went on or in hollows enthusiastic water still flashed and about my ankles recalling a wild winter flood in when a hundred came and together and filled the grand valley with a sea like roar after drifting an hour or two in the lower woods i set out for the summit of a hill feet high with a view to getting as near the heart of the storm as possible in order to reach it i had to cross dry creek a of the that goes crawling along the base of the hill on the it was now a river as large as the at ordinary stages its current brown with washed down from many a claim and with boxes fence rails and logs that had long lain above its reach a slim foot bridge stretched across it now scarcely above the swollen current here i was glad to linger gazing and listening while the storm was in its richest mood the gray rain flood above the brown river flood beneath the language of the river was scarcely less than that of the wind and rain the sublime of the main current the and of the the keen dash and clash of heavy waves breaking against rocks and the smooth hush of shallow currents feeling their way through the willow of the margin and amid au this varied throng of sounds i heard the smothered and of on the bottom as they were and rolling forward against one another in a wild rush after having lain still for probably years or more the mountains of the glad creek rose high above its banks and wandered from its channel out over many a sand flat and meadow and were bearing up against the current with nervous trembling gestures as if afraid of being carried away while branches bending dipped lightly and rose again as if the wild waters in play leaving the bridge and passing on through the storm woods all the ground seemed to be moving pine of bark soil leaves and broken branches were being swept forward and many a rock fragment from exposed was now ng its first and in the wild streams of the storm on they rushed through every and hollow leaping gliding working with a will and rejoicing like living creatures was the flood confined to the ground every tree had a water system of its own spreading far and wide like miniature and midday cloud wind and rain reached their highest development the storm was in full bloom and formed from my commanding outlook on the one of the most glorious views i ever beheld as far as the eye could reach above beneath around wind driven rain the air uke one vast detached clouds swept up the valley as if they were endowed with independent motion and had special work to do in the mountain wells now rising above the pine tops now descending into their midst their and soothing every branch and leaf with gentleness in the midst of all the floods the savage sound and motion others keeping near the ground glided behind separate groves and brought them forward into relief with admirable distinctness or passing in front whole groves in succession pine after pine melting in their gray and bursting forth again seemingly clearer than before the forms of storms are in gi eat part measured and controlled by the of the regions where they rise and over which they pass when therefore we attempt to study them from the valleys or from and of the forest we are confounded by a multitude of separate and apparently impressions the bottom of the storm is broken up into innumerable waves and currents that against the like sea waves against a shore and these on the surface of the storm immense hollows and and sweep forward the in long trains like the of but as we ascend these partial effects disappear and the phenomena are beheld united and harmonious the longer i gazed into the storm the more plainly visible it became the drifting cloud gave it a kind of visible body which explained many phenomena and published its movements in plain terms while the texture of the falling mass of rain rounded it out and rendered it more complete because differ in size they fall at different and overtake and clash against one another producing mist and spray they also of course yield unequal the mountains of compliance to the force of the which gives rise to a still greater degree of interference and passionate sweep off clouds of spray from the groves like that torn from wave tops in a gale all these	28
my condition as if i were some snatched from the sea while i in turn warm with excitement and like the ground pitied them for being dry and of all the glory that nature had spread round about them that day chapter xii the weather of spring and summer in the middle region of the is usually well with rains and light of snow most of which are far too obviously joyful and life giving to be regarded as storms and in the picturesque beauty and clearness of outlines of their clouds they offer striking to those boundless cloud of the storms of winter the smallest and most perfectly specimens present a richly cloud rising above the dark woods about a m swelling with a visible motion straight up into the calm sunny sky to a height of to feet above the sea its white relieved by gray and pale purple shadows in the hollows and showing outlines as keenly defined as those of the polished in less than an hour it full development and stands poised in the blazing sunshine like some colossal mountain as beautiful in form and finish as if it were to become a permanent addition to the landscape presently a through the crisp air ringing like steel on steel sharp and clear its startling breaking into a spray of echoes against the mountains op the cliffs and walls then down comes a of rain the big drops through the pine needles and on the granite and pour down the sides of and in a of gray in a few minutes the cloud to a of dim and leaving the sky perfectly clear and bright every dust wiped and washed out of it everything is refreshed and a steam of fragrance rises and the stolen is finished one cloud one lightning stroke and one dash of rain this is the thunder storm reduced to its lowest terms but some of them attain much larger proportions and assume a grandeur and energy of expression hardly surpassed by those bred in the depths of winter producing those sudden floods called cloud bursts which are local and to a considerable extent for they appear nearly every day about the same time for weeks usually about eleven o clock and lasting from five minutes to an hour or two one soon becomes so accustomed to see them that the noon sky seems empty and abandoned without them as if nature were forgetting something when the glorious pearl and clouds of these storms are being built i never give attention to anything else no mountain or mountain range however clothed with light has a more enduring charm than those fleeting mountains of the sky floating fountains bearing water for every well the angels of the streams and lakes brooding in the deep or sweeping softly along the ground over ridge and thunder storms dome over meadow over forest over garden and grove lingering with shadows refreshing every flower and soothing rugged rock brows with a gentleness of touch and e wholly divine the most beautiful and imposing of the summer storms rise just above the upper edge of the silver fir and all are so beautiful that it is not easy to choose any one for particular description the one that i remember best fell on the mountains near valley july while i was in the silver fir woods a range of took possession of the sky huge and peaks rising one beyond another with deep between them bending this way and that in long curves and reaches interrupted here and there with white masses that looked like the spray of of lightning followed each other in quick succession and the thunder was so loud and massive it seemed as if surely an entire mountain was being shattered at every stroke only the trees were touched however so far as i could see a few feet high perhaps and five to six feet in were split into long rails and from top to bottom and scattered to all points of the compass then came the rain in a hearty flood covering the ground and making it shine with a continuous sheet of water that like a transparent or skin fitted closely down over all the rugged of the landscape it is not long speaking since the first fell on the present of the and in the few of thousands of years the op of stormy cultivation they have been with how beautiful they have become i the first rains fell on raw crumbling and rocks without a plant now scarcely a drop can fail to find a beautiful mark on the tops of the peaks on the smooth on the curves of the on full of on the thousand forms of with their tender beauty of vegetation some softly on meadows creeping out of sight seeking and finding every thirsty some through the of the woods in dust through the needles and whispering good cheer to each of them some falling with blunt tapping sounds on the broad leaves of some falling straight into fragrant kissing the lips of lilies on the sides of on shining of gold some falling into the fountains of snow to swell their well saved stores some into the lakes and rivers patting the smooth making and bells and spray washing the mountain windows washing the wandering winds some into the heart of snowy falls and as if eager to join in the dance and the song and beat the foam yet finer good work and happy work for the merry mountain each one of them a brave fall in itself rushing from the cliffs and hollows of the clouds into the cliffs and hollows of the mountains away from the thunder of the sky into the thunder of the roaring rivers and how far they have to go and how many cups thunder storms to fill cups a drop and lake	28
between the hills each with equal care every drop god s messenger sent on its way with glorious pomp and display of power silvery new born stars with lake and river mountain and valley all that the landscape holds reflected in their crystal depths chapter the water the of the are frequented one the or water i he is a singularly joyous and little fellow about the size of a tv bin clad in a plain suit of with a of on the head and shoulders in form he is about as smoothly plump and th mj ct as a that has been whirled in a t hole the flowing of his body being interrupted only by his strong feet and bill the crisp wing tips and the up like tail all the countless i have met in the se of ten years in whether among the icy peaks or warm foot hills or in the of the middle region not one was found without its no is too cold for this little bird none too lonely provided it be rich in falling water find a fall or or rushing rapid anywhere upon a clear stream and there you will surely find its y flitting about in the spray in foaming whirling like a leaf among beaten foam bells ever vigorous and enthusiastic yet and neither seeking nor company the if disturbed while dipping about in the margin he either off with a rapid to some other feeding ground up or down the stream or on some half rock or out in the and immediately begins to nod and courtesy like a turning his head from side to side with many other odd dainty move the mountains of ments that never fail to fix the attention of the observer he is the mountain streams own darling the humming bird of blooming waters loving rocky ripple slopes and sheets of foam as a bee loves flowers as a lark loves sunshine and meadows among all the mountain birds none has cheered me so much in my lonely wanderings none so for both in winter and summer he sings sweetly cheerily independent alike of sunshine and of love requiring no other inspiration than the stream on which he dwells while water sings so must he in heat or cold calm or storm ever his voice in sure accord low in the of summer and the of winter but never silent during the golden days of indian summer after most of the snow has been melted and the mountain streams have become feeble a succession of silent pools linked together by shallow transparent currents and of silvery then the song of the is at its lowest ebb but as soon as the winter clouds have and the mountain are once more with snow the voices of the streams and increase in strength and richness until the flood season of early summer then the torrents chant their noblest and then is the flood time of our s melody as for weather dark days and sun days are the same to him the voices of most song birds however joyous suffer a long winter but the sings on through all the seasons and every kind of storm indeed no storm the water can be more violent than those of the in the midst of which he to dwell however dark and boisterous the weather blowing or cloudy all the same he sings and with never a note of sadness no need of spring sunshine to his for it never never shall you hear anything wintry from ms warm breast no pinched no wavering notes between sorrow and joy his mellow voice is ever to downright gladness as free from as cock it is pitiful to see frost pinched on cold mornings in the mountain groves shaking the snow from their feathers and about as if anxious to be cheery then hastening back to their out of the wind puffing out their breast feathers over their toes and among the leaves cold and while the snow continues to fall and there is no sign of clearing but the never calls forth a single touch of pity not because he is strong to endure but rather because he seems to live a charmed life beyond the reach of every influence that makes endurance necessary one wild winter morning when valley was swept its length from west to east by a cordial snow storm i forth to see what i might learn and enjoy a sort of gray like darkness filled the valley the huge walls were out of sight all ordinary sounds were smothered and even the of the falls was at times buried beneath the roar of the heavy laden blast the loose snow was already over five feet deep on the mountains of the meadows making extended walks impossible without the aid of snow shoes i found no great difficulty however in making my way to a certain ripple on the river where one of my lived he was at home busily his breakfast among the pebbles of a shallow portion of the margin apparently unaware of anything extraordinary in the weather presently he flew out to a stone against which the icy current was beating and turning his back to the wind sang as delightfully as a lark in after spending an hour or two with my favorite i made my way across the valley and through the to learn as definitely as possible how the other birds were spending their time the birds are easily found during the winter because all of them excepting the are to the sunny north side of the valley the south side being constantly by the great frosty shadow of the wall and because the indian groves from their peculiar exposure are the warmest the birds there more especially in severe weather i found most of the on the lee	28
flying out thirty or forty yards more or less according to the character of the bottom he with a dainty on the surface about looks down finally makes up his mind and with a sharp stroke of his wings after feeding for two or three minutes he suddenly showers the water from his wings with one vigorous shake and rises abruptly into the air as if pushed up from beneath comes back to his perch sings a few minutes and goes out to again thus coming and going singing and at the same place for hours the is usually found singly rarely in the water s during the breeding season and very rarely in or i once served three thus a winter morning in company upon a small lake on the upper the level of the sea had occurred the night but the morning sun aiid the shadowy lake gleaming darkly in its setting of fresh snow lay smooth and motionless as a mirror my camp chanced to be within a few feet of the water s edge opposite a fallen pine some of the branches of which leaned out over the lake here s the mountains of my ee dearly welcome visitors took up their at began to the frosty air with their melody doubly delightful to ttie that particular morning as i had been somewhat apprehensive of danger in breaking my way down through the snow choked to the the portion of the lake bottom selected for a feeding lies at a depth of fifteen or twenty feet below the surface and is covered with a short of and other plants facts i had previously determined while sailing over it on a after on the surface they indulged in a little play chasing one another round about in small circles then all three suddenly together and then come ashore and sing the seldom more than a few yards on the for not being web footed he makes rather slow progress but by means of his strong crisp wings he or rather flies with imder the surface often to considerable distances but it is in the force of heavy that his strength of wing in this respect is most manifested the following may be as a fair illustration of his power of sub flight one stormy morning in winter when the river was blue and with snow i observed one of my perched on a out in the midst of a swift rushing rapid singing cheerily as if everything was just to his mind and while i stood on the bank admiring him he suddenly plunged into the current the water leaving his song abruptly broken off after feeding a minute or two at the bottom and when one would suppose that he must inevitably be swept far down stream he emerged just where he went down the same the water beads from his feathers and continued his unfinished song seemingly in tranquil ease as it it had t d no interruption the alone of all dares to enter a white and though in structure no is so related to not even the duck or the ocean or the stormy pet i go ashore as soon as thej finish feed ing in and very of flights from lake or field to field the same is true of most other birds but the bom on the brink of a stream or on a or in the midst of it seldom leaves the of ii a moment for notwithstanding he i i on the wing he never flies but w th i like beat above the stream all its even when the stream is small five to ten feet wide he his flight by crossing a bend however it may be and even when disturbed by meeting some one on the bank he prefers to fly over one fe head to ont over the ground when therefore his flight along a crooked stream is it appears most strikingly a description on the air of every curve with ike rapidity the curves and angles of the most torrents he traces with the same rigid fidelity down the of dropping sheer over dizzy falls amid the spray and ascending with the same and ease seldom seeking to lessen the of the by l to ascend before reaching the base of the fall matter though it may be several hundred feet in height he holds straight on as if to dash headlong into the throng of then abruptly upward and at the top of the precipice to rest a moment proceeds to feed and sing his flight is solid and impetuous without any of wing beats one like that of a laden bee on its way home and while thus freely from fall to fall he is frequently heard giving utterance to a long train of notes in no way connected with his song but corresponding closely with his flight in sustained vigor the water were the flights of all the in the traced on a they would indicate the direction of the flow of the entire system of ancient from about the period of the breaking up of the ice sheet until near the close of the winter because the streams which the so rigidly follow are with the unimportant exceptions of a few side all flowing in channels for them out of the solid flank of the range by the vanished the streams tracing the ancient the tracing the streams nor do we find so complete compliance to conditions in the life of any other mountain bird or animal of any kind bears frequently accept the laid down by as the easiest to travel but they often leave them and cross over from to so also most of the birds trace the to some extent because the forests are growing on them but they wander far crossing the from grove to grove and draw exceedingly and complicated	28
courses the s nest is one of the most extraordinary pieces of bird architecture i ever saw odd and novel in design perfectly fresh and beautiful and in every way worthy of the genius of the little it is about a foot in round and in outline with a neatly arched opening near the bottom somewhat like an old fashioned brick oven or s hut it is built almost exclusively of green and yellow chiefly the beautiful that covers the rocks and old drift logs in the vicinity of these are and together c the op ji little hut and so situated that be continue to flourish as if hi r ot been plucked a few fine i s e s ai occasionally found with br but with the exception of a thin r r ihe floor their presence seems il are of a species found growing with th e r h s e a j d are probably plucked with them ti e e sen for this curious mansion is usually s e l shelf within reach of the lighter p r iv e of the spray of a so that its walls ar kept green and growing at least during the ir e of water harsh l ne are presented by any portion of the r e st as seen in place but when removed from it shelf the back and bottom and sometimes a portion of the top is foimd quite sharply it is made to to the surface of the u which and against which it is built the little always taking advantage of slight and that may chance to offer to render his structure stable by means of a kind of and in sing a building spot concealment does not seem to be taken into consideration yet notwithstanding the nest is large and exposed to view it is far from being easily detected chiefly because it forward like any other moss cushion growing naturally in such situations this is more especially the case where the nest is kept fresh by being well sprinkled sometimes these romantic httle huts have their beauty by rock and that the water spring up around the walls or in front of the door sill dripping with crystal beads at certain hours of the day when the sunshine is poured down at the ed angle the whole mass of the spray the fairy establishment is brilliantly and it is through so glorious a rainbow atmosphere as this that some of our blessed obtain their first peep at the world seem so completely part and parcel of the streams they they scarce suggest any other origin than the streams themselves and one might almost be in they come direct from the living waters like flowers from the ground at least from whatever cause it never ed to me to look for their nests until more than a year after i had made the acquaintance of the birds themselves although i found one the very day on which i began the search in making my way from to the at the heads of the and rivers i in a particularly wild and romantic portion of the where in previous excursions i had never failed to enjoy the company of my who were attracted here no doubt by the safe places in the rocks and by the abundance of food and falling water the river for miles above and below consists of a succession of small falls from ten to sixty feet in height connected by flat like that go flashing from fall to fall free and almost over waving folds of polished granite on the south side of one of the falls that portion of the precipice which is bathed by the spray the mountains op presents a series of little shelves and caused by the development of of in the granite and by the consequent fall of masses through the action of the water now here said i of all places is the most charming spot for an s nest then carefully the fretted face of the precipice through the spray i at length noticed a moss cushion growing on the edge of a level within five or six feet of the outer folds of the fall but apart from the fact of its being situated where one acquainted with the lives of would fancy an s nest ought to be there was nothing in its appearance visible at first sight to distinguish it from other of i moss situated with reference to spray and it was not until i had it again and again and had removed my shoes and stockings and crept along the face of the rock within eight or ten feet of it that i could decide certainly whether it was a nest or a natural growth in these moss huts three or four eggs are laid white like foam and well may the little birds from them sing water songs for they hear them all their lives and even before they are born i have often observed the young just out of the nest making their odd gestures and seeming in every way as much at home as their experienced parents like young bees on their first excursions to the flower fields no amount of familiarity with people and their ways seems to change them in the least to all appearance their behavior is just the the same on seeing a man for the st time as when they have seen him frequently on the i of the rivers where mills are they on through ot and all the noisy ot dogs i and work ou occasion while a wood was at work on the river bank i observed one cheerily singing within reach of the flying nor does any kind of unwonted disturbance put him in bad humor or frighten him out of calm self possession in passing through a narrow the	28
mountains of i once drove one ahead of me from rapid to rapid disturbing him four times in quick succession where he could not very well fly past me on account of the of the channel most birds under similar circumstances fancy themselves and become suspiciously uneasy but instead of growing nervous about it he made his usual and sang one of his most tranquil strains when observed within a few yards their eyes are seen to express remarkable gentleness and intelligence but they seldom allow so near a view one wears clothing of about the same color as the rocks and trees and knows how to sit on one occasion while rambling along the shore of a mountain lake where the birds at least those born that season had never seen a man i sat down to rest on a large stone close to the water s edge upon which it seemed the and were in the habit of when they came to feed on that part of the shore and some of the other birds also when they came down to wash or drink in a few minutes along came a and alighted on the stone beside me within reach of my hand then suddenly observing me he stooped nervously as if about to fly on the instant but as i remained as motionless as the stone he gained confidence and looked me steadily in the face for about a minute then flew quietly to the outlet and began to sing next came a and gazed at me with much the same expression of eye as the lastly down with a came a s out of a fir tree probably with the intention of his noisy the water throat but instead of sitting as my other visitors had done he rushed at once nearly tumbling heels over head into the lake in his suspicious confusion and with loud screams roused the neighborhood love for song birds with their sweet human voices appears to be more common and than love for flowers every one loves flowers to some extent at least in life s fresh morning attracted by them as instinctively as humming birds and bees even the young indians have sufficient love for the brightest of those found growing on the mountains to gather them and them as for the hair and i was glad to discover through the few indians that could be induced to talk on the subject that they have names for the wild rose and the lily and other conspicuous flowers whether available as food or otherwise most men however whether savage or civilized become toward all plants that have no other apparent use than the use of beauty but fortunately one s first instinctive love of is never wholly no matter what the influences upon our lives may be i have often been delighted to see a pure spiritual glow come into the countenances of hard business men and old when a song bird chanced to alight near them nevertheless the little of meat that out the breasts of some song birds is too often the cause of their death and in particular are brought to market in hundreds but fortunately the has no enemy so eager to eat his little body as to follow him into the the mountains of tain i never knew him to be chased even by an acquaintance of mine a sort of foot hill had a pet cat a great overgrown creature about as broad shouldered as a during the winter while the snow lay deep the sat in his lonely cabin among the pines smoking his pipe and wearing the dull time away tom was his sole companion sharing his bed and sitting beside him on a stool with much the same drowsy expression of eye as his master the good natured bachelor was content with his hard fare of bread and bacon but tom the only creature in the world acknowledging dependence on him must needs be provided with fresh meat accordingly he himself to contrive traps and the snowy woods with his gun making sad among the few winter birds neither robin nor tiny and the pleasure of seeing tom eat and grow fat was his great reward one cold afternoon while hunting along the river bank he noticed a plain little bird about in the and immediately raised his gun but just then the confiding began to sing and after to his melody the charmed hunter turned away saying bless your little heart i can t shoot you not even for tom even so far north as icy i have found my glad singer when i was exploring the between mount and the river one cold day in november after trying snow at thb foot of the mountains of in vain to force a way through the innumerable of sum bay to the great at the head of it i was weary and baffled and sat resting in my convinced at last that i would have to leave this part of my work for another year then i began to plan my escape to open water before the young ice which was beginning to form should shut me in while i thus lingered drifting with the in the midst of these gloomy and all the terrible desolation grandeur i suddenly heard the of an s wings and looking up saw my little coming straight across the ice from the shore in a second or two he was with me flying three times round my head with a happy salute as if saying cheer up old friend you see i m here and all s well then he flew back to the shore alighted on the of a and began to nod and bow as though he were on one of his favorite in the midst of a sunny the species is distributed all along the of the pacific coast from to and east	28
to the mountains nevertheless it is as yet comparatively little known and did not meet it was i believe the first to describe a specimen from specimens were shortly afterward procured by near the sources of the between the fifty fourth and fifty sixth and it has been collected by nearly all of the numerous exploring undertaken of late through our western states and the water for it never fails to engage the attention of in a very particular manner such then is our little beloved of every one who is so fortunate as to know him tracing on strong wing every curve of the most torrents from one extremity of the to the other not fearing to follow them through their darkest and snow acquainted with every echoing their divine music and throughout the w hole of their beautiful lives all that we in our call terrible in the of torrents and storms as only varied expressions of god s eternal love chapter xiv the wild sheep the wild sheep ranks highest among the animal of the possessed of keen sight and scent and strong limbs he dwells e amid the leaping from to up and down the fronts of giddy crossing foaming torrents and slopes of frozen snow exposed to the wildest storms yet maintaining a brave warm life and developing from generation to generation in perfect strength and beauty nearly all the lofty mountain chains of the globe are inhabited by wild sheep most of which on account of the remote and all but inaccessible regions where they dwell are imperfectly known as yet they are by different under from five to ten distinct species or varieties the best known being the of the the the large wild sheep of central and asia or the the of the mountains of northern africa and the rocky mountain the wild sheep to this last named species belongs the wild sheep of the its range according to the late professor of the institution extends from the region of the upper and to the mountains and the high gi adjacent to them on the eastern slope and as far south as the westward it extends to the coast of washington and and follows the some distance into throughout the vast region bounded on the east by the mountains and on the west by the there are more than a hundred subordinate and mountain groups north and south range beyond range with rising from eight to twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea probably all of which according to my own observations is or has been inhabited by this species compared with the which considering its size and the vast extent of its range is probably the most important of all the wild sheep our species is about the same size but the horns are less twisted and less the more important characteristics are however essentially the same some of the best maintaining that the two are only varied forms of one species in accordance with this view conjectures that since central asia seems to be the region where the sheep first appeared and from which it has been distributed the may have been distributed over this continent from asia by crossing strait on ice this conjecture is not so ill pacific railroad survey vol viii page s ti ihe of f c i fc ij a r sight would appear for the sur b ac it fifty miles wide is interrupted ty is and is with ice nearly er the is abundant c br r i r adjacent to the strait at east oa is well known to the i i r i have seen many of their horns t i xv i ri rf the extreme of the r it is generally supposed that i r i r e domestic have all been si the few wild species but the whole e i is i in obscurity according to l i ha e been from a very i the of a small breed f ui any now known having been found in the lake with the best known domestic we find that our wild species is much larger and instead ot an all wool wears a thick overcoat of hair uke that of the deer and an of fine wool the hair though rather coarse is comfortably soft and and lies smooth as if tended with comb and brush the color during most of the year is gray varying to gray in the the and a large conspicuous patch on the are white and the tail which is very short like that of a deer is black with a border the wool is white and grows in beautiful down out of sight among the shining hair like delicate climbing vines among of com the horns of the male are of immense size the wild sheep in their greater from five to six and a half inches and from two and a half to three feet in length around the ve they are white in color and like those of the domestic ram their cross section near the base is somewhat in outline and toward the tip boldly from the top of the head they curve gently backward and outward then forward and outward until about three of a circle is described and until the blunt tips are about two feet or two and a half feet apart those of the female are throughout their entire length are less curved than those of the male and much smaller measuring less than a foot along the curve a ram and that i obtained near the beds to the of mount measured as follows ram ft in ft in height at shoulders around shoulders j length from nose to root of tail j j length of ears f y length of length of horns around curve distance across from tip to tip of horns j of horns at	28
base the of a male obtained in the rocky mountains by vary but little as compared with the above the weight of his specimen was pounds which is perhaps about an and s of north america t ihe of it f t full grown the females are r i ii lighter e in size color hair etc i r ve we may observe that the domestic i t u s general way is like a c vi e of something only half alive while the will i ant and graceful as a deer every t r admirable and r tbe is timid the wild is bold the tame a i v r less ruffled and dirty while the wi i as sin th and clean as the flowers of his the earnest mention that i have been able to ir d v f the wild sheep in america is by father l v a missionary at in the after describing it oddly enough as a kind v f deer with a sheep like head and about as large as a one or two years old naturally h to remark i have eaten of these beasts their is very tender and in his northern travels heard the species spoken of bv the as white and and tell us that in a time of great on the head waters of the they saw plenty of wild sheep but they were too shy to be shot a few of the more energetic of the indians hunt the wild sheep every season among the more accessible sections of the high in the neighborhood of passes where from having been pursued they have become extremely wary but in the rugged wilderness of peaks and where the foaming of the san and king s rivers take their rise they fear no hunter the wild sheep save the wolf and are more and than their tame kindred while engaged in the work of exploring high regions where they delight to i have been greatly interested in studying their habits in the months of november and december and probably a considerable portion of they all flock together male and female old and young i once found a complete band of this kind upward of fifty which on being alarmed went bounding away across a jagged bed at admirable speed led by a majestic old ram with the safe in the middle of the flock in spring and summer the full grown form separate bands of from three to twenty and are usually found feeding along the edges of meadows or resting among the castle like of the high and whether quietly feeding or the wild cliffs their noble forms and the power and beauty of movements never fail to strike the with lively admiration their resting places seem to be chosen with reference to sunshine and a wide outlook and most of all to safety their feeding grounds are among the most beautiful of the wild gardens bright with and and of purple lying hidden away on rocky and sides where sunshine is abundant or down in the shady valleys along the banks of the streams and lakes where the sod is here they feast all summer the happy perhaps the beauty as well as the taste of the lovely on which they feed the of when the winter storms set in their s with snow then like the birds on mount they gather and go to lower usually descending the eastern flank of the range to the rough table lands and of the the wild sheep great basin adjacent to the they never make haste however and seem to have no dread of storms many of the strongest only going down leisurely to bare wind swept to feed on bushes and dry bunch gi ass and then returning up into the snow once i was snow bound on mount for three days a little below the timber line it was a dark and stormy time well calculated to test the skill and endurance of the snow laden gale drove on night and day in hissing blinding floods and when at length it began to i found that a small band of wild sheep had the storm in the lee of a of dwarf pines a few yards above my storm nest where the snow was eight or ten feet deep i was warm back of a rock with blankets bread and fire my brave companions lay in the snow without food and with only the partial shelter of the short trees yet they made no sign of suffering or faint in the months of may and june the wild sheep bring forth their young in solitary and almost inaccessible far above the rocks of the eagle i have frequently come upon the beds of the and at an elevation of from to feet above sea level these beds are simply oval shaped hollows out among loose rock and sand upon some sunny spot commanding a good outlook and partially sheltered from the winds that sweep those lofty peaks almost without such is the cradle of the little aloft in the very sky rocked in storms in clouds sleeping in thin icy air but wrapped in his hairy coat and nourished the of by a strong warm mother defended from the of the eagle and the teeth of the sly the lamb he soon to the k and leaves of the white his begin to shoot and before summer is done he is and and goes forth with the dock by the same divine love that the more helpless lamb in its cradle by the fireside nothing is more commonly remarked by noisy trail in the than the want of animal life no song birds no deer no no game of any kind they say but if such could only go away quietly into the wilderness and alone with natural deliberation they would	28
soon learn that these mountain are not without inhabitants many of whom confiding and gentle would not try to their acquaintance in tlie fall of i was tracing the south fork of the san up its wild to its farthest it was the season of indian summer the sun beamed lovingly the were in the pine trees hovered about the last of the the willow and were yellow the meadows brown and the whole sunny mellow landscape glowed like a countenance in the deepest and sweetest repose on my way over the polished rocks along the river i came to an expanded portion of the about two miles long and a mile wide which formed a level park with picturesque granite walls like those of valley down through the middle of it the wild poured the beautiful river shining and in the golden light yellow groves on its banks and of brown meadow while the whole k was with wild life some of which even the head of the and least observing of must have seen had they been with me deer with their bounded from thicket to thicket as i advanced kept rising from the brown grass with a great of wings and on the mountains of the lower branches of the pines and allowed a near approach as if curious to see me farther on a broad shouldered showed himself coming out of a grove and crossing the river on a flood of logs halting for a moment to look back the bird like about my feet everywhere among the pine needles and gi ass ts the of the river the rattled from perch to perch and the blessed sang amid the spray of every where may lonely wanderer find a more interesting family of mountain earth born companions and fellow mortals it was afternoon when i joined them and the glorious landscape began to fade in the before i awoke from their enchantment then i sought a camp ground on the river bank made a of tea and lay down to sleep on a smooth place among the yellow leaves of an grove next day i discovered yet and life following the river over huge swelling rock through a majestic and past innumerable the scenery in general became gradually and more the sugar pine and silver gave place to the and the walls became more rugged and bare and and became more abundant in the gardens and of meadow along the streams toward the middle of the afternoon i came to another valley strikingly wild and original in all its features and perhaps never before touched by human foot as regards area of level bottom land it is one of the wild sheep the very smallest of the type but its walls are sublime rising to a height of from to feet above the river at the head of the valley the main forks as is found to be the case in all the formation of this one is due chiefly to the action of two great fountains lay to the eastward on the of and and a cluster of nameless peaks farther south the mountains of the gray river was singing the valley but above its roar i heard the of a which drew me eagerly on and just as i emerged from the tangled groves and at the head of the valley the main fork of the river came in sight f fresh from its fountains in a snowy between granite walls feet high the steep incline down which the glad waters thundered seemed to bar all farther progress it was not long however before i discovered a crooked in the rock by which i was enabled to climb to the edge of a terrace that crosses the and the nearly in the middle here i sat down to take breath and make some in my note book taking advantage at the same time of my elevated position above the trees to gaze back over the valley into the heart of the noble landscape little knowing the while what neighbors were near after spending a few minutes in this way i chanced to look across the fall and there stood three sheep quietly observing me never did the sudden appearance of a mountain or fall or human friend more forcibly seize and my attention anxiety to observe accurately held me perfectly still eagerly i marked the flowing of their firm muscles their strong legs ears eyes heads their graceful rounded necks the color of their hair and the bold curves of their noble horns when they moved i watched every gesture while they in no wise disconcerted either by my attention or by the the wild sheep tumultuous roar of the water advanced deliberately alongside the between the two divisions of the turning now and then to look at me presently they came to a steep ice which they ascended by a succession of quick short stiff legged leaps reaching the top without a struggle this was the most startling feat of i had ever witnessed and considering only the of the thing my astonishment could hardly have been greater had they displayed wings and taken to flight sm on such gi would have fallen and rolled like loosened many a time where the slopes are far lower i have been compelled to take off my shoes and stockings tie them to my belt and creep with the utmost caution no wonder then that i watched the progress of these animal with keen sympathy and in the boundless of wild nature displayed in their invention construction and keeping a few minutes later i caught sight of a dozen more in one band near the foot of the upper fall they were standing on the same side of the river with me only twenty five or thirty yards away looking as and perfect as if created on the spot it appeared by their tracks which	28
i had seen in the little and by their present position that when i came up the they were all feeding together down in the valley and in their haste to reach high ground where they could look about them to ascertain the nature of the strange disturbance they were divided three ascending on one side the river the rest on the other i ihe op the main band headed by an experienced chief now began to cross the wild between the two divisions of the this was another the wild sheep exciting feat for among all the varied experiences of the crossing of boisterous torrents is found to be one of the most trying to the nerves yet these fine fellows walked to the brink and jumped from to holding themselves in easy above the whirling current as if they were doing nothing extraordinary in the immediate of this rare picture there was a fold of ice granite traversed by a few bold lines in which rock and of were growing the gray walls on the sides nobly and adorned with brown and pines lofty peaks in the distance and in the middle ground the snowy fall the voice and soul of the landscape bushes beating time to its thunder tones the brave sheep in front of it their gray forms obscured in the spray yet standing out in good heavy relief against the close white water with their huge horns rising like the roots of dead pine trees while the evening streaming up the colored all the picture a rosy purple and made it glorious after crossing the river the led by their chief at once began to scale the wall turning now right now left in long single file keeping well apart out of one another s way and leaping in regular succession from to now ascending slippery dome curves now walking leisurely along the edges of stopping at times to gaze down at me from some flat rock with heads held as if curious to learn what i thought about it or whether i was likely to the follow them after the top of wall which at this place is between and feet high they were still against the sky an they lingered looking down in groups of or throughout the entire ascent they did not make a single awkward step or an effort of any i have frequently seen tame sheep in mountains jump upon a sloping rock hold on a few seconds and fall back baffled and but in the most trying situations where the slightest want or would have l een fatal these always seemed to move in comfortable reliance on their strength and skill the limits of which they never appeared to know moreover each one of the flock while following the guidance of the most experienced yet climbed with intelligent independence as a perfect individual capable of separate existence whenever it should wish or be compelled to withdraw from the little the domestic sheep on the contrary is only a of an animal a whole flock being required to form an individual just as numerous are required to make one complete those who in summer drive their to the mountain pastures and while watching them night and day have seen them frightened y bears and storms and scattered like wiu in some measure be able to appreciate the self reliance and strength and noble individuality of nature s sheep like the climbing of europe our is said to plunge headlong down the faces the wild sheep of sheer and alight on his big horns i know only two hunters who claim to have actually witnessed this feat i never was so fortunate they describe the act as a di ing head foremost the horns are so large at the base that they cover the upper portion of the head down nearly to a level with the eyes and the skull is exceedingly strong i struck an old specimen on mount a dozen blows with mv ice ax without breaking it such would not very readily by the wildest rock di ng but other bones could hardly be expected to hold together in such a performance and the mechanical difficulties in the way of their movements after striking upon an irregular sm face are in themselves sufficient to show this uke method of to be impossible even in the absence of all other evidence on the subject moreover the follow wherever the may lead although their horns are mere i have found many pairs of the horns of the old considerably battered doubtless a result of fighting i was particularly interested in the question after witnessing the performances of this san band upon the rocks at the foot of the falls and as soon as i procured specimens and examined their feet all the mystery disappeared the secret considered in connection with strong muscles is simply this the wide portion of the bottom of the foot instead of wearing down and becoming flat and hard like the feet of tame sheep and horses out in a soft rubber like or cushion which not only i sl the of s holds well on smooth rocks but fits into and down upon or against slight tc w even the hardest portions of the r is e i are comparatively soft and elastic the toes admit of an extraordinary of both and movement the foot to accommodate itself still more ro the of rock while aa ihe s me time increasing the power a the base of sheep one of the winter i of the flocks there lives a i r who has had the advantage of observing the i of wild sheep every winter and in the course of a conversation with him on the subject of their habits he to the front of a about feet high which it only eight or ten degrees out of the perpendicular there said he i	28
followed a band of them fellows to the back of that rock yonder and expected to capture them all for i thought i had a dead thing on them i got behind them on a bench that runs along the face of the wall near the top and comes to an end where they could nt get away without falling and being killed but they jumped and landed all right as if that were the regular thing with them what said i jumped feet perpendicular did vou see them do it t no he i i did nt see them going down for i was behind them but i saw them go off over the brink and then i went below and found their tracks where they struck on the loose rubbish at the bottom they just sailed right and the wild landed on their feet right side up that is the kind of animal is beats anything else that goes on four legs on another occasion a flock pursued by hunters i to another portion of this same cliff where it is still higher and on being followed they were seen jumping down in perfect order one behind another by two men who happened to be where they had a fair view of them and could watch their progress from top to bottom of the precipice both and made the frightful descent extraordinary concern the rock closely the of their half falling sl the op ii r movements by at short js ind holding back with their t w upon small and in mv t ir il r ear the bottom when they sailed off u o air and alighted on their feet but v r so nearly in a position h i aj j to be i that the methods of this w i ou iu clearly ke i r a i we make ourselves acquainted with r x a id the kind of feet and muscles brought r n them t e and indians are or rather the most successful hunters of the wild s w n i i the regions that have come under my own v tion i have seen large numbers of heads and in the of mount and the i where the indians had been f in storm v weather also in the of the s valley while the heavy found on some of the highest p how that this warfare has long been going on in the more accessible that stretch across the desert regions of western and i of indians used to hunt in company like of wolves and being perfectly the of their and with the habits and instincts of the game they were pretty successful on the tops of nearly every one of the mountains that i have i found small nest like built of stones in which as i afterward learned one or more indians would lie in wait while their the wild sheep the below knowing that the sheep would surely to the summit and when they could he made to approach with the wind they were shot at short range stiu larger bands of indians used to make extensive upon some dominant mountain much frequented by the sheep such as mount grant on the to the west of lake on the mountains op some particular spot situated with reference to the weu known of the sheep they built a high walled with long guiding wings from the and into this e they sometimes succeeded in driving the noble game great numbers of indians were of course required more indeed than they could usually muster counting in children and all they were compelled therefore to build rows of hunters out of stones along the ridge tops which they wished to prevent the sheep from crossing and without the sagacity of the game these were found effective for with a few live indians moving about excitedly among them they could hardly be distinguished at a little distance from men by any one not in the secret the whole ridge top then seemed to be alive with hunters the only animal that may fairly be regarded as a companion or rival of the sheep is the rocky mountain goat rich which as its name is more than goat he too is a brave and hardy crossing the wildest and the storms but he is shaggy short legged and much less dignified in than the sheep his jet black horns are only about five or six inches in length and the long white hair with which he is covered the expression of his limbs i have never yet seen a single specimen in the though possibly a few flocks may have lived on mount a comparatively short time ago the of these two are pretty the wild sheep distinct and they see but little of each other the sheep being mostly to the dry inland mountains the goat or to the wet snowy laden mountains of the coast of the continent in washington british and probably more than dwell on the icy of mount and while i was exploring the of i saw flocks of these admirable nearly every day and often followed their through the of bewildering in which they are excellent guides three species of deer are found in the black white and mule deer the first mentioned is by far the most abundant and occasionally meets the sheep during the summer on high meadows and along the edge of the timber line but being a forest animal seeking shelter and its young in dense it seldom visits the wild sheep in its higher homes the though not a is occasionally met in winter by the sheep while feeding along the edges of the sage plains and bare hills to the east of the so also is the mule deer which is almost in its range to this eastern region the white species belongs to	28
the coast perhaps no wild animal in the world is without enemies but as a class have fewer than the slipping and crouching among long grass and bushes upon the and deer but seldom crosses the bald of the sheep neither can i the mountains of t he bears be regarded as enemies for though they seek to vary their every day diet of nuts and by an occasional meal of mutton they prefer to hunt tame and helpless flocks and no doubt capture an lamb at times or some unfortunate beset in deep soft snow but these cases are little more than accidents so also a few perish in long continued snow storms though in au my i have not found more than five or six that seemed to have met their fate in this way a httle band of three were discovered snow bound in bloody a few years ago and were killed with an ax by who chanced to be crossing the range in winter man is the most dangerous enemy of all but even from him our brave mountain has little to fear in the remote of the high the golden plains of the and san were lately thronged with bands of and but being fertile and accessible they were required for human pastures so also are many of the feeding grounds of the deer hill valley forest and meadow but it will be long before man will care to take the castles of the sheep and when we consider here how rapidly entire species of noble animals such as the and are being pushed to the very verge of all lovers of will rejoice with me in the rocky security of the of all the xv in the foot hills s camp is a curious old town in county at an elevation of feet above the sea situated like a nest in the of a rough region rich in gold iron veins of dead fire rivers and dead water rivers are developed here side by side within a of a few miles and placed open before the student like a book while the people and the region beyond the camp furnish mines of study of never failing interest and variety when i discovered this curious place i was tracing the channels of the ancient pr e rivers instructive sections of which have been laid bare here and in the adjacent regions by the according to the poets go on forever but those of the are young as yet and have scarcely learned the way down to the sea while at least one generation of them have died and vanished together with most of the they drained all that remains of them to tell their history is a series of interrupted fragments of channels mostly choked with gravel and buried beneath broad i j tv m of t of these are known as the i of and the gravel de v i in li m is called the r in some places the channels of the tire t tr r in the same direction or z j r r is of the ancient rivers but in c c v is little correspondence between lie t having been changed or r i ir r new of the hills of the v pe s have become hollows and the w have become hills therefore the r channels with their loads of r oc in all kinds of of or even at right angles ro j nt across the tops of lofty t ll ts or far beneath them presenting impressive ii as r of the magnitude of the changes ac i j since those ancient streams were the last period preceding the n of the seems to have on over all the range almost simultaneously like the period notwithstanding of different age occur together in many indicating numerous periods of activity in the tire fountains the most important of the ancient river channels in this region is a section that extends from the south side of the town beneath creek and the ridge beyond it to the of the but on account of its depth below the general surface of the present valleys the rich gold it is known to contain cannot be easily worked on a large scale their extraordinary richness may be inferred from the in the foot hills fact that many claims were worked in them by sinking shafts to a depth of feet or more and the dirt by a should the dip of this ancient channel be such as to make the available as a then the grand deposit might be worked by the method and although a long expensive would be required the scheme might still prove profitable for there is millions in it the importance of these ancient gi as gold fountains is well known to even the superficial of the present streams have derived much of their gold from them according to all accounts the have been very rich terrific rich as they say here the hills have been cut and and every and and valley torn to pieces and expressing a fierce and desperate energy hard to understand still any kind of making is better than and there is something sublime in seeing men working in dead earnest at anything pursuing an object with like energy and many a brave fellow has recorded a most chapter of life on these rocks but most of the are sleeping now their wild day done while the few languidly in the washed out or sleepy village like bees around the ruins of their hive we have no industry left now they told me and no men everybody and everything has gone to decay we are only out of the game a thin of poor compared with what we used i the mountains of to be in the grand old gold days we were	28
giants then and you can look around here and see our tracks but although these lingering are perhaps more exhausted than the mines and about as dead as the dead rivers they are yet a rare and interesting set of men with much gold mixed with the rough rocky gravel of their characters and they manifest a breeding and intelligence little looked for in such surroundings as theirs as the heavy long continued grinding of the brought out the features of the so the intense experiences of the gold period have brought out the features of these old forming a richness and variety of character little known as yet the sketches of and miller have not exhausted this field by any means it is interesting to note the extremes possible in one and the same character and gentleness and and fierce endeavor men who twenty years ago would not cease their to save their lives now play in the streets with children their long like waiting after the exhaustion of the has brought on an exaggerated form of i heard a group of in the street eagerly discussing the quantity of tail required for a boy s and one undertook the sport of flying it the information that he was a boy always was a boy and d n a man who was not a boy inside however ancient outside mines morals politics the immortality of the soul etc were discussed beneath and in the time for each being the foot hills apparently by the temperature contact with nature and the habits of observation acquired in gold seeking had made them all to some extent and like wood rats they had gathered all kinds of odd specimens into their and now me to examine them they were the and most interesting specimens one of them offered to show me around the old giving me fair warning before setting out that i might not like him because said he people say i m eccentric i notice everything and gather and and anything that s queer and so some don t like me and call me eccentric i m always trying to find out things now there s a weed the indians eat it for what do you call those long flies with big heads flies i suggested well their jaws work side wise instead of up and down and jaws work the same way and therefore i think they are the same species i always notice everything like that and just because i do they say i m eccentric etc anxious that i should miss none of the wonders of their old gold field the good people had much to say about the beauty of cave city cave and advised me to explore it this i was very glad to do and finding a guide who knew the way to the mouth of it i set out from the next morning the most beautiful and extensive of the mountain of occur in a belt of that is pretty generally developed along the western flank of the from the isn ir tl tj lai oa the k li an r it i e besides p ir if a th j r ar dr l a iii rf sea i ma ir iii it ji t in the ui l i t centuries of mil great hi flowing and r i z which occur ine c i r in the l ti t i w i i i a md the base of id il if r c t ve glance we may a t iti w m in h i t al cur of the plains ami ii at r in the and v bears and other find tke fall of storms in gen massive of the sl a far as it has been laid bare to observation i at as and as a beauty opens one s eyes wherever it is really een but the very abundance and i of the common beauty that our steps prevents its v absorbed and appreciated it is a y f oil thin therefore to make excursions now and then to the bottom of the sea among and coral or up among the clouds on or in or even to creep like worms into dark holes and not only to of what is going on in those out of th places but to see better what the ou our return to common every day beauty in the foot hills our way from s to the cave lay across a series of picturesque in the region between the brown foot hills and the forests a stretch of rolling hill waves breaking here and there into a kind of rocky foam on the higher and sinking into delightful hollows with vines the day was a fine specimen of summer pure most of the time by a single cloud as the sun rose higher the heated air began to flow in tremulous waves from every southern slope the sea breeze that usually comes up the foot hills at this season with on its wings was scarcely perceptible the birds were assembled beneath leafy shade or made short languid flights in search of food all save the majestic with broad wings he sailed the warm air un wearily from ridge to ridge seeming to enjoy the sunshine like a butterfly too whose no heat or cold may were among the pines and the innumerable hosts of the insect kingdom were throbbing and wavering as this bearing region used to be a deer and bear pasture but since the of the gold period these fine animals have almost wholly disappeared here also once the and elephant whose bones are found in the river and beneath thick folds of toward noon as we were riding slowly over bank and in the sun heat we witnessed the of a new	28
dancing in the famous bower cave above and nowhere have i seen so much dancing as in a dance on the inaccessible south dome would likely follow the making of an easy way to the top of it it was delightful to witness here the infinite deliberation of nature and the simplicity of her methods in the production of such mighty results such perfect repose combined with restless enthusiastic energy though cold and as a landscape of ice building was going on in the m the mountains of dark with incessant activity the and were everywhere hung with down growing like groves of some of them large others delicately each tipped with a single drop of water like the bud of a pine tree the only sounds were the dripping and of water falling into pools or faintly on the crystal floors in some places the crystal are arranged in graceful flowing folds deeply like stiff silken in others straight lines of the ordinary forms are combined with reference to size and tone in a regularly system like the strings of a harp with musical tones corresponding and on these stone we played by striking the crystal strings with a stick the delicious liquid tones they gave forth seemed perfectly divine as they sweetly whispered and wavered through the majestic and died away in faintest the music of fairy land here we lingered and rejoicing to find so much music in stony silence so much splendor in darkness so many in the depths of the mountains buildings ever in process of construction yet ever finished developing from perfection to perfection profusion without every visible or invisible in glorious motion marching to the music of the in a region regarded as the abode of eternal stillness and death the outer chambers of mountain are frequently selected as homes by wild beasts in the in the foot hills however they seem to prefer homes and hiding places in and beneath as i have never seen their tracks in any of the this is the more remarkable because notwithstanding the darkness and water there is nothing cellar like or about them when we emerged into the bright of the sun everything looked brighter and we felt our faith in nature s beauty strengthened and saw more clearly that beauty is universal and immortal above beneath on land and sea mountain and plain in heat and cold light and darkness z chapter xvi the bee xv hen was wild it was one sweet iv garden throughout its entire length north and south and au the way across from the to the ocean wherever a bee might fly within the bounds of this virgin wilderness through the forests along the banks of the rivers along the and the sea over valley and plain j ark and grove and deep leafy or far up the slopes of the mountains throughout every belt and section of climate up to the timber line bee flowers in lavish abundance hei e they grew more or less apart in special sheets and patches of no great size there in broad flowing folds hundreds of miles in length of forests of of and wild rose sheets of golden beds of beds of beds of and and so on certain species blooming somewhere all the year round but of late years and sheep have made sad in these glorious pastures destroying of thousands of the acres like a fire and many species of the best honey plants to the bee pastures rocky cliffs and fence comers while on the other hand cultivation thus far has given no adequate compensation at least in kind only acres of for miles of the richest wild pasture ornamental roses and around cottage doors for of wild roses in the and small square and orange groves for broad of the great central plain of during the months of march april and may was one smooth continuous bed of honey bloom so rich that in walking from one end of it to the other a distance of more than miles your foot would press about a hundred flowers at every step and innumerable were so crowded together that had ninety nine per cent of them been taken away the plain would still have seemed to any but the radiant touching and and rising above one another glowed in the living light like a sunset sky one sheet of purple and gold with the bright pouring through the midst of it from the north the san from the south and their many sweeping in at right angles from the mountains dividing the plain into sections fringed with trees along the rivers there is a strip of bottom land beneath the general level and wider toward the foot hills where magnificent oaks from three to eight feet in cast grateful masses of shade over the open like and close along the water s edge there was a fine the of ot tn composed of wild rose and bushes and a great variety of climbing vines and the branches and trunks of and and swinging across from summit to summit in heavy here the wild bees in fresh bloom long after the of the plain had withered and gone to i and in when the were ripe the indians came from the mountains to feast men women and babies in long noisy trains often joined by the farmers of the who gathered this wild fruit with appreciation of its superior flavor while their home ds were full of ripe and and their were laden with gi but though these luxuriant shaggy river beds were thus distinct from the smooth plain they made no heavy dividing lines in general views the whole appeared as one continuous sheet of bloom bounded only by the mountains i first saw this central garden the most extensive and regular of all the bee pastures of the state it	28
seemed all one sheet of plant gold and vanishing in the distance distinct as a new map along the foot hills at my feet descending the eastern slopes of the coast range through beds of and and around a and bush crowned i at length out into the midst of it all the ground was covered not with grass and green leaves but with radiant about ankle deep next the foot hills knee deep or more five or six the mountains of miles out here were etc growing in close social of various shades of yellow finely with the of and whose delicate were drinking the vital without giving back any sparkling glow because so long a period of extreme the rainy season most of the vegetation is composed of which spring up simultaneously and bloom together at about the same height above the ground the general surface being but slightly ruffled by the taller and groups of the king of the in any direction hundreds of these happy sun plants brushed against my feet at every step and closed over them as if i were in liquid gold the air was sweet with fragrance the sang their blessed songs rising on the wing as i advanced then sinking out of sight in the sod while of wild bees stirred the lower air with their monotonous hum monotonous yet forever fresh and sweet as every day sunshine and showed themselves in considerable numbers in shallow places and small bands of were almost constantly in sight gazing curiously from some slight elevation and then bounding swiftly away with grace of motion yet i could discover no crushed flowers to mark their track nor indeed any destructive action of any wild foot or tooth whatever the great yellow days by while i drifted toward the north observing the the bee pa countless forms of life about me lying down almost anywhere on the approach of night and what glorious beds i had on i would find several new species leaning over me and looking me full in the face so that my studies would begin before rising about the first of may i turned eastward crossing the san between the mouths of the and and by the time i had reached the foot hills most of the vegetation had gone to seed and become as dry as hay all the seasons of the gi eat plain are warm or temperate and bee flowers are never wholly wanting but the grand the annual is governed by the rains which usually set in about the middle of november or the beginning of december then the seeds that for six months have lain on the ground dry and fresh as if they had been gathered into at once their life the general brown and purple of the ground and the dead vegetation of the preceding year give place to the green of and and of young leaves then one species after another comes into flower gradually the green with yellow and purple which lasts until may the rainy season is by no means a gloomy period of constant and rain perhaps nowhere else in north america perhaps in the world are the months of december january february and march so full of bland plant building sunshine to my notes of the winter and spring of every day of which i spent the mountains of out of doors on that section of the plain lying between the and rivers i find that the first rain of the season fell on december th january had only six rainy days that is days on which rain fell february three march five april three and may three the so called rainy season which was about an average one the ordinary rain storm of this region is seldom very cold or violent the winds which in settled weather come from the round into the opposite direction the sky fills gradually and with one general cloud from which the rain falls steadily often for days in succession at a temperature of about or more than seventy five per cent of all the rain of this season came from the down the coast over british washington and though the local winds of these circular storms blow from the one magnificent local storm from the fell on march a massive round cloud came swelling and thundering over the plain in most imposing majesty its front burning white and purple in the full blaze of the sun while warm rain poured from its ample like a beating down flowers and bees and the dry as suddenly as those of are by the so called but in less than an hour not a trace of the heavy mountain like cloud structure was left in the sky and the bees were on the wing as if nothing more gratefully refreshing could have been sent them the bee by the end of january four species of plants were in flower and five or six had already adjusted their and were in the prime of life but the flowers were not sufficiently numerous as yet to greatly the general green of the young leaves made their appearance in the first week of february and toward the end of this month the warmer portions of the plain were already golden with of the flowers of this was the full the sunshine grew warmer and richer new plants every day the air became more with humming wings and sweeter with the fragrance of the opening flowers and ground were getting ready for their summer work rubbing their limbs and themselves on the piles before their doors and were busy mending their old or weaving new ones in march the vegetation was more than doubled in depth and color a large white and two were in bloom together with a host of yellow tall enough now to bend in the wind and show wavering of shade	28
in april plant life as a whole reached its greatest height and the plain over all its varied surface was with a close of purple and golden by the end of this month most of the species had their seeds but still seemed to be in bloom from the numerous like and of scales of the in may the bees of i i i only a few deep set plants c i j ir july august and september is the season of r sleep a winter of dry heat followed in i v r by a second outburst of bloom at the t y time of the year then after the mass of leaves and of the dead n and turn to dust beneath the as if it had been baked in an oven a slender little plant from six he to feet high suddenly makes its in patches miles in extent like a of the bloom of april i have counted upward rf flowers five of an inch in ou a single plant both its leaves and stems are so as to be nearly invisible at a distance of a few amid so a multitude of flowers the ray and flowers are both yellow the purple and the texture of the rays is rich and like the of garden the wind turns all the heads iv to the so that in facing we have the flowers looking us in the face in my estimation this little plant the last bom of the brilliant host of that the plain is the most interesting of all it remains in flower november with two or three species of why which continue the chain around december to the spring flowers of january thus although the main bloom and honey season is only about three months long the circle however thin around some of the hot months is never completely broken the bee how long the various species of wild bees have lived in this honey garden nobody knows probably ever since the main body of the present gained possession of the land toward the close of the period the first brown honey bees brought to are said to have arrived in san in march a bee keeper by the name of purchased a lot consisting of twelve from some one at who had brought them from new york when landed at san all the contained live bees but they finally to one hive which was taken to san the little flourished and multiplied in the pastures of the valley sending off three the first season the owner was killed shortly afterward and in settling up his estate two of the were sold at for and other were made from time to time by way of the and though great pains were taken to success about one half usually died on the way four were brought safely across the plains in the being placed in the rear end of a wagon which was stopped in the afternoon to allow the bees to fly and feed in the places that were within reach until dark when the were closed in two years after the time of the first from new york a single swarm was brought over from san and let fly in the great central plain bee culture however has never gained much attention here notwithstanding the the of v iu of honey bloom and the high c jl daring the early years a few ar and there among who r fc to have learned something about the r o r t to the state but sheep cattle z raising are the chief as t skill and care while the profits c e n greater in honey sold here ad ci and a half to two dollars per pound tv n t the price had fallen to twelve fc e in i sat down to dinner wi i i sheep at a ie sail where fifteen or twenty w h b w oar st advised us not to spare the of honey he had placed on the table as w tbe article he had to in all ny w h i have never come upon a r se oh in the central valley like those so and so managed in the southern i v i of the state the few pounds of honey arid wax are consumed at home and are y taken into account among the of the farm the that escape from their careless owners have a weary time of it in seeking suitable homes most of them make their to the foot hills of the mountains or to the trees that hue the banks of the rivers where some hollow log or trunk may be found a friend of mine while out hunting on the san came upon an old trap hidden among some tall grass near the edge of the river upon which he sat down to rest shortly afterward his attention was attracted to a crowd the bee pastures of angry bees that were flying excitedly about his head when he discovered that he was sitting upon their hive which was found to contain more than pounds of honey out in the broad of the and san rivers the little have been known to build their in a bunch of rushes or stiff grass only slightly protected from the weather and in danger every spring of being carried away by floods they have the advantage however of a vast extent of fresh pasture accessible only to themselves the present condition of the grand central garden is very different from that we have about twenty years ago when the gold had been pretty thoroughly exhausted the attention of fortune not home was in gi eat part turned away from the mines to the fertile plains and many began experiments in a kind of restless wild e a load	28
continues in bloom for months though the coast region was the first to be invaded and settled by white men it has suffered less from a bee point of view than either of the other main divisions chiefly no doubt because of the of the surface and because it is owned and protected instead of lying exposed to the flocks of the wandering these remarks apply more particularly to the north half of the coast farther south there is less moisture less forest shade and the honey is less varied the mountains of the region is the largest of the three main divisions of the bee lands of the state and the most regularly varied in its owing to their gradual rise from the level of the central plain to the the foot hill region is about as dry and from the end of may the setting in of the winter rains as the plain there are no shady forests no damp at all like those lying at the same in the coast mountains the social of the plain with a few added species form the bulk of the portion of the vegetation up to a height of feet or more shaded lightly here and there with oaks and pines and interrupted by patches of and above this and just below the forest region there is a dark heath like belt of composed almost exclusively of a bush belonging to the rose family from five to eight feet high with small round leaves in and bearing a multitude of small white flowers in on the ends of the upper branches where it occurs at all it usually covers all the ground with a close impenetrable growth scarcely broken for miles up through the forest region to a height of about feet above sea level there are ragged patches of and five or six species of called deer brush or these are the most important of all the honey bearing bushes of the a little about a foot high with flowers like the makes handsome carpets beneath the pines and seems to be a favorite with the bees while the bee pastures pines themselves furnish unlimited quantities of and honey dew the product of a single tree its at the right time of year would be sufficient for the wants of a whole hive along the streams there is a rich growth of lilies and the region contains the meadows and countless small gardens in all sorts of places full of of several species and with beds of and the charming covered with sweet bells even the tops of the mountains are blessed with flowers dwarf etc i have seen wild bees and feeding at a height of feet above the sea many however that go up these dangerous heights never come down again some undoubtedly perish in storms and i have found thousands lying dead or on the surface of the to which they had perhaps been attracted by the white glare taking them for beds of bloom from that escaped their owners in the the honey bee is now generally distributed throughout the whole length of the up to an elevation of feet above sea level at this height they flourish without care though the snow every winter is deep even higher than this several bee trees have been cut which contained over pounds of honey the destructive action of sheep has not been so general on the mountain pastures as on those of the great plain but in many places it has been the mountains of more complete owing to the more character of the soil and its sloping position the digging and down action of hoofs on the slopes of has and buried many of the tender plants from year to year without allowing them time to mature their seeds the shrubs too are badly bitten especially the various species of fortunately neither sheep nor cattle care to feed on the or and these fine are too and tall or grow in places too rough and inaccessible to be trodden under foot also the walls and which form so considerable a part of the area of the range while inaccessible to domestic sheep are well fringed with honey shrubs and contain thousands of lovely bee gardens lying hid in side and recesses with and on the top of flat projecting where only bees would think to look for them but on the other hand a great portion of the plants that escape the feet and teeth of the sheep are destroyed by the by means of running fires which are set everywhere during the dry autumn for the purpose of burning the old fallen trunks and with a view to improving the pastures and more open ways for the flocks these destructive sheep fires sweep through nearly the entire forest belt of the range from one extremity to the other not only the but the young trees and on which the of the forests depends thus setting in motion a long train of evils the mountains of which will certainly reach far beyond bees and the has not yet invaded the forest region to any extent neither has it accomplished much in the foot hills thousands of might be established along the margin of the plain and up to a height of feet wherever water could be obtained the climate at this elevation admits of the making of permanent homes and by moving the to higher pastures as the lower pass out of bloom the annual yield of honey would be nearly doubled the foot hill pastures as we have seen fail about the end of may those of the belt and lower forests are in full bloom in june those of the upper and region in july august and september in scotland after the best of the bloom is past the bees are carried in carts to the and set free on the hills in	28
france too and in they are carried from pasture to pasture among and fields in the same way and along the rivers in to collect the honey of the delightful vegetation of the banks in egypt they are taken far up the and floated slowly home again gathering the honey harvest of the various fields on the way their movements in accord with the seasons were similar methods pursued in the productive season would last nearly all the year the average elevation of the north half of the is as we have seen considerably less than that of the south half and small streams with the bank and meadow gardens dependent upon them the bee are less abundant around the head waters of the feather and rivers the extensive of are planted with pines through which the sunshine reaches the ground with little here a scattered growth of golden and similar plants with cherry and thorn in ragged patches on the cooler hill slopes at the of the great central plain the and coast curve around and lock together in a of mountains and valleys throughout which their are mingled making at the north with its temperate climate and copious a perfect paradise for bees though strange to say scarcely a single regular bee has yet been established in it of all the upper flower fields of the is the most and may yet in fame the celebrated honey hills of and regarding this noble mountain from a bee point of view encircled by its many and sweeping aloft from the plain into the frosty we find the first feet from the summit generally snow clad and therefore about as as the sea the base of this region is by a belt of crumbling measuring about feet in breadth and is mostly free from snow in summer beautiful the faces of the cliffs with their bright colors and in some of the warmer there are a few of wall flowers and but notwithstanding the mountains of these bloom freely in the late summer the as a whole is almost as as the icy summit and its lower edge may be taken as the honey line immediately below this comes the forest covered with a rich growth of chiefly silver rich in and honey dew and with countless garden many of them less than a hundred yards across next in orderly succession comes the great bee its area far that of the icy summit and both the other combined for it goes sweeping around the entire mountain with a breadth of six or seven miles and a of nearly a hundred miles as we have already seen is a fire mountain created by a succession of of ashes and which over the lips of its several grew outward and upward like the trunk of a tree then followed a strange contrast the winter came on the mountain with ice which flowed slowly outward in every direction from the summit in the form of one vast a down crawling mantle of ice upon a fountain of fire crushing and grinding for centuries its brown with incessant activity and thus degrading and the entire mountain when at length the period began to draw near its close the ice mantle was gradually melted off around the bottom and in receding and breaking into its present condition irregular rings and heaps of matter were stored upon its the the bee pastures of most of the produces composed of rough sub of moderate size and of gi and sand which freely to the power of running water magnificent floods from the ample fountains of ice and snow working with sublime energy upon this prepared it out and carried down immense quantities from the higher slopes and it in smooth like beds around the base and it is these flood beds joined together that now form the main honey of the old thus by forces seemingly and destructive has mother nature accomplished her designs now a flood of fire now a flood of ice now a flood of water and at length an outburst of life a way of snowy and wings the rugged mountain like a cloud as if the beating against its sides had broken into a foam of plant bloom and bees as sea waves break and bloom on a rock shore in this wilderness the bees and rejoicing in the of the sun eagerly through and ringing the bells of the now humming aloft among and now down on the ground among and and anon plunging deep into snowy banks of cherry and they consider the lilies and roll into them and like lilies they toil not for they are impelled by sun power as water wheels by and when the one has plenty of high the mountains of sure water the other plenty of sunshine they hum and quiver alike in the bee lands in the sun days of summer one may readily infer the time of day from the comparative energy of bee movements alone drowsy and moderate in the cool of the morning increasing in energy with the ascending sun and at high noon thrilling and quivering in wild ecstasy then gradually declining again to the stillness of night in my excursions among the i occasionally meet bees that are hungry like who venture too far and remain too long above the bread line then they and like autumn leaves the bees are perhaps better fed than any others in the their field work is one perpetual feast but however the sunshine or the supply of flowers they are always dainty humming and seldom set foot upon a flower but on the wing in front of it and reach forward as if they were through but bees though as dainty as they their favorite flowers with profound cordiality and push their blunt faces against them like babies on their mother s bosom and fondly too with eternal	28
love does mother nature clasp her bee babies and them multitudes at once on her warm breast besides the common honey bee there are many other species here fine fellows who were nourished on the mountains thousands of sunny seasons before the advent of the domestic species among these are the the bee pastures bees carpenter bees and leaf too and of every size and pattern some broad winged like flapping slowly and sailing in easy curves others like small flying shaking about loosely in short crooked flights close to the flowers night and day great numbers of deer also delight to dwell in the portions of the bee pastures bears too the sweet wilderness their blunt shaggy forms well with the trees and tangled bushes and with the bees also standing the in size they are fond of all good things and enjoy them to the utmost with but little troublesome flowers and leaves as well as and the bees themselves as well as their honey though the bears have as yet had but little experience with they often succeed in reaching their stores and it seems doubtful whether bees themselves enjoy honey with so great a relish by means of their powerful teeth and claws they can and tear open almost any hive conveniently accessible most honey bees however in search of a home are wise enough to make choice of a hollow in a living tree a considerable distance above the ground when such places are to be had then they are pretty secure for though the smaller black and brown bears climb well they are unable to break into strong while compelled to exert themselves to keep from falling and at the same time to endure the of the fighting bees without having their free to rub them off but woe to the black discovered in their the mountains of nests in the ground with a few strokes of their huge the bears the entire establishment and before time is given for a general bees old and young honey nest and all are taken in one not the least influential of the agents concerned in the superior sweetness of the are its storms storms i mean that are strictly local bred and born on the mountain the rapidity with which they are grown on the mountain top and bestow their charity in rain and snow never fails to astonish the inexperienced often in calm glowing days while the bees are still on the wing a storm cloud may be seen far above in the pure swelling its pearl and growing silently like a plant presently a clear ringing discharge of thunder is heard followed by a rush of wind that comes sounding over the bending woods like the roar of the ocean mingling snow flowers honey flowers and bees in wild storm harmony still more impressive are the warm days of spring in the mountain pastures the blood of the plants throbbing beneath the life giving sunshine seems to be heard and felt plant growth goes on before our eyes and every tree in the woods and every bush and flower is seen as a hive of restless industry the of the sky are with singing wings of every tone and color clouds of brilliant dancing and in exquisite golden barred flies grating and jolly rattling fairly the light the mountains of on bright crisp mornings a striking effect may frequently be observed from the shadows of the higher mountains while the are pouring past overhead then every insect no matter what may be its own proper color burns white in the light winged jet black all are alike in pure spiritual white like in southern where bee culture has had so much skilful attention of late years the is not more abundant or more varied as to the number of its and their distribution over mountain and plain than that of many other portions of the state where the currents flow in other channels the famous white sage belonging to the family here in all its glory blooming in may and yielding great quantities of clear pale honey which is greatly in every market it has yet reached this species grows chiefly in the valleys and low hills the black sage on the mountains is part of a dense which is composed chiefly of and cherry not greatly from that of the southern portion of the but more dense and continuous and taller and remaining longer in bloom gardens so charming a feature of both the and coast mountains are less numerous in southern but they are exceedingly rich in honey flowers wherever found wild rose and lilies rising from the bee pastures the warm moist in a very storm of wild of many species is developed in abundance over the dry sandy valleys and lower slopes of the mountains toward the end of summer and is at this time the main dependence of the bees here and there by orange groves fields and small home gardens the main honey months in ordinary seasons are april may june july and august while the other months are usually enough to yield sufficient for the bees according to mr j t president of the los county bee association the first bees introduced into the county were a single hive which cost in san and arrived in september in april of the following year this hive sent out two which were sold for each from this small beginning the bees gi multiplied to about in the year in it was estimated that there were between and in the county producing an annual yield of about pounds to the hive in some exceptional cases a much greater yield in san county at the beginning of the season of there were about and the from the one port of san for the same year from july to november were barrels cases and nearly tons	28
the fifteen of italian bees were introduced into los county in and in they had increased to the marked superiority claimed for them over the common species is now considerable attention ii of e s j ij s about a thousand lit r and managed every e of being brought into fr aj is bi however who j r as or who give their i r ii ao orange culture ic r f ii i i over every other a i so bee of los s i i k are still of the ft c ii e fr i imaginable a man v ve il i l hears the interesting ry i b s and of bee keeping l cl l j no try it he a few colonies or c h tl on shares e k the foot of some where p fc t fresh on the land with or wi the permission of the owner sets up hi et i a box cabin for himself scarcely big r a bee hive and his fortune i er sadly from famine during the dry which occur in the southern and middle portions of the state if the au only to three or four inches instead of m twelve to twenty as in ordinary seasons then sheep and cattle die in thousands and so do these small winged cattle unless they are carefully fed or removed to other pastures the year will long be remembered as and distressing scarcely a flower on the dry valleys away from the stream sides and not a single grain field depending upon rain was the seed only came up a little way and i bee on a j i j al t tt tt z s f grew thinner t j v ir s aad weeds along jf of which t i r e r die first since i daring the r r t ir san i t r i ru and lo mn r t lt of the t were r t r i i l f dead and dying lt l w in i with i t z a tie and were i s r s was less painful i r roar the poor cattle these t iv ii by one in slow sure starvation ii iii til i streams while i l i y fat were i li ul or on the r i n es waiting with easy faith ir r a s the k lar l abandoned all thought of pa i y ti h j to marry and so i i l ia i all through the year without mi ro rear young the ground an and rare a every farmer knows were hard pushed for a a fresh leaf or seed was to be iu the whose masses of dark green foliage presented a striking contrast to the of the ground beneath them the leaving their accustomed themselves to the leafy oaks to out the stores of the wood the mountains of c but the latter kept up a watch upon their movements i noticed four in league against one driving the poor fellow out of an oak that they claimed he round the trunk from side to side as as he could in his condition only to find a sharp bill everywhere but the fate of the bees that year seemed the of all in portions of los and san from one half to three of them died of sheer starvation not less than colonies perished in these two alone while in the adjacent the death rate was hardly less even the colonies nearest to the mountains suffered this year for the smaller vegetation on the foot hills was affected by the almost as severely as that of the valleys and plains and even the hardy deep rooted the dependence of the bees while much of it was beyond reach every swarm could have been saved however by promptly supplying them with food when their own stores began to fail and before they became and discouraged or by cutting roads back into the mountains and taking them into the heart of the the san san q san and san are almost untouched as yet save by the wild bees some idea of their resources and of the advantages and they offer to bee may b formed from an excursion that i made into th san range about the beginning of the bee pastures of the dry year this range containing most of the characteristic features of the other just mentioned the los and orange groves from the north and is more rigidly inaccessible in the ordinary meaning of the word than any other that i ever attempted to penetrate the slopes are steep and to the foot and they are covered with bushes from five to ten feet high with the exception of little spots not visible in general views the entire surface is covered with them in close hedge growth sweeping gracefully down into every and hollow and swelling over every ridge and summit in shaggy offering more honey to the acre for half the year than the most crowded but when beheld from the open san valley beaten with dry sunshine all that was seen of the range seemed to wear a forbidding aspect from base to summit all seemed gray barren silent its glorious appearing like dry moss creeping over its dull wrinkled and hollows setting out from i reached the foot of the range about and being weary and heated with my walk across the valley concluded to camp for the night after resting a few moments i began to look about among the flood of creek for a camp ground when i came upon a strange dark looking man who had been cord	28
chapter i thb am forest of the west keep not standing d and rooted briskly briskly head and hand where er foot it and heart are still at home in land the son does we are gay er to give room for wandering is it the world was made so wide the tendency nowadays to wander in is to see thousands of tired j nerve shaken er people are beginning to find ont that going to the mountains is home that is a necessity and and are useful only as fountains of timber and rivers but as v fountains of life awakening from the ring effects of the vice of over industry and the deadly of luxury they are trying as best they can to mix and their own little with those of nature and to get rid of mat and disease briskly venturing and national some are washing off and cares of the devil s spinning in all day storms on mountains in or in meadows through bending down and parting sweet tracing to their sources getting in touch with the f mother earth jumping from rock to feeling the life of learning the songs of them panting in whole and rejoicing in deep long drawn of pure this is fine and natural and full of promise so also is the growing interest in the care and preservation of forests and wild places in general and in the half wild and gardens of towns even the scenery habit in its most artificial forms mixed with spectacles and its arrayed more than scarlet the wild game with red even this is encouraging and may well be regarded as a hopeful sign of the times all the western mountains are stiu rich in and by means of good roads are being brought nearer civilization every year to the sane and free it will hardly seem necessary to cross the continent in search of wild however easy the way for they find it in abundance wherever they chance to be like they see forests in and patches of brush and in and r jt map showing and extent op the national in w united states to rd of l i wild of the west drops of dew few in hot dim times are quite sane or free choked with care like full of dust laboriously doing so much good and making so much money or so they are no longer good for themselves when like a merchant taking a list of his goods we take stock of our we are glad to see how much of even the most kind is still looking at our continent as scenery when it was all wild lying between beautiful seas the sky above it ihe x rod b a to to the east and the west would be like comparing the sides of a rainbow but it is no longer equally beautiful the of to day are i suppose as bright as those that first the sky and some of our are now z during of new plants and animals are woods and gardens and many wholly new with divine and architecture are just now coming to the light of day as the folds of are being withdrawn and life in a thousand cheerful beautiful forms is pushing into them and new bom rivers are beginning to sing and shine in the old rivers too are growing longer like healthy trees gaining new branches and lakes as the at their highest sources on the our national mountains while ihe branches in their flat are at the same time spreading farther and into the seas and making new lands under the control of the mysterious forces of the interior of the earth all and islands are slowly or most of the mountains are in size under the wearing action of the weather though a few are increasing in height and especially the ones as fresh floods of rod are piled on ih and spread in successive like the wood rings of trees on their sides new mountains also are being created from time to time as islands in lakes and seas or as subordinate on the slopes of old ones thus in some measure the waste of old beauty with new man too is making many far reaching changes this most influential half animal half angel is rapidly and spreading the seas and lakes with ships the land with huts hotels and clustered city shops and homes so that soon it would seem we may have to go farther than to find a good sound solitude none of nature s are ugly so long as they are wild and much we can say must always be in great part wild particularly the sea and the sky the floods of light from the stars and the warm heart of the earth wild of the west infinitely though only dimly to the e of imagination the too from the hot the steady long lasting on the mountains obedient only to the sun and the tremendous grandeur of rocky and mountains in general these must always be wild for man can change them and mar hardly more than can the that above them but the continent s outer beauty is fast passing away especially the plant part of it the most and most charming of all only thirty years ago the great central valley of five hundred miles long and fifty miles wide was one bed of golden and purple flowers now it is and out of existence gone forever scarce a of it left in fence comers and along the of the streams the gardens of the also and the noble forests in both the reserved and portions are sadly and trampled notwithstanding the of the all excepting those of the g by a few soldiers in the noblest forests of the world the ground once beautiful is desolate and	28
repulsive like a face by disease this is true also of many other pacific coast and mountain valleys and forests the same fate sooner or later is national awaiting them all awakening public ion comes forward to stop it even the great deserts in and new which offer so little to attract and which a few years ago were afraid of as places of desolation and death are now taken as pastures at the rate of one or two square miles per cow and of course their plant treasures are passing away the delicate etc only a few of the bitter shrubs are left and the sturdy that defend themselves with and most of the wild plant wealth of the east also has vanished gone into dusty history only of its glorious and wealth remain to bless humanity in rocky places fortunately some of these are purely wild and go far to keep nature s love visible white water lilies with deep and safe in mud still send up eveiy a way of fragrant flowers around a thousand lakes and many a of wild grass waves its on rocks beyond reach of feet in company with and even in the midst of farm ers fields precious too soft for the feet of cattle are preserved with their charming plants unchanged etc ca wild of the west still hides in the of canada and away to the southward there are a few big ones where and like guardian angels defend their treasures and keep them as pure as paradise and beside a that and a that the east is blessed with good and clouds that shed white flowers over all the land covering every and making the landscape divine at least once a year the most extensive least spoiled and most of the gardens of the continent are the vast of in summer they extend smooth even continuous beds of flowers and leaves from about to the shores of the ocean and in winter sheets of make all the country shine one mass of white radiance like a star nor are these plant people the pitiful frost pinched they are guessed to be by those who have never seen them though lowly in stature keeping near the frozen ground as if loving it they are bright and cheery and speak nature s love as plainly as their big relatives of the south tenderly and tucked in beneath snow to sleep through the long white winter they make haste to bloom in the spring without trying to grow tall though high enough to ripple and wave in the wind and display masses of color yellow purple and blue so our national rich that they look like beds of and are visible miles and miles away as early as june one may find the in flower and the dwarf putting forth of to be followed quickly especially on the ground by and a host of and with bright stars and in glorious profusion particularly and the most abundant and beautiful of them all many also grow here and wave fine purple and over the other flowers etc even are found thus far north carefully and comfortably their precious and all growing on a bed of and not the seen on rails and trees and fallen logs to the southward but massive finely colored plants like wonderfully beautiful worth going round the world to see i should like to mention all the plant friends i found in a summer s wanderings in wild of the west this cool reserve but i fear few would care to read their names although everybody i am sure would love them could they see them blooming and rejoicing at home on my last visit to the region about near the middle of september the weather was so fine and mellow that it suggested the indian summer of the eastern states the winds were hushed the glowed in golden sunshine and the colors of the ripe foliage of the and red and in pure bright tones were enriched those of which were scattered everywhere as if they had been from the clouds like hail when i was back a mile or two from the shore in this glory and thinking how fine it would be could i cat a square of the sod of conventional picture size frame it and hang it among the paintings on my study walls at home saying to myself such a nature painting taken at random from any part of the thousand mile would make the other pictures look dim and coarse i heard merry shouting and looking round saw a band of men women and children loose and hairy like wild animals running towards me i could not guess at first what they were seeking for they seldom leave the shore but soon they told me as they threw themselves down and laughing national on the mellow and began to feast on the a lively picture they made and a pleasant one as they frightened the and surprised their with ihe beautiful of many kinds and filled bags with to carry away for days in winter nowhere else on my travels have i seen so much warm blooded rejoicing life as in i grand by so many regarded as desolate not only are there in abundance along the shores and innumerable and white bears but on the great herds of fat and wild sheep les and birds more birds are bom here than in any other region of equal extent on the continent not only do strong winged and water fowl to whom the length of the continent is merely a pleasant excursion come up here every summer in great numbers but also many short winged to rear their young in safety the plant bloom with their and the wilderness with song flying all the way some of them from and	28
central america in coming north they are coming home for they were bom here and they go south only to spend the winter months as new go to sweet they wild op the west in orange groves and vine clad woods in winter in of dwarf and in summer and sing and chatter more or less all the way back and forth keeping the whole glad in new england just as the last snow patches are melting and the sap in the begins to flow the blessed may be heard about and the edges of fields where they have stopped to a scanty meal not long they have r to go tracing the footsteps of spring they arrive in their homes in jane or july and set out on their return journey in september or as soon as their families are able to fly well this is nature s own and every lover of will rejoice with me that by kindly frost it is so well defended the made that it is with gold may cause some alarm for the strangely exciting stuff makes the timid bold enough for anything and the lazy industrious thousands at least half insane are now pushing their way into it some by the southern passes over the mountains perchance the first mountains they have ever seen struggling gasping for breath as laden with awkward m burdens of provisions and tools they over rough and cross thin some are going by the mountains national and rivers to the eastward through canada tracing the old romantic ways of the bay others by sea and the sailing all the way getting glimpses perhaps of the famous fur the ice and the innumerable islands and bars of the great river in spite of frowning hardships and the frozen ground the gold will increase the crowds for years to come but comparatively little harm will be done holes will be burned and dug into the hard ground here and there and into the mountains and hills ragged towns like and villages will be built and mills and will make noises but the s pick will not be followed far by the plough at least not until nature is ready to the frozen soil beds with her slow turning climate key on the other hand the roads of the lead many a lover of into the heart of the reserve who without them w never see it in the meantime the wildest health and pleasure grounds accessible and available to seeking escape from care and dust and early death are the and of the west there are four national the general grant and all within easy reach and thirty forest there mn now and wild of the west tions a magnificent realm of woods most of which by and and open is also fairly accessible not only to the determined rejoicing in difficulties but to those may their tribe increase who not tired not sick just take g every summer iu search of the forty million acres of these are in the main as yet though sadly wasted and threatened on their more open by the axe and fire of the and and by which like the winged ones every leaf within reach while the and owners set fires with the intention of making a blade of grass grow in the place of every tree but with the result of killing both the grass and the trees in the million acre black hills reserve of south the of the great forest made for the sake of the farmers and there are delightful grounds in open of yellow pine planted weu apart allowing plenty of sunshine to warm the ground this tree is one of the most and most widely distributed of american pines it grows on all kinds of soil and rocks and protected by a mail of thick bark frost and fire and disease alike daring every danger in firm calm beauty and strength it occurs here mostly on the outer hills and slopes where no other tree can grow the ground beneath it u national is yellow most of the summer with and other sun ing plants which though they form no heavy growth yet give abundance of color and make all the woods a garden beyond the yellow pine woods there lies a world of rocks of wildest architecture broken and not high but the strangest in form and style of imaginable towers and and slender columns are crowded together and with sharp pointed making curiously mixed forests half trees half level gardens here and there in the midst of them offer surprises and so do the many lakes wiu on their borders and etc together forming delightfully novel and made still by many interesting animals deer wolves and birds not very long ago this was the richest of au the red man s hunting grounds after the season s were over as described by who with a picturesque of s passed through these famous hills in every winter deficiency was here made good and hunger was unknown until in spite of most determined fighting killing opposition the white gold hunters entered the fat game reserve wild of the west and q it the indians are dead now and are most of the hardly less striking free of the early romantic rocky mountain times arrows bullets knives need no longer be feared and all the wilderness is peacefully open the rocky mountain are the and bitter root priest river and more than twelve million acres of mostly rough f covered mountains in which the great rivers of the country take their rise the commonest tree in most of them is the brave and altogether admirable widely distributed in all kinds of climate and soil growing cheerily in frosty breathing the damp salt air of the sea as well as the dry biting of the interior and making itself at	28
home on the most dangerous flame swept slopes and of the rocky mountains in abundance and variety of forms thousands of acres of this species are destroyed by running fires nearly every summer but a new growth rings from the it is generally small and few of commercial value but is of importance to the farmer and supplying mine and holding the soil on steep slopes preventing and and giving kindly shelter to national animals and the widely sources of the life giving rivers the other trees are mostly mountain pine and fir some of them especially on the western slopes f the grand size and furnishing abundance of fine timber perhaps the least known of all this grand group of is the bitter root of more than four million acres it is the wildest block of forest in the rocky mountains full of happy healthy storm loving trees fuu of streams that dance and sing in glorious array and full of nature s animals deer wild sheep bears cats and innumerable smaller people in calm indian summer when the heavy winds are hushed the vast forests covering hill and rising and falling over the rough and in distance seem lifeless no moving thing is seen as we the peaks and only the low mellow murmur of falling water is heard which seems to the silence nevertheless how many hearts warm red blood in them are beating under cover of the woods and how many teeth and eyes are shining a multitude of animal people intimately related to us but of whose lives we know almost nothing are as busy about their own affairs as we are about ours are building and mending and huts for winter and wild of the west them with food bears are studying winter quarters as they stand thoughtful in open spaces while the gentle breeze the long hair on their backs and deer on the heights are considering cold pastures where they will be farthest away from the wolves and are busily laying up provisions and their nests against coming frost and snow foreseen and countless thousands of birds are forming parties and gathering their young about them for flight to the while and bees apparently no thought of hard times to come are hovering above the late blooming and with countless other insect folk are dancing and humming right merrily in tiie and all the air into music wander here a whole summer if you can thousands of god s wild blessings will search you and you as if you were a and the big days wiu go by if you are business tangled and so with duty that only weeks can be got out of the year then go to the reserve for it is easily and quickly reached by the great northern get off the track at station and in a few minutes you will find self in the midst of what you are sure to say is the best care killing scenery on the continent beautiful lakes derived straight from national lofty mountains in lovely skies and clad with forests and in their hollows nameless and and gardens in the best of everything when you are calm enough for observation you wiu find the king of the one of the best of the western giants beautiful picturesque and in port easily the of all the in the world it grows to a height of one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet with a at the ground of five to eight f throwing out its branches into the light as no other tree does to those who before have seen only the european or the species of the eastern rocky mountains or the little or of the eastern states and canada this western king must be a revelation associated with this grand tree in the making of the forests is the large and beautiful mountain pine or white pine the invincible or lodge pole pine and and the forest floor is covered with the richest beds of i ever saw thick fragrant carpets enriched with shining here and there and with and weaving hundred mile beds of bloom that would have made blessed old weep for joy lake full of brisk is in the wild op the west heart of this forest and lake is ten miles at the feet of a group of laden mountains give a month at least to this precious reserve the time will not he taken from the sum of your life instead of it will it and make you truly immortal will time seem short or long and cares will never again fall heavily on you hut gently and kindly as gifts from heaven the vast pacific coast in washington and r the washington mount bull run and named in order of size include more than acres of magnificent forests of and gigantic trees they extend over the wild mountains and of the range the wet and the dry on the east side of the the woods are sunny and open and contain principally yellow pine of moderate size hut of great value as a cover for the streams that flow into the dry interior where on a grand scale is carried on along the moist west flank of the mountains facing the sea the woods reach their highest development and excepting the are the heaviest on the continent they are made up mostly of tiie with the giant or and several species our national of fir and in abundance forming a forest kingdom unlike any other in which limb meets limb touching and in bright lively triumphant two and fifty three hundred and even four hundred feet above the shady ground over all the other species the supreme it is not only a large tree the in america next to the but a very beautiful one with bright green drooping foliage handsome and a shaft exquisitely straight and round	28
and regular forming extensive forests by itself in many places it lifts its tops into the sky close together with as even a growth as a field of grain no ground has been better for wheat than these mountains for trees they were by mighty and and and by the broad streams that flowed from the ice as they were withdrawn at the close of the period in proportion to its weight when dry timber is perhaps stronger than that of any other large in the country and being tough and elastic it is admirably suited for ship building piles and heavy in general but its hardness and to when it is cut into boards render it unfit for fine work in the lumber of it is wild of the west pine when is going on in the best woods especially about sound many of the long slender are saved for and so superior is their quality that they are called for in almost every in the world and it is interesting to follow their fortunes and and dragged to tide water they are raised again as yards and for ships given iron roots and canvas foliage decorated with flags and sent to sea where in glad motion they go cheerily over the ocean in eveiy latitude and singing and bowing to the same winds that waved them when they were in the woods after standing in one place for centuries they go round the world like meeting many a friend from the old home forest some like themselves some standing head in muddy holding up the of and others doing all kinds of hard timber work or hidden this wonderful tree also grows far northward in british and southward along the coast and middle regions of and with the wherever it can find an opening and with the sugar pine yellow pine and in the it extends into the san san and san mountains of southern it also grows well on the mountains our national where it is called red pine and on many parts of the rocky mountains and short interior of the great basin but though thus widely distributed only in washington and some parts of british does it reach perfect development to one who looks from some high over its vast breadth the forest on the west side of the seems all one dim dark monotonous field broken only by the white along the summit of the range back in the wilderness a deep carpet of brown and yellow covers the ground like a garment pressing about the feet of the trees and rising in rich softly and kindly over every rock and trunk leaving no spot for and small and the meadows and the banks of streams not seen in general views we find besides the great a considerable number of trees oak ash wild apple cherry s and in some places chestnut in a few favored spots the broad grows to a height of a hundred feet in forests by itself sending out large limbs in magnificent arches covered with and thus forming lofty sky gardens and rendering the delightfully cool no finer forest ceiling is to be found than these arches while the floor wild of the west ornamented with tall and vines and cast into by the moss covered roots of the trees matches it well passing from beneath the heavy shadows of the woods almost anywhere one steps into lovely gardens of lilies and wild roses along the lower slopes especially in where the woods are less dense there are of making glorious masses of purple in the spring while all about the streams and the lakes and the meadows there is a rich of cherry apple and with of flowers and abundance of other more delicate such as and the lovely of the north beside all these there are wonderful about the many misty some of the ten feet high others the most delicate of their tribe the the rocks within reach of the dust of the spray while the trees on the cliffs above them leaning over look like eager listeners anxious to catch every tone of the restless waters in the autumn of every color and flavor abound enough for birds bears and everybody particularly about the stream sides and meadows where sunshine reaches the ground red blue and black some growing dose to the ground others on national bushes ten feet high called al by the indians an inch in growing in dense the flowers d stiu more than the fruit and the and meadow are in great part made up of these bushes and vines but in the depths of the woods there is not much of any kind only a thin growth of and notwithstanding the against the last winter in washington that farms towns and villages were included in them and that all business was threatened or blocked nearly all the mountains in which the lie are still covered with virgin forests though has long been carried on with tremendous energy along their boundaries and home have the woods for for farms however small one may wander in the heart of the for weeks without meeting a human being indian or white or any conspicuous trace of one indians used to ascend the main streams on their way to the mountains for wild whose wool furnished them clothing but with food in abundance on the coast there was little to draw them into the woods and the monuments they have left there are scarcely more conspicuous than wild op the west of birds and far less so than those of the which have streams and made that will endure for centuries nor is there much in these woods to attract cattle some of the first made farms on the small bits of and in the comparatively open and of washington but before the gold period most of the from the eastern states	28
settled in the fertile and open valley of even now when the search for land is so keen excepting the of the rivers around sound there are few cleared spots in all western washington on every meadow or opening of any sort some one will be found keeping cattle raising or patches of grain but these spots axe few and far between all the larger spaces were taken long ago therefore most of the build their where the built theirs they keep a few cows laboriously their little meadow by and burning the rim of the close pressing forest and scratch and plant among the huge blackened logs and and killing themselves in killing the trees most of the farm lands of washington and excepting the valleys of the and rivers lie on the east side of the mountains the forests on the eastern slopes our national of the fail altogether ere the foot of the range is reached stayed by as suddenly as on the west side they are stopped by the sea showing strikingly how dependent are these forest giants on the generous rains and so often complained of in the coast climate the lower portions of the are solemnly soaked and in rain and fog during the winter months and there is a sad of sunshine but with a little knowledge of any one may enjoy an excursion into these woods even in the rainy season the big gray days are and the colors of leaf and branch and are then at their best the mighty getting their food are seen to be e wake every needle thrilling in the welcome storms and bowing low in glorious harmony while every and is seen as a beneficent messenger from the s the snow that falls on the lower woods is mostly soft coming through the trees in their branches and bending them down against the trunks until they look like arrows while a strange muffled silence making everything solemn but these and their effects quickly vanish the snow in a day or two sometimes in a few hours the bent branches spring up again and all the forest work is left to the fog and the rain at the same time dry wild op the west snow is falling on the upper forests and mountain tops day after day often for weeks the big clouds give their flowers without ceasing as if knowing how important is the work they have to do the the blast and the trees and rocks are covered to a depth of ten to twenty feet then the snug in a grove with bread and fire has nothing to do but gaze and listen and enjoy ever and anon the deep low roar of the storm is broken by the of as the snow slips from the heights and down the long white slopes to fill the fountain hollows all the smaller streams are hushed and buried and the young groves of and fir near the edge of the timber line are gently bowed to the ground and put to sleep not again to see the light of day or stir branch or until the spring these grand should draw thousands of admiring visitors at least in summer yet they are neglected as if of no account and are allowed to ruin them as fast as they like a few cut here were set up in london philadelphia and where they hie outlook forest la now popular more in whatever the welfare of the e is growing rapidly and a hopeful been made by the in real protection for the as well as for the from there have been s and from to of our national excited wondering attention but the countless hosts of living trees rejoicing at home on the mountains are scarce considered at all most here are content with what they can see from car windows or the of hotels and in going from place to place cling to their precious trains and stages like ed sailors to when an excursion into the woods is proposed an sorts of dangers aw bears indians yet it is far safer to wander in s woods than to travel on black or to stay at home the snake danger is so slight it ia hardly worth mentioning bears are a people and mind their own business instead of going about like the devil seeking whom they may poor fellows they have been poisoned and shot at until they have lost confidence in brother man and it is not now easy to make their acquaintance as to indians most of them are dead or civilized into useless innocence no american wilderness that i know of is so dangerous as a city home with all the modem improvements one should go to the woods for safety if for nothing else and in their famous trip across the continent in did not lose a single man by indians or animals though all the west was then wild captain was bitten on the hand as he lay asleep that was one bite among more than a hundred men while nine thou wild of the west sand miles are far more likely to be met than indians or bears in the or about their boundaries brown weather men with faces like bark tired looking moving slowly swaying like the trees they chop a little of everything in the woods is fastened to their clothing and with and rubbed into it so that their scanty outer garments grow thicker with use and never wear out many a forest giant have these old but round shouldered and stooping they too are leaning over and tottering to their fall others however stand ready to take their places stout young fellows erect as and always the foes of trees their friends far up the white peaks one can hardly fail to meet the wild goat or american an admirable familiar with	28
woods and as well as rocks and in leafy deer will be found while gliding about unseen there are many sleek animals enjoying their beautiful lives and birds also notwithstanding few are noticed in hasty walks the the and where the streams flow and every grove has its singers however silent it seems humming birds about the bloom of the meadows and peaks and the lakes are stirred lively pictures by water fowl the mount forest reserve should be national made a national park and while yet its bloom is on for if in the making of the west nature had what we call in mind places for rest inspiration and prayers this region must surely be one of them in the centre of it there is a lonely mountain with ice from the ice cap in every direction and young rivers from the while its sweeping down in beautiful curves are clad with forests and gardens and filled with birds and animals specimens of the best of nature s treasures have been lovingly beauty within regular bounds of all the fire mountains which like once blazed along the pacific coast mount is the noblest in form has the most interesting forest cover and with perhaps the exception of is the highest and most its massive white dome rises out of its forests like a world by itself to a height of fourteen thousand to fifteen thousand feet the forests reach to a height of a little over six thousand feet and above the forests there is a of the loveliest flowers fifty miles in circuit and nearly was done shortly after the was written one of the most important taken during the past year in with forest was the action of in withdrawing from the forest a portion of the region immediately and setting it apart as a a pork of of general land office for the year ended june but the park as it now stands is far too small wild op the west two miles wide so closely planted and luxuriant that it seems as if nature glad to make an open space between woods so dense and ice so deep were the precious ground and trying to see how many of her she can get together in one mountain wreath etc among which we knee deep and waist deep the bright in touching to picturesque detached groups of the stand like islands along the lower margin of the garden while on the upper margin there are of and other and higher still and more and more lowly reach up to the edge of the ice altogether this is the richest garden i ever found a perfect the icy dome needs none of man s care but unless the reserve is guarded the flower bloom will soon be killed and nothing of the forests will be left but black stump monuments the of is the most openly beautiful and useful of all the forest and the largest excepting the of and the bitter boot of and it embraces over four million acres of the scenery and trees on the continent and its forests are planted just where they do the most good not only for beauty but our national for farming in the great san valley beneath them it extends southward from the national park to the end of the range a distance of nearly two hundred miles no other forest in the world contains so many species or so many large and beautiful trees king of the noblest of a noble race as sir joseph well says the sugar pine king of all the world s pines living or extinct the yellow pine next in rank which here reaches most perfect development forming noble towers of two hundred feet high the mountain pine which the far up the mountains on grim rocky slopes and five others flourishing each in its place making eight species of pine in one forest which is still further enriched by the great two species of silver fir large trees and exquisitely beautiful the the most graceful of the curious oaks of many species and all fringed wild rose cherry chestnut and wandering at random through these friendly woods one comes here and there to the loveliest lily gardens some of the lilies ten feet high and the meadows and valleys known only to once i spent a night by wild of the west a camp fire on mount with gray and sir joseph and knowing that they were acquainted with all the great forests of the world i asked whether they knew any forest that that of the they said no in the beauty and g of individual trees and in number and variety of species the forests all others this reserve proclaimed by the president of the united states in september is worth the most thoughtful care of the government for its own sake without considering its value as the fountain of the rivers on which the of the great san valley depends yet it gets no care at all in the fog of silver and politics it is left wholly though the management of the adjacent national by a few soldiers shows how well and how easily it can be preserved in the meantime are allowed to spoil it at their will and sheep in to it and every green leaf within reach while the like destroying angels set innumerable fires which bum not only the of on which the of the forest depends but countless thousands of the venerable g if every citizen could take one walk through this reserve there would be our national no more trouble about its care for only in darkness does flourish the of southern the san san san and though not large only about two million acres together are perhaps the best appreciated their slopes are covered with a close almost impenetrable growth	28
of bushes beginning on the sides of the fertile coast valleys and the dry interior plains their higher however and mountains are open and fairly well with sugar pine yellow pine and white fir as timber fountains they amount to little but as bird and bee pastures cover for the precious streams that the and quickly available from dust and heat and care their value is good roads have been into them by which in a few hours can get well up into the sky and find refuge in hospitable and club houses where while breathing they may the beauty about them and look comfortably down on the busy towns and the most beautiful orange groves ever planted since began the grand of of nearly two acres or the most interesting part of it as well as the r on should sm note wild of the west be made into a national park on account of their supreme grandeur and beauty setting out from a station on the and f railroad on the way to the you pass through beautiful forests of yellow pine like those of the black hills but more extensive and curious dwarf forests of nut pine and the spaces between the miniature trees planted with many interesting species of and after riding or walking seventy five miles through these pleasure grounds the san and other mountains in and smooth shallow valleys with long which in of finish and arrangement suggest the work of a landscape artist watching you all the way you come to the most tremendous in the world it is abruptly in the forest so that you see nothing of it until you are suddenly stopped on its brink with its wealth of colored and buildings before you and beneath you no matter how far you have wandered hitherto or how many famous and valleys you have seen this one the grand of the will seem as novel to you as in the color and grandeur and quantity of its architecture as if you had found it after death on some other star so lovely and grand and national supreme is it above all the other m our fire earthquake shaken rain washed wave washed river and world it is about six thousand feet deep where you first see it and from rim to rim ten to fifteen miles wide instead of being dependent for interest upon depth wall and beauty of floor like most other great it has no in sight and no floor spaces the big river has just room enough to flow and roar here and there its way as best it can like a weary mi g try ing to e from the abyss while its roar serves only to the silence instead of being filled with air the vast space between the walls is crowded with nature s a sublime ci of them p in every color and adorned with richly fretted and spire and tower in endless variety of style and architecture every invention of man has been anticipated and far more in this of god s cities x chapter n the national of the four national of the west the is far the largest it is a big wholesome wilderness on the broad summit of the mountains favored with abundance of rain and snow a place of fountains where the greatest of the american rivers take their rise the central portion is a and comparatively level with an e elevation of about ei thousand feet above imposing host of mountains belonging to the subordinate wind river and snowy lakes shine in it united by a famous band of streams that rush up out of hot beds or fall from the frosty peaks in channels rocky and bare and to the main rivers singing cheerily on through every dividing and finding their y east and west to the two far off seas meadows and meadows are with charming effect along the banks of the streams in the woods and national innumerable small gardens in rocky recesses of the mountains some of them containing more than leaves while the whole wilderness is with happy animals beside the treasures common to most mountain regions that are wild and blessed with a kind climate hie park is fuu of exciting wonders the in the world in bright triumphant bands are dancing and singing in it amid thousands of boiling springs beautiful and awful their arrayed in gorgeous colors like gigantic flowers and hot mud springs mud and whose contents are of every color and and heave and roar in bewildering abundance in the adjacent mountains beneath the living trees the edges of forests are exposed to view like specimens on the shelves of a museum standing on tier above tier where they grew solemnly silent in rigid beauty after swaying in the winds thousands of centuries ago opening views back into the years and and life of the past here too are hills of sparkling of hills of glass hills of and ashes mountains of every style of architecture icy or mountains covered with honey bloom sweet as mountains boiled soft like potatoes and colored like a sunset sky a that and a that and twice as s a that the national park nature has on show in the park therefore it is called and thousands of and stream into it every sum and wander about in it enchanted fortunately almost as soon aa discovered it and se apart the benefit of the people a piece of that shines common dust and ashes history of the domain for which the world must above all nt for he led the first into it de i ft d t a to t reserve it v as in the year the park contained about square miles on march it was to all and purposes enlarged by the national park timber and in december by the forest reserve thus nearly its	28
original area and extending the southern boundary far enough to take in the sublime range and the famous pasture lands of the big rocky mountain game animals the of this large tract from the public domain did no harm to any one for its height to over feet above the sea and its thick mantle of rocks bein for or while t hand its position combine jt healthy pleasure and study our national resort a place for from all the world the national are not only withdrawn from sale and entry like the forest but are and guarded by small troops of united cavalry directed by the secretary of the interior under this care the forests are flourishing protected from both axe and fire and so of coarse are the shaggy beds of and the vegetation the so called also are preserved and the and tribes many of which in danger of a short time ago are now in numbers a refreshing thing to see amid the blind destruction that is going on in the adjacent regions in pleasing contrast to the noisy ever changing management or of money making who receive their places bo as purchased goods the soldiers do their duty so quietly that the is scarce aware of their presence this is the and highest of the occur every month of the year nevertheless the tenderest finds it warm enough in summer the air is electric and full of healing kept pure by frost and fire while the scenery is wild enough to awaken the dead it is a glorious place to grow in and rest in on the shores of the the national park lakes in the of the woods golden with on the banks of the streams by the snowy beside the exciting wonders or away from them in the of the mountain walls sheltered from every wind on smooth with up in the hollows of the ancient between the peaks where cool pools and and gardens of precious plants are never wanting and good rough rocks with every variety of cliff and are near for and exercise from these lovely you may make excursions whenever you like into the middle of the park where the and hot springs are and in their beautiful displaying an of color and strange motion and energy admirably calculated to surprise d f and shake up the out of into of life however orderly your excursions or d u the t m you will be brought to a hushed and awe stricken before phenomena wholly new to you boiling springs and huge deep pools of purest green and water thousands of them are and heaving in these high cool mountains as if a fierce furnace fire were burning beneath each one of them and a hundred white torrents of boiling water and steam our national like are ever and anon rushing up out of the hot some of these ponderous columns are as large as five to sixty feet in one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet high and are sustained at this great height with tremendous energy for a few minutes or perhaps nearly an hour standing rigid and erect hissing throbbing as if were raging beneath their roots their sides or like the of trees their tops in branches while the spray like misty bloom is at times blown aside the shafts shining against a background of pine covered hills some of them lean more or less as if storm bent and instead of being round are flat or fan shaped issuing from irregular in with structure the through them in splendor some are broad and round headed like oaks others are low and near the ground like bushes and a few are hollow in the centre like big or water lilies no frost them snow never covers them nor in their branches winter and summer they welcome alike all of them of whatever form or size faithfully nd in y u c night and day in all sorts of weather at varying periods of minutes hours or weeks growing up rapidly the national as fate tossing their branches in the wind bursting into bloom and vanishing like the flowers plants of which nature raises hundreds or thousands of crops a year with no apparent exhaustion of the fiery soil the so called in which this rare sort of vegetation is growing are mostly open valleys on the central that were by after the greater fires had ceased to bum looking down over the forests as you approach them from the surrounding heights you see a multitude of white columns broad masses and irregular and of misty ascending from the bottom of the or entangled like smoke among the neighboring trees suggesting the of some busy town or the camp fires of an army these mark the position of each pot hot spring and or as the words mean and when you bt a f o the bright and see how pure and white and gray they are in the shade of the mountains and how radiant in the sunshine you are fairly enchanted so numerous they are and varied nature seems to have gathered them from all the world as specimens of her fountains to show in one place what she can do over four thousand hot springs have been counted our national in the and a hundred how many more there are nobody knows these valleys at the heads of the great rivers may be regarded as and in which amid a thousand and pots we may see nature at work as or cook an infinite variety of cooking whole mountains boiling and steaming rocks to smooth and yellow brown red pink gray and white making the most beautiful mud in the world and the most ethereal many of these pots and have been boiling thousands of years pots of and and	28
pots of as black as ink are tossed and stirred with constant care and thin transparent too pure and fine to be called water are kept gently in beautiful cups and that grow ever more beautiful the longer they are used in some of the spring the waters though still warm are perfectly calm and shine in a sod of grass and flowers as if they were thoroughly cooked at and set aside to settle and cool others are wildly boiling over as if running to waste thousands of tons of the precious being thrown into the air to fall in floods on the clean coral floor of the establishment keeping at a distance instead of holding pale the national green or water other pots and are filled with mud which is tossed up from three or four feet to thirty feet in masses with gasping sounds the branches of neighboring trees every retort hot spring and has something special in it no two being the same in temperature color or composition in these natural one needs stout faith to feel at ease the ground sounds hollow and the awful thunder shakes one s mind as the ground is shaken especially at night in the pale moonlight or when the s is with storm clouds in the solemn gloom the dimly visible look like monstrous dancing ghosts and their wild songs and the earthquake thunder replying to the storms overhead seem doubly terrible as if divine government were at an end but the trembling hills keep their places the sky the rosy dawn is and up comes the sun like a god pouring his faithful beams across the mountains and forest lighting each peak and tree and ghastly alike and shining into the eyes of the springs clothing them with rainbow light and the seeming chaos of darkness into varied forms of harmony the ordinary work of the world goes on gladly we see the flies dancing in the birds feeding their young national and hear the ou ringing in the of the river most faithful every fear everything to love like over large of the valleys the spring and of the and beautiful coral like and about them always excite admiring attention so also does the play of the waters from which they are deposited the various in them are rich in colors and these are heightened by a smooth growth of brilliantly colored which lines many of the pools and channels and no bed of flower bloom is more exquisite than these of minute plants visible only in mass growing in the hot waters most of the spring borders are low and and with pearls some of the are massive and picturesque like ruined castles or old burned out and are adorned on a grand scale with from these as the slope gently away in thin slightly interrupted in some places by low or as in the case of the hot springs at the north end of the park where the building waters issue from the the national park side of a steep hill the form a of higher and broader of white tinged with purple like the famous pink terrace at new draped in front with each terrace having a pool of beautiful water upon it in a basin with a raised rim that with the whole when viewed at a distance of a mile or two looking like a broad pouring over rocks i snowy foam the stones of this divine invisible of lime or in no eye has seen go to their appointed places in gentle transparent currents or through the dashing turmoil of floods as surely guided as the sap of plants streaming into and branch leaf and flower and thus from century to century this beauty work has gone on and is going on passing though many a mile of pine and woods toward the centre of the park you come to the famous lake it is about twenty long and fifteen wide and lies at a height of nearly feet above the level of the sea amid dense black forests and snowy mountains around its winding wavering shores closely and varied with and the distance is more than miles it is not very deep our national only to feet and contains less water than the celebrated lake of the which ia nearly the same size lies at a height of feet and is over feet deep but no other lake in north america of equal area so high v the or g birth to so noble a river the around its shores show that at the close of the period its surface was about feet higher than it is now and its area nearly twice as great it is full of and a vast multitude of birds ducks feed in it and upon its shores and many forest animals come out of the woods and a little way in shallow sandy places to drink and look about them and cool themselves in the free flowing breezes in calm weather it is a magnificent mirror for the woods and mountains and sky now with hail and rain now with sudden storms that send waves to fringe the shores and wash its border of gravel and sand the mountains and the wind on the east and south pour their gathered waters into it and the river issues from the north side in a broad smooth stately current silently with such serene majesty that one fancies it that lies before it and the work it has to do the national park for the first twenty miles its course is in a level sunny valley lightly fringed with trees through which it flows in silvery reaches stirred into here and there hy ducks and leaping making no sound save a low whispering among the and the dipping and of its banks then as if for hard work it eagerly t forward rejoicing	28
in its strength breaks into foam bloom and goes down into the grand in l magnificent one hundred and three hundred feet high the is so wild and impressive that even these great falls cannot hold your attention it is about twenty miles long and a thousand feet deep a weird of jagged fantastic architecture and most brilliantly colored here the range forming the northern rim of the basin made up mostly of beds of by the action of waters has been cut through and laid open to view by the river and a famous section it has made it is not the depth or the shape of the nor the nor the green and gray river its brave song as it goes foaming on its way that most the observer but the colors of the rocks with few exceptions the in strange lands finds that however much the scenery and our national vegetation in different may change mother earth is ever and the same but here the very ground is changed as if belonging to some other world the walls of the from top to bottom bum in a perfect glory of color and dazzling when ihe sun is shining white yellow green blue and various other shades of red all the earth seems to be paint millions of tons of it lie in sight exposed to wind and weather as if of no account yet fresh and bright fast colors not to be washed out or out by either sunshine or storms the effect is so novel and awful we imagine that even a river might be afraid to enter such a place but the rich and gentle beauty of the vegetation is the lovely hangs her twin bells over the brink of the cliffs forests and gardens extend their treasures in smiling confidence on either side nuts and well whatever may be going on below blind fears vanish and the grand seems a kindly beautiful part of the general harmony full of peace and joy and good will the park is easy of access drag you to its northern boundary at and horses and guides do the rest from you will be whirled in along the ing to hot springs the national park through woods and meadows and along branches of the upper and rivers to the main thence over the continental divide and back again up and down through dense pine and fir woods to the magnificent lake along its northern shore to the outlet down the river to the falls and grand and thence back through the woods to hot springs and stopping here and there at the so called points of interest ae springs mud etc where you will be allowed a few minutes or hours to over the watch the play of a few of the and peer into some of the most beautiful and terrible of the and pools these wonders you will enjoy and also the views of the mountains especially the and the long and meadows the beds of g and many other flowers some species giving color to whole meadows and and you will enjoy your short views of the great lake and river and no indians will you see the and that once here are gone so are the old the and with all their attractive and romance there are several bands g national of in the ark bat yoa will not thus in fa n see nor many of the other large animals hidden in the wilderness the song too keep mostly ont of sight of the though off the roads etc keep the air sweet and merry perhaps in and falls yoa may catch glimpses of the water bat in the whirling noise yoa will not hear his song fortunately no road noise the and his merry play and gossip will amuse you all through the woods here and there a deer may be seen crossing the road or a bear most likely however the only bears you will see are the half tame ones that go to the hotels every night for dinner table scraps powder stuff mixed and that have proved too tough for the among the gains of a coach trip are the acquaintances made and the fresh views into human nature for the wilderness is a shrewd even thus lightly approached and brings many a curious trait to view setting out the driver cracks his whip and the four horses go off at half gallop half trot in trained style until out of sight of the hotel the coach is crowded old and young side by blooming and fading full of hope and fun and care some look at the or the horses the national and all ask questions an odd mixed lot of them where is the umbrella what is the name of that blue flower over there are you sure the little bag is aboard is that hollow yonder a how is your throat this morning how high did you say the how does the elevation affect your head is that a over there in the rocks or only a hot spring a long ascent is made the solemn mountains come to view small cares are and all become natural and silent save perhaps some unfortunate who has been reading and forth until he i in da of being heaved the driver give you the names of the peaks and meadows and streams as you come to them call attention to the glass road tell how hard it was to build how the cliffs naturally pushed the joe line to the right the by the valley in front of the pushed them to the left however are the main objects and as soon as they come in sight other wonders are forgotten all gather around the of the one that is expected to play first during the of the smaller such as the and	28
stone and and waving in the wind as magnificent trees standing shoulder to shoulder branches in grand varied round headed forests see the sunshine of morning and evening their trunks and at high noon on the thick glossy leaves of the through of and ash and falling in mellow patches on the floor see the shining after rain breathe the fragrance and hear the winds and birds and the murmur of and insects we watch them from season to season see the swelling when the sap begins to flow in the spring the opening leaves and blossoms the of summer fruits the colors of autumn and the of branches and in winter and we see the sudden of the storms that overwhelmed them one calm morning at sunrise i saw the oaks our national and pines in valley shaken by an their tops back and forth and every branch and needle shuddering as if in like the frightened screaming birds one may imagine the rocking of those ancient woods and the terror of their inhabitants hen fir t were felt the sky grew dark and rock laden floods began to roar but though they were close pressed and buried cut off from sun and wind all their happy leaf fluttering and waving done other currents through them and thrilling every fibre and beautiful wood was replaced by beautiful stone now their rocky are partly open and show forth the natural beauty of death after the forest times and fire times had passed away and the were and held in another great change occurred the winter came on the sky was again darkened not with dust and ashes but with snow which fell in glorious abundance deeper deeper slipping from the heights in into that flowed over all the landscape wiping off forests grinding the comparatively beds into the beautiful of hill and and of mountains we behold to day forming for lakes channels for streams the national park new for forests gardens and meadows while this ice work was going on the fires were boiling the waters and with curious the rocks making beauty in the darkness these forces seemingly working together how wild their meetings on the surface were we may imagine when the period began and hot springs were playing in volume it may be those of to day the flowed over them while they and thundered carrying away their fine and and their mysterious channels the made l ti e down required to bring the present features of the landscape into relief are possibly no better than were some of the old that were carried away and which as we have seen nourished magnificent forests but the are more beautiful than the old ones were the winter has passed away like the ancient and fire periods though in the of the all these times are recent only small on the cool northern slopes of the highest mountains are left of the vast all embracing ice mantle as and are all that are left of the ancient now the post agents are at work on the national grand old of the park region ii ing new characters but still in its main telling features it remains distinctly the are being refined re formed and covered with vegetation the and and other superficial on the crumbling are being rapidly are being cut in the and loose and and seem to be springing up like growing trees while the are miles of and nevertheless the ice work is scarce as yet these later effects are only spots and wrinkles on the grand countenance of the park perhaps you have already said that you have seen enough for a lifetime but before you go away you should spend at least one day and a night on a mountain top for a last general settling view mount is a good one for the purpose because it stands in the middle of the park is with other peaks and is so easy of access that the climb to its summit is a first your goes g m d l rim ld the hundreds of peaks some with plain flowing skirts others abruptly and defended by sheer flat or round heaving like sea waves or and the national park like with snow in the and darkened with of adventurous trees climbing the the nearer peaks are perchance clad in blue others far off in white in the broad glare of noon they seem to shrink and to less than half their real stature and grow dull and mere dead heaps of waste ashes and stone giving no hint of the multitude of animals enjoying life in their or of the bright streams and lakes but when storms blow they awake and arise wearing robes of and mist in majestic speaking like gods in the color glory of morning and evening they become still more impressive in the divine light of the their and with the heavens they seem neither high nor low over all the central which from here seems level and over the and lower slopes of the mountains the forest extends like a black uniform bed of weeds interrupted only by lakes and meadows and small burned spots called all of them except the lake being mere and in general views made conspicuous by their color and brightness about eighty five per cent of the entire area of the park is covered with trees the lodge pole pine national with a few and of silver fir and a few and the is found only on the lowest portions the silver fir on the highest and the on the places best defended from fire some fine specimens of the pine are growing on the of wide sturdy trees as broad as high with trunks five feet in leafy and shady laden with purple and rose colored flowers the and sub silver fir are beautiful and notable trees tall hardy	28
frost and snow and widely distributed over the west wherever there is a mountain to climb or a cold slope to cover but neither of these is a good with rather thin bark and scattering their seeds every year as soon as they are ripe they are quickly driven out of fire swept regions when the were melting these hardy trees were probably among the first to arrive on the new beds but as the became and fires an to ft p n into the wet spots and islands where we now find them leaving nearly all the park to the pine which though as thin as they and as easily killed by fire takes pains to store the national park up its seeds in firmly closed and holds them from three to nine years so that let the fire come when it may it is ready to die and ready to live again in a new generation for when the killing fires have devoured the leaves and thin bark many of the only open as soon as the smoke away the store of seeds is sown on the cleared and a new growth immediately spring up out of tiie therefore this tree not only holds its ground but extends its farther after every fire thus the and of its growth e accounted for in one part of the forest that i examined the growth was about as close as a cane the trees were from four to eight inches in one hundred feet high and one hundred and seventy five years old the lower limbs die young and drop off for want of light life with these close planted trees is a race for light more light and so they push straight for the sky off ten feet from the top of the forest would make it look like a crowded mass of poles for only the sunny tops are leafy a ten years old growing in the sunshine has as many leaves as a crowded tree one or two hundred years old as fires are multiplied and the mountains become this wonderful pine bids fair to obtain possession of nearly all the forest ground in the west national how still the woods seem from here jet how lively a stir the hidden animals are making digging biting eyes shining at work and play getting food young through the climbing the rocks solitary tracing the banks of the lakes and streams insect are dancing in the in the ground swimming a cloud of witnesses telling nature s joy the plants are as busy as the animals every ii in of hive singing the old new song of creation a and puff of are seen above the some near but most of them far off indicating and hot springs and noiseless as clouds softly the reaction going on between the surface and the hot interior here you see them better than when you are standing beside them frightened and confused regarding them as lawless the and of storms the of waves the of sap in plants each and all tell the orderly love beats of nature s heart to the eastward you have the grand and reaches of the river in full view and yonder to the southward lies the great lake the largest and most important of all the high fountains of the and the last to be discovered the national park in the year when de with a romantic band of was seeking gold and glory and the fountain of youth he found the a few hundred miles above its mouth and made his grave beneath its floods la in after discovering the one of the largest and most beautiful branches of the traced the latter to the sea from the mouth of the through adventures and not easily realized now about the same time and father reached the father of waters by way of the but more than a century passed ere its highest sources in these mountains were seen the advancing stream of civilization has ever followed its guidance toward the west but none of the thousand tribes of indians living on its banks could tell the whence it came from those romantic de and la days to these times of and how much has the great river seen and done i great as it now is and still growing longer through the ground of its and the of receding at its head it was immensely broader toward the close of the period when the ice mantle of the mountains was melting then with its three hundred thousand miles of branches over the plains and valleys of the continent laden with fertile mud it made the biggest and most generous bed of soil in the world national think of this stream springing in be first place in from the sea flying on the wind on the mountains in hail and snow and rain lingering in many a fountain feeding the and l then scattered waters gliding from its noble lake and going back home to the ringing au the way on it sweeps through the gates of the mountains across the vast and plains through many a wild gloomy forest cane and sunny from and and pine woods to warm groves of and palm dancing at its head keeping time with the sea waves at its mouth roaring and gray in in broad falls murmuring gleaming in long reaches swaying now hither now thither whirling bending in huge folds serene majestic overflowing all its and bounds the upon its banks building wasting planting old islands and making new ones taking away fields and towns as if sport carrying and ships of commerce in the midst of its spoils and drift the continent as one vast farm then its work done it gladly in its ocean home welcomed by the waiting thus naturally standing here in the midst of its fountains we	28
trace ihe fortunes of the great river and how much more comes to mind as the national park we overlook this wonderful wilderness i fountains of the and lie before with those of the and and fine it would be to go with them to the pacific but the sun is already in the west and soon our day will be done yonder is mountain and other mountains hardly less rich in old forests which now seem to spring up again in their glory and you see the storms that buried them the ashes and torrents laden with and mud the centuries of sunshine and the dark lurid nights you see again the vast floods of red hot and white out from the of lakes and streams absorbing or driving away their hissing screaming waters flowing around hills and every subordinate feature then you see the snow and taking possession of the land making new how admirable it is that after passing through so many of frost and fire and flood the and even the complexion of the landscape should still be so fine i thus the past we see nature working with enthusiasm like a man blowing her a blacksmith blowing his fires over the our national and like a farmer and gardener doing rough work and fine work planting and pines and working in gems filling every crack and hollow with them fine painting plants and shells clouds mountains all the earth and heavens like an artist ever working toward higher and higher where may the mind find more a thousand wonders are calling look up and down and round about you and a multitude of still small voices may be heard directing you to look through all this transient shifting show of things called substantial into the truly substantial spiritual world whose forms flesh and wood rock and water and sunshine only veil and conceal and to learn that here is heaven and the dwelling place of the angels the sun is setting long violet shadows are growing out over the woods from the mountains along the western rim of the park the range is in the divine i of the and its rocks and trees are next to the light of the dawn on high mountain tops the is the most impressive of all the of god now comes the the is fading into gloom but do not let your town habits draw you away to the hotel the national park stay on this good fire mountain and spend the night among the stars watch their glorious bloom until the dawn and get one more of light then with fresh heart go down to your work and whatever your fate under whatever ignorance or knowledge you may afterward chance to suffer you will remember these fine wild views and look back with joy to your wanderings in the blessed old chapter m thb of all the mountain i have i like the the best though extremely rugged with its main features on the scale in height and depth it is nevertheless easy of access and hospitable and its beauty displayed in and forms w e wanderer on and on higher and higher charmed and enchanted benevolent solemn pervaded with divine every landscape like a countenance in eternal repose and every one of its living creatures clad in flesh and leaves and every crystal of its rocks whether deep in what we call darkness is throbbing and with the of god au the world lies warm in one heart yet the seems to get more light than other mountains the weather is mostly sunshine with magnificent storms and nearly everything shines from base to summit the rocks streams lakes falls and the forests of silver fir the national park and silver pine and how bright is the shining after summer showers and nights and after frosty nights in spring and autumn when the morning are pouring through the on the bushes and grass and in winter through the snow laden trees i the average for the whole year is perhaps less than ten scarcely a day of all the summer is dark though there is no lack of magnificent thundering they rise in the warm midday hours mostly over the middle region in june a d like new higher the grandeur of the scenery while giving rain to the forests and gardens and bringing forth their fragrance the wonderful weather and beauty inspire everybody to be up and doing every summer day is a to be confidently counted on the short of rain forming not but rests the big blessed storm days of winter when the whole range stands white are not a whit less inspiring and kind well may the be called the range of light not the snowy range for only in winter is it white while the year it is bright of this glorious range the national park is a central section thirty six miles in length and forty eight miles in breadth the valley lies in the heart of it and it the head waters of the our national and rivers two of the most streams in the world innumerable lakes and and smooth the noblest forests the granite the deepest ice the brightest and snowy mountains soaring into the twelve and thirteen thousand feet arrayed in open ranks and groups partially separated by tremendous and gardens on their sunny brows thundering down their long white slopes roaring gray and foaming in the crooked rugged and in their shadowy recesses working in silence slowly their new bom lakes at their feet blue and green free or with drifting like miniature as stars nowhere will you see the majestic operations of nature more clearly revealed beside the most gentle and peaceful things nearly all the park is a profound solitude it is full of charming company fuu of god s thoughts a place of peace and safety amid the	28
only interrupted by the main the two or pine makes another less regular belt along the upper margin of the region while between these two and mingling with them in groves or scattered are the mountain the most graceful of the noble mountain pine the form of the yellow pine with big and long needles and the brown sturdy western all these except the which grows on bald rocks have plenty of brush about them and gardens in open spaces here too the broad shining heavily i national region ol which best tells the story of the on the pacific side of tiie continent no other mountain chain on the globe as far as i know is so rich as the in bold striking weu preserved monuments easily understood by anybody capable of patient observation every feature is more or less and this park portion of the range is the brightest and of all not a peak ridge dome lake basin garden forest or stream but in some way e the past existence and modes of action of flowing grinding soil making scenery making ice for the air rain frost rivers have been at work upon the greater part of the range for of thousands of stormy years their own characters over of the ice the latter are so heavily and enduring they still rise in sublime relief clear and l ble through every after inscription the streams have traced only shallow wrinkles as yet and wind and u ng w h m d but the change effected on the face of tiie landscape is not g than is made on the face of a by a single year of of all tile phenomena presented here the most striking and attractive to are the polished because are so the national park beautiful and their beauty is of so rare a kind unlike any part of the loose where people dwell and earn their bread they are simply or gently of solid resisting granite the unchanged surface over which the ancient flowed they are found in the most perfect condition at an elevation of from eight to nine thousand feet above sea level some are miles in extent only slightly or by spots that have at last yielded to the weather while the best preserved portions are brilliantly polished and reflect the rubbed and every day notwithstanding they have been exposed to rains dew frost and melting for thousands of years the attention of hunters and who see so much in their wild journeys is seldom attracted by however regular and artificial or rocks however boldly or however deep and sheer walled but when they come to these they go down on their knees and rub their hands on the glistening surface and try hard to account for its mysterious and brightness they may have seen the winter come down the mountains through the woods sweeping away the trees and the ground but they conclude that this our national cannot be the work of because the show that the agent whatever it was flowed along and around and over the top of high and and also filled the deep neither can they see how water could be the agent for the strange polish is found thousands of feet above the reach of any conceivable flood only the winds seem capable of moving over the face of the country in the directions indicated by the lines and the are particularly fine around lake and have suggested the indian name we the lake of the shining indians seldom trouble themselves with questions but a indian once came to me and asked if i could tell him what made the rocks so smooth at even dogs and horses on their first journeys into this region study to the extent of gazing at the strange brightness of the ground and it and smelling it as if a aid of falling or sinking in the production of this admirable hard finish the in many places exerted a pressure of more than a hundred tons to the square foot down granite slate and alike showing their structure and making beautiful where large form the greater part of the rock on such the sunshine is at times as if the surface were of silver the national park here also are the brightest of the in general the regions lying at the same elevation to the north and south were perhaps subjected to as long and intense a but because the rocks are less resisting their polished have mostly given way to the weather leaving here and there only small imperfect patches on the most enduring portions of walls protected from the action of rain and snow and on hard kept comparatively dry by the short inclined of the east flank of the range are in some places brightly polished but they are far less magnificent than those of the broad west flank one of the best general views of the middle region of the park is to be had from the top of a majestic dome which long ago i named the monument it is situated a few miles to the north of cathedral peak and rises to a height of about fifteen hundred feet above its base and ten thousand above the sea at first sight it seems sternly inaccessible but a good will find that it may be on the south side approaching it from this side you pass through a dense fringed grove of mountain catching now and then of the colossal dome towering to an immense height above the dark and when at last you have made your way across woods through and you step abruptly out of the tree shadows and our national leafy softness upon a bare pavement and behold the dome in all its grandeur fancy a nicely monument eight or ten feet high from one stone standing in a pleasure ground it to a height	28
of fifteen hundred feet retaining its of form and and cover its surface with then you may gain an idea of the and beauty of this ice dome one of many this wonderful park in making the ascent one finds that the curve of the base rapidly until one is in danger of slipping but two or three inches long that have been into relief afford slight the summit is in part like the sides and base the and indicating that the mighty two or three thousand feet deep overwhelmed it while it stood firm like a at the bottom of a river the pressure it must have been enormous it been less built it would have been md d into f like the general mass of the mountain flank in which at first it lay for it is only a hard or knot with a structure of superior strength brought into relief by the removal of the less resisting rock about it an illustration in stone of the of the strongest and most situated the national park hardly less wonderful when we contemplate the storms it has encountered since first it saw the light is its present condition the whole quantity of wear and tear it has suffered has not diminished its stature a single inch as may be shown by measuring from the level of the unchanged polished portions of the surface indeed the average of the entire region measured in the same way is found to be less than two inches a mighty contrast to that of the ice for the here has been not less than a mile that is in developing the present an amount of rock a mile in average thickness has been silently carried away by flowing ice during the last period a few nicely poised on the rounded summit of the monument tell an interesting story they came from a mountain on the crest of the range about twelve miles to the eastward floating like on the frozen sea and were here when the top of the monument emerged to the light of day while the companions of these whose positions chanced to be over the slopes where they could not find rest were carried farther on by the current the general view from the summit consists of a sublime assemblage of mountains and rocks and long wavering lakes and national streams and meadows in wide sweeping and beds covered and dotted with forests and hundreds of square miles of them composed in wild harmony the snowy on the of the range mostly and rise in noble array along the sky to the eastward and northward the gray spur and the and a countless number of others to the westward cathedral peak with its many and companion peaks and to the southward and a smooth multitude of rocks from fifty feet or less to a thousand feet high which from their peculiar form seem to be rolling on westward fill most of the middle ground immediately beneath you are the big meadows with an ample of dark pine woods on either side by the young river that is seen sparkling and as it from side to side tracing as best it can its broad channel the ancient by many a noble from the snow laden of and others nameless as yet poured its overflowing current four or five miles wide directly against the high mass of mount which divided and it right and left just as a river is divided against an island that stands in the middle of its the national ii two distinct were thus formed one of which flowed through the big and valley while the other swept upward five hundred feet in a broad current across the divide between the of the and into the basin and thence down through the and valley the and freshness of this landscape cannot fail to excite the attention of every observer no matter how little of its scientific significance he may at first recognize these bald glossy westward leaning rocks in the open middle ground with their rounded backs and shoulders toward the fountains of the summit mountains and their split fronts in the opposite direction every one of them the form of strength to physical and action show the tremendous force with which through centuries the ice flood swept over them and also the direction of the flow while the mountains with their sharp and sides indicate the height to which the rose and the and swaying in beautiful lines mark the of the and ite as they existed toward the dose of the winter none of the commercial of the sea or land marked with and lamps national fences and is so ii as are these channels of the vanished the action of flowing ice whether in the form of river like or broad folds is but little understood as compared that of other agents rivers work openly where people dwell and so do the rain and the sea thundering on all the shores of the world and the universal ocean of air though unseen speaks aloud in a thousand voices and explains its modes of working and its power but back in their cold work apart from men their tremendous energies in silence and darkness coming in from the sea flying invisible on the ld in changing to ice white they brood over the working on through ages until in the of time the mountains and valleys are brought forth channels for the rivers made for meadows and lakes and soil beds spread for the forests and fields that man and beast may be fed then vanishing like clouds they melt into streams and go singing back home to the sea to an observer upon this old monument in the midst of such scenery getting glimpses of the thoughts of the day seems endless the sun stands still much fuss the national park is	28
made over the passage in the bible of the standing still o the sun for here you may learn that the miracle occurs for every devout for everybody doing anything worth doing seeing anything worth seeing one day is as a thousand years a thousand years as one day and while yet in the flesh you enjoy from the monument you will find an easy way down through the woods and along the big meadows to mount tlie summit of which commands a grand view of the region the scenery all the way is inspiring and you on without knowing that you are climbing the spacious sunny meadows through the midst of which the bright river extend with but little interruption ten miles to the eastward dark woods rising on either side to the limit of tree growth and above the woods a picturesque line of gray peaks and dotted with snow banks while on the of the mount and his noble repose in massive their vast and simple flowing in the most striking manner with the and thin on the horizon to the north and south of them tracing the gradually ascending gazing at the sublime scenery more and more openly unfolded noting the in our national the upper forests lingering over beds of and and and dwarf an inch high in gray carpets brightened here and there with and soft creeping of sprinkled with pink bells that seem to have been down from the sky like hail thus and enchanted you reach the base of the mountain wholly unconscious of the miles you have walked and so on to the summit for all the way up the long red slate slopes that in the distance seemed barren you find little garden beds and of dwarf and blue that go straight to your heart blessed fellow kept safe and warm by a thousand miracles you are now more than thirteen thousand feet above the sea and to the north and south you behold a sublime wilderness of mountains in glorious array their snowy towering together in crowded bewildering abundance shoulder to shoulder peak beyond peak to the east lies the great basin and silent apparently a land of pure desolation rich only in beautiful light lake fourteen miles long is below you at a depth of nearly seven thousand feet its shores of ashes and sand and a group of with well formed rises to the south of the lake while up from its eastern shore in the national park mountains th soft flowing outlines extend range beyond range ff p purple and blue the farthest gradually fading on the glowing horizon westward you look down and over the countless meadows and grand sea of and rock waves of the upper basin the cathedral and mountains with their wavering lines and of forest the wonderful region to the north of the and across the dark belt of silver to the pale mountains of the coast in the icy fountains of the mount and bitter groups of peaks to the south of three of the most important of the rivers the and san take their rise their highest being within a few miles of one another as they rush forth on their adventurous courses from beneath snow banks and of the of the of the majestic system that the range i have seen sixty five about of them are in the park and eight are in sight from mount the lakes are sprinkled over all the and regions gleaming like eyes beneath heavy rock brows tree fringed or bare in the woods or lying in open with green and purple meadows around them but the greater number are in the cool shadowy national hollows of the not far from the the highest lying at an elevation of from eleven to nearly twelve thousand feet above the sea the whole number in the not counting the smallest can hardly be less than fifteen hundred of which about two hundred and fifty are in the park from one on red mountain i counted f two most of them within a of ten miles the meadows which are spread over the filled up of vanished lakes and form one of the most charming features of the scenery are still more numerous than the lakes an observer stationed here in the period would have overlooked a wrinkled mantle of ice as continuous as that which now covers the continent of and of all the vast landscape now shining in the sun he would have seen only the tops of the summit peaks rising darkly like storm beaten islands lifeless and hopeless above rock ice waves if among the agents that nature has employed in making these mountains there be one that above all others deserves the name of it is the but we quickly learn that destruction is creation during the dreary centuries through which the lay in darkness crushed beneath the ice folds of die winter there was a steady invincible advance toward the warm life and beauty of to day and it is the national park where the crushed most that the greatest amount of is made manifest but as these have succeeded the so they in turn are giving place to others already planned and foreseen the granite and apparently we as of while these crumbling peaks down whose frosty are ever falling are of change and decay yet all alike fast or slow are surely vanishing away nature is ever at work building and pulling down creating and destroying keeping everything whirling and flowing allowing no rest but in motion chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another chapter iv thb forests of the the forests of the park and of the in general all others of their kind in america or indeed in the world not only in the size and beauty of the trees but in the number of species	28
assembled together and the grandeur of the mountains they are growing on leaving the and wandering into the heart of the mountains we find a new world and stand beside the majestic pines and and silent and as if in the presence of superior beings new arrived from some other star so calm and bright and they are to the woods is going home for i suppose we came from the woods originally but in some of nature s forests the adventurous seems a feeble unwelcome creature wild beasts and the weather trying to kill him the rank tangled vegetation armed with and needles his way and making life a hard struggle here everything is hospitable and kind as if planned for your pleasure the forests of the park to every want of body and soul even the storms are friendly and seem to regard you as a brother their beauty and tremendous earnestness charming alike but the weather is mostly sunshine both winter and summer and the clear sunny brightness of the park is one of its most striking characteristics even the heaviest portions of the main forest belt where the trees are and stand are not in the least gloomy the sunshine falls in glory through the colossal and crowns each a symbol of health and strength the noble shafts faithfully upright like the pillars of temples a roof of infinite leafy inter arches and fretted the more open portions are like spacious with small shrubs or only with the fallen needles sprinkled here and there with flowers in some places where the ground is level or slopes gently the trees are assembled in groves and the flowers and in trim beds and as in landscape gardens or the lovingly planted grounds of homes or they are drawn up in or rows around meadows and lakes and along the brows of but in general the forests are distributed in wide in accordance with climate and the comparative strength of each kind in gaining and holding possession of the ground while anything like monotonous is prevented by the varied national and by the arrangement of the best in intricate patterns like for these are the of ancient o u ed by we a ru g and v action and the trees trace them over the hills and and far up the sides of the mountains rising with even growth on and towering above one another on the long rich slopes prepared for them by the vanished had the forests been the most valuable of them would ere this have fallen a prey to the thus far the of the coast mountains and the of and washington have been more available for than the pine of the it cost less to go a thousand miles up the coast for timber where the trees came down to the shores of rivers and than fifty miles up the mountains nevertheless the superior value of the sugar pine for many purposes has tempted to large sums on and to reach the best forests though perhaps none of these has paid fortunately the lately established system of and has put a stop to any great of the business in its most destructive forms and as the park region has escaped the and the all devouring v i the forests of the park of have heen banished it is still in the main a pure wilderness unbroken by axe except on the lower margin where a few have opened spots beside hay meadows for their and gardens but these are mere of cultivation in no disturbing the grand solitude twenty or thirty years ago a good many trees were for their seeds traces of this method of seed collecting are still visible along the but these as well as the ruins are being rapidly overgrown the gardens and beds of once by sheep are blooming again in all their wild glory and the park is a paradise that makes even the loss of seem insignificant on the way to valley you get some grand views over the forests of the and and glimpses of some of the finest trees by the roadside without leaving your seat in the stage but to learn how they live and behave in pure to see them in their varying aspects through the seasons and weather rejoicing in the great storms in the spiritual mountain light putting forth their new leaves and flowers when all the streams are in flood and the birds are singing and sending away their seeds in the thoughtful indian summer when all the landscape is glowing in deep calm enthusiasm for this you must love them national and live them as free from schemes and cares and time as the trees themselves and surely nobody will find anything hard in this even the blind must enjoy these woods their f to the music flowers and and and richly the kind of study required is as easy and natural as breathing without any great knowledge of or wood craft in a single season you may learn the name and something more of nearly every kind of tree in the park with few exceptions all the trees are growing in the park nine species of pine two of silver fir one each of and sixteen in all and about the same number of round headed trees oaks laurel etc the first of the you meet in going up the range from the west is the nut pine a remarkably open airy tree forty to sixty feet h long green foliage and large at a height of fifteen to thirty feet from the ground the trunk usually into several main branches which after bearing away from one another shoot straight up and form separate heads as if the of the tree had been broken the forests of the park while the secondary branches divide again and again into rather slender loosely with leaves eight	28
against a ceiling yet it was four hundred and twenty six years old and one of its about an eighth of an inch in inside the bark was seventy five years old and so tough that i tied it into knots at the age of this dwarf many of the sugar and yellow pines and are seven feet in and over two hundred feet high in detached never touched by fire the fallen needles of centuries of growth make fine elastic for the weary the spread a roof over him and the dead roots half usually found in abundance make capital camp fires in storms of rain or snow seen from a distance the and patches darkening the mountain sides look like on a roof and national bring to mind dr johnson s remarks on the trees of scotland his guide anxious for the honor of was still of its woods and pointing them out sir said johnson i saw at what they called a wood which i took for heath if you show me what i shall take for it will be something the mountain pine is far the largest of tiie tree climbing nearly as high as the dwarf it is still a giant in size bold and strong standing erect on the storm beaten peaks and tossing its laden branches in the rough winds living a thousand years and reaching its greatest size ninety to a hundred feet in height six to eight in just where other trees its companions are but it is not able to endure burial in snow so long as the and therefore on the upper limit of its range it is found on slopes which from their or exposure are least snowy its soft ul beauty in youth and its leaves and branches constantly remind you of the sugar pine to which it is closely allied an admirable tree growing nobler in form and size the colder and the mountains about it the giants of the main forest in the favored middle region are the sugar pine yellow pine and the two the forests op the park the park are to two small groves a few miles apart on the and divide about seventeen miles from valley the big oak flat road to the valley runs through the grove the through the the more famous and better known grove belonging to the state lies near the corner of the park a few miles above the sugar pine is first met in the park in open sunny woods at an elevation of about thirty five hundred feet above the sea full development at a height between five and six thousand feet and at the level of eight thousand feet in many places especially on the northern slopes of the rid s between the rivers it f on the bulk of the forest but mostly it is intimately associated with its noble companions above which it towers in glorious majesty on every hill ridge and from one extremity of the range to the other a distance of five hundred miles the largest noblest and most beautiful of all the seventy or eighty species of pine trees in the world and of all the second only to king a good many are from two hundred to two hundred and twenty feet in height with a at four feet from the ground of six to eight feet and occasionally a grand seven or no national eight hundred years old is f that is ten or even twelve feet in and two hundred and forty feet high with a magnificent crown seventy feet wide david who this most beautiful and immensely grand tree in the fall of in southern says that the largest of several that had been blown down at three feet from the ground was fifty seven feet nine inches in or fully eighteen feet in at one hundred and thirty four feet seventeen feet five inches extreme length two hundred and feet probably for we should read thirty seven for the base which would make it correspond with the other dimensions for none of this species with anything like so great a has since been seen a of even thirty feet is uncommon a fallen specimen that i measured was nine feet three inches in inside the bark at four feet from the ground and six feet in at a hundred feet from the ground a comparatively young tree three hundred and thirty years old that had been cut down measured seven feet across the stump was three feet three inches in at a height of one hundred and fifty feet and two hundred and ten feet in length the trunk is a round delicately shaft with finely brown bark usually the forests of the park free of limbs for a hundred feet or more the top is furnished long and branches which sweep gracefully downward and outward with short and divided only at the ends forming a crown fifty to seventy five feet wide but without the monotonous of palm crowns or of the of most the old trees are as varied and picturesque as oaks no two are alike and we are tempted to stop and admire every one we come to whether as it stands silent in the calm scented sunshine or waving in accord with enthusiastic storms the leaves are about three or four inches long in clusters of five finely tempered lively and radiant the flowers uttle li r those of the dwarf pine and far less the immense fifteen to twenty or even twenty four inches lo d three in h w clusters uke ornamental at the ends of the long branches green flushed with purple on the side like those of almost all the pines they in the autumn of the second season from flower and the seeds of all that have escaped the indians bears and take wing and fly	28
to their places then the become still more effective as ornaments for by the spreading of the scales the is nearly doubled and the color changes to a rich our national brown they remain on the tree the following winter and summer therefore few fertile trees are ever found without them nor even after they fall is the beauty work of these grand done for they make a fine show on the needle strewn ground the wood is pale yellow fine in texture and fragrant the sugar which gives name to the tree from the heart wood on wounds made by fire or the axe and forms irregular crisp white like masses to the taste of most people it is as good as sugar though it cannot be eaten in large quantities no whether a tree lover or not will ever forget his first walk in a sugar pine f the majestic crowns approaching one another make a glorious through the arches of which the pour the needles and g the stately columns and the ground into a scene of enchantment the yellow pine is surpassed in size and of port only by its companion full g wn trees in the main forest where it is associated with the sugar pine are about one hundred and seventy five feet high with a of five to six feet though much larger specimens may easily be found the largest i ever measured was a little over eight feet in four feet above the ground and two hundred and twenty feet high where there the forests of the park is plenty of sunshine and other conditions are favorable it is a massive spire formed of a strong straight shaft clad with innumerable branches which are divided again and again into stout laden with bright shining needles and green or purple where the growth is at all close half or more of the trunk is the species its greatest size and most majestic form in open groves on the deep well drained soil of lake at an elevation of about four thousand feet there nearly all the old trees are over two hundred feet high and the heavy leafy branches clothe the trunk to the ground such trees are easily climbed and in going up the winding stairs of limbs to the top you will gain a most telling and memorable idea of the height the richness and of the branches and the abundance and beauty of the long shining elastic in tranquil weather you will see and throwing off keen minute rays of light like of ice but when heavy winds are blowing the strong towers bend and wave in the blast with eager wide awake enthusiasm and every tree in the grove and flashes in one ma of white both the yellow and sugar pines grow rapidly on good soil where they are not crowded at our national the age of a hundred years they are about two feet in and a hundred or more high they are then very handsome though very unlike the sugar pine closely clad i ith ascending branches the yellow open showing its from the ground to the top its branches but little divided as yet spreading and turning up at the ends with of long stout bright needles the shoot with ite leaves being often three or four feet long and a foot and a half wide the most hopeful looking and the in the woods but instead of increasing like its companion in and individuality of form with age it becomes more and the bark is usually very thick four to six inches at the ground and arranged in large plates some of them on the lower part of the trunk four or five feet long and twelve to eighteen inches wide forming a strong against fire the leaves are in and from three inches to a foot long the flowers appear in may the pink or brown in conspicuous clusters two or three inches wide the crimson a fourth of an inch wide and mostly hidden among the leaves on the tips of the the vary from about three to ten inches in length two to five in width and grow in clusters near the ends of the the forests of the being able to endure fire and hunger and many this grand tree is widely distributed eastward from the coast across the broad rocky mountain to the black hills of a distance of more than a thousand miles and southward from british near latitude to about fifteen hundred miles south of the river it meets the sugar pine and it all the way down along the coast and mountains and the and southern to the mountains of the of lower where they find their homes together is extremely and much bother it g who try to catch and confine the in two or a dozen species b etc but in all its wanderings in every form it noble strength clad in thick bark like a warrior in mail it extends its bright ranks over all the high of the wild side of the continent in the fog and rain of the northern coast at the level of the sea in the snow laden of the mountains and the white glaring sunshine of the interior and plains on the borders of haunted deserts and beds waving its bright in the hot winds blooming every year for centuries and tossing big ripe among the and ashes of nature s our national the grows i ith the great pines especially on the cool north sides of and and is here nearly as large as the yellow pine but less abundant the wood is strong and tough the bark thick and deeply and on vigorous quick growing trees the stout spreading branches are covered with innumerable slender swaying handsomely clothed with short leaves the flowers are about three of an inch in length red or green	28
the for of miles on dry autumn days the sunny spaces in the woods among the colossal are in a whirl with these purple ill ing have been working at the top of their speed for weeks to cat o e every before the seeds were ready to swarm and fly seeds have flat wings and and glance in their flight like a boy s the of seeds is effected by the and cherry plan of birds at the cost of their board and thus obtaining the use of a pair of extra good wing above the great fir belt and below the ragged beds and of the dwarf pine stretch the broad dark forests of usually called pine on broad fields of material it forms nearly pure forests at an elevation of about eight or nine thousand feet above the sea where it is a small well tree fifty or sixty feet high and one or two in with thin gray bark crooked much divided straggling branches short needles in clusters of two bright yellow and crimson flowers and small the very largest i ever measured was ninety feet in height and a httle over six feet in four feet above the ground on moist well drained soil in sheltered hollows along our national it grows tall and slender with ascending branches making graceful fifty to seventy five feet high with stems only five or six inches thick the most extensive forest of this pine in the park lies to the north of the big meadows a famous deer pasture and hunting ground of the indians for miles over wide beds there is an even nearly pure growth broken only by meadows around which the trees stand in trim array their sharp showing to fine advantage both in g summer and white winter on account of the of its growth in many places and the and of its bark it is easily killed by running fires which work destruction in its ranks but a new generation rises quickly from the ashes for all or a part of its seeds are held in reserve for a year or two or many years and when the tree is killed the open and the seeds are scattered over the burned ground like those of the next to the mountain and the dwarf pine this species best burial in heavy snow while in hunger and cold on rocky it is not surpassed by any it is distributed from to southern and inland across the rocky mountains taking many forms in accordance with demands of climate soil rivals and enemies growing patiently in the forests of the park and on sand beside the sea where it is with salt on high snowy mountains and down in the of extinct springing up with invincible vigor after every fire and extending its the sturdy storm enduring red delights to dwell on the tops of granite and and of the upper pine belt at an elevation of seven to ten thousand feet where it can get plenty of sunshine and snow and elbow room quick growing rivals they never make anything like a forest seldom come together even in groves but stand out separate and independent in the wind clinging by joints to the rock living chiefly on snow and thin air and maintaining tough health on this diet for two thousand years or more every feature and gesture expressing steadfast dogged endurance the largest are usually about six or eight feet in and fifteen or twenty in height a very few are ten feet in and on isolated heaps forty to sixty feet in height many are mere as broad as high broken by and lightning with dense gray foliage and giving no hint of dying the flowers are like those of the but smaller the are national the wood is red fine and fragrant the bark bright and red and in trees is strikingly and off in thin ribbons which the indians used to into and coarse cloth these brown pillars standing solitary on polished with masses of foliage in their arms are exceedingly picturesque and never fail to catch the eye of the artist they seem sole of some ancient race wholly with their neighbors i have spent a good deal of time trying to determine their age but on account of dry rot which most of the old ones i never got a complete count of the largest some are undoubtedly more than two thousand years old for though on good soil they grow about as fast as oaks on bare and smoothly granite in the dome region they grow extremely slowly one on the king ridge only two feet eleven inches in was eleven hundred and forty years old another on the same ridge only one foot seven and a half inches in had reached the age of eight hundred and thirty four years the first fifteen inches from the bark of a medium sized tree six feet in on the north pavement had eight hundred and fifty nine of wood or fifty seven to the the forests of the park inch beyond this the count was stopped by dry rot and of old wounds the largest i examined was three feet in or nearly ten in and though i failed to get anything like a complete count i learned enough from this and many other specimens to convince me that most of the trees eight to ten feet thick standing on are more than twenty of age rather than less accidents for all i can see they would live forever when killed they waste out of existence about as slowly as granite even when by after standing so long they refuse to lie at rest leaning on their big elbows as if anxious to rise and while a single root holds to the rock putting forth fresh leaves with a say die and never lie down	28
expression as the is the most stubborn and of trees the mountain is the most graceful and and sensitive to the slightest touches of the wind until it reaches a height of fifty or sixty feet it is clothed down to the ground with drooping branches which are divided into countless delicate waving and arranged in most beautiful ways and sprinkled with handsome brown the flowers also are peculiarly beautiful and effective the very dark rich purple the blue of so our national fine and a tone that the best of the high sky seems to be in them though apparently the most delicate and feminine of all the mountain trees it grows best where the snow lies deepest at an of from nine thousand to nine thousand five hundred f in hollows on the northern slopes of mountains and but under all and conditions of weather and soil sheltered from the main currents of the winds or in blank exposure to them well fed or starved it is always singularly graceful in habit even at its highest limit in the park ten thousand five hundred feet above the sea on exposed where it and close together in low like those of the dwarf pine it still to put forth its and branches in forms of irrepressible beauty while on moist well drained it a perfectly tropical of foliage flower and fruit in the first winter storms the snow is soft and in the dense leafy branches pressing them down against the trunk and the slender drooping lower and lower as the load until the top touches the ground and an ornamental arch is made then as storm storm and snow is heaped on snow the whole tree is at last buried not again to see the light or move leaf or limb until set free by the spring in june or july not the forests of the park the young only are thus carefully covered and put to sleep in the of white beds for five or six months of the year but trees thirty and forty feet high from april to may when the snow is you may ride over the prostrate groves without seeing a single branch or leaf of them in the autumn they are full of merry life when and are gathering the abundant crop of seeds while the deer rest beneath the thick concealing branches the finest grove in the park is near mount and the trail from the springs to the mountain runs through it many of the trees in this grove are three to four or five feet in and about a hundred feet high the mountain is widely distributed from near the south extremity of the high northward along the mountains of and washington and the coast of british to where it was first discovered in its limit so far as i have observed is in the icy of prince william s sound in latitude where it forms pure forests at the level of the sea growing tall and majestic on the banks of the neat waving k accord with the wi ds and the thunder of the falling here as in the it is beautiful the very in america a national of the round headed trees in the park the most influential are the black and oaks they occur in some parts of the main forest belt scattered among the big pines like a heavier but form extensive groves and reach perfect development only in the valleys and of the main the black oak is one of the largest and most beautiful of the western oaks under favorable conditions a height of sixty to a hundred feet with a trunk three to seven feet in wide reading picturesque branches and smooth lively green foliage handsomely purple in the spring yellow and red in autumn it grows best in sunny open groves on ground covered with rose g etc few h any of the famous oak groves of europe however extensive these in the size and strength and bright airy beauty of the trees the color and fragrance of the vegetation beneath them the quality of the that fills their leafy arches and in the of the surrounding scenery the finest grove in the park is in one of the little valleys of the a few miles above the mountain oak or oak j forms extensive groves on earthquake and and the forests of the park in and valleys from about three to five thousand feet above the sea in tough sturdy strength this is the oak of oaks in general appearance it the great live oak of the southern states it has pale gray bark a short heavily trunk which usually a few feet above the ground into strong wide reaching limbs forming noble arches and ending in an intricate of small branches and the outer ones frequently drooping in long to the ground like those of the weeping willow covered with small simple polished leaves making a broad and on which the sunshine falls in glorious brightness the cups are shallow thick walled and covered with yellow dust the flowers appear in may and june with a profusion of followed by the bronze colored young leaves no tree in the park is a better measure of in at an elevation of four thousand feet you may easily find a tree six or eight feet in and at the head of a side three thousand feet higher up which you can climb in less than two hours you find the giant to a slender with leaves like those of bushes still bearing and seemingly contented forming dense patches of on the top of which you may make your bed and sleep softly our national like a in about a thousand feet higher it is still making about a foot high around and along in and the brows of giving hand holds here and there on cliffs hard to climb	28
rough gravel and sand but where the water supply is nevertheless constant the dying from year to year give rise to those rich beds in which so many of our best plants delight to dwell the that sweep the high play a more important part in the distribution of special soil beds than is at first sight recognized carrying forward considerable quantities of sand and gravel of etc and them in fields and beds beautifully ruffled and embroidered and adapted to the wants of some of the and of the shrubs and flowers the more resisting of the smooth polished and can hardly be said to have any soil at all our national while others beginning to give way to the weather are with coarse gravel some of them are full of as the surface of the rock is are set free covering the and rolling down the sides in minute giving rise to and beds of soil in some instances the various occur only here and there sprinkled in die gray gravel like in a sod but in others half or more is made up of and the glow of the or loosely strewn gems and their colored and at different times of the day when the sun is shining might well the flowers that grow among them and console them for being so completely these radiant sheets and and dome ring of are the most beautiful of all the soil beds while the huge ranged along the walls of the are the deepest and instead of being slowly and accumulated from the cliffs overhead like common they were all formed suddenly and simultaneously by an earthquake that occurred at least three centuries ago though thus hurled into existence at a single effort they are the least and of all the soil in the range excepting those which were launched directly into the channels of rivers scarcely one wild gardens of the park of their and has been moved since the day of their creation and though mostly made up of huge blocks of granite many of them from ten to fifty feet trees and shrubs make out to and on them and even delicate plants etc soothing their rugged features with gardens and groves in general views of the park scarce a hint is given of its wealth only by pa lovingly about in it wiu you discover that it is all more or less the forests as well as the open spaces and the mountain tops and rugged slopes around the as well as the sunny meadows even the majestic cliffs seemingly absolutely for thousands of feet and necessarily doomed to eternal are cheered with happy flowers on invisible and wherever the slightest grip for a root can be found as if nature like an enthusiastic gardener could not resist the temptation to plant flowers everywhere on high dry rocky and most of the plants are so small they make but little show even when in bloom but in the parts of the main forests the meadows stream banks and the level floors of valleys the vegetation is exceedingly rich in flowers some of the lilies and being from eight to ten feet high and on the v our national upper meadows there are miles of blue g and white and blue and great of rosy purple covering rocky with a abundance of bloom by humming birds and a host of other insects as beautiful as flowers in the lower and middle regions also many of die most extensive beds of bloom are in great part made by shrubs cherry rose laurel and many others the sunny spaces about them bright and fragrant with lilies etc is a handsome hardy belonging to the rose family flourishing on dry ground below the pine belt and often covering of or thirty square miles of rolling sun beaten hills and with a dense dark green almost impenetrable which in the distance looks like scotch it is about six to eight feet high has slender elastic branches red bark leaves and small white flowers in about a foot long making glorious sheets of fragrant bloom in the spring to running fires it offers no vanishing with the few other shrubs and vines and plants that grow with it about as fast as dry wild ns of the park glass leaving nothing bat ashes but with wonderful it rises again and again in fresh from the root and calls back to its hospitable the multitude of wild animals that had to flee for their lives as soon as you enter the pine woods you meet the charming little one of the of the park shrubs next in and beauty to the of the regions like it belongs to the rose family is from twelve to eighteen inches high has brown bark slender branches white flowers like those of the and yellow green leaves finely cut and as if unusual pains had been taken in them where there is plenty of sunshine at an elevation of three thousand to six thousand feet it makes a close continuous growth leaf touching leaf over hundreds of acres spreading a handsome mantle beneath the yellow and sugar pines here and there a rises above it an bunch of tall and at wide intervals a or of or but there are no rough weeds mixed with it no of any sort perhaps the most widely distributed of all the park shrubs and of the in general certainly the most strikingly characteristic are the many species of our national though one species the or the of the western indians extends around the world the greater part of them are they are mostly from four to ten feet high round headed innumerable branches brown or red bark pale leaves set on e e and a rich of pink narrow urn shaped flowers like those of the branches are and about as rigid	28
as bones and the bark is so thin and smooth both trunk and branches seem to be naked looking as if they had been polished and painted red the wood also is red hard and heavy these bushes seldom fail to engage the attention of the and hold it especially if he has to pass through closely planted fields of them such as grow on slopes at an elevation of about seven thousand feet and in choked with earthquake for they make the most stubborn of all even bears take pains to go around the patches if possible and when compelled to force a passage leave of hair and broken branches to mark their way while less under like circumstances sometimes lose most of their clothing and all their temper the like sunny on warm and sandy at the foot of sun beaten wild of the park cliffs some of the specimens have well defined trunks six inches to a foot or more thick and stand apart in orchard like which in are among the finest garden sights in the park the largest i ever saw had a round trunk nearly four feet in which at a height of only eighteen inches from the ground dissolved into a wilderness of branches rising and spreading to a height and width of about twelve feet in spring every bush over all the mountains is covered with rosy flowers in autumn with fruit the red pleasantly about the size of peas are like little apples and the hungry is glad to eat them though their bulk is made up of hard seeds indians bears birds and other mountain people live on them for months associated with there are six or seven species of fragrant and altogether delightful shrubs growing in glorious abundance in the forests on sunny or half shaded ground up to an elevation of about nine thousand feet above the sea in the woods the most beautiful species is c often called or deer brush it is five or six feet high smooth slender with bright foliage and abundance of blue flowers in close two species and spread a our national handsome blue and on warm beneath the pines and offer delightful beds to the tired the commonest species c is mostly to the silver fir belt it is white and and makes extensive of tangled far too dense to through and too deep and loose to walk on though it is pressed flat every winter by ten or fifteen feet of snow above these beds mixed with a very d red cherry grows in magnificent fragrant and white as snow when in bloom the fruit is and rather bitter not so good as the black that grows in the but like it below the cherry and oak spread generous of and with and in adjacent help to clothe and adorn the rocky wilderness and produce food for the many mouths nature has to fill is the glory of cool streams and meadows it is from two to five feet high has bright g leaves and a rich profusion of large fragrant white and yellow flowers which are in prime beauty in june july and august according to the elevation from three thousand to six thousand feet only the purple of the for thicket wild op the park rivals or it in superb bloom back a little way from the bordered streams a small wild rose makes often several acres in extent fragrant on mornings and after showers the fragrance mingled with the music of birds in them and not far from these rose gardens covers the ground with broad leaves and pure white flowers as large as those of its neighbor the rose and finer in texture followed at the end of summer by soft red good for bird and beast and man also this is the commonest and the most beautiful of the whole blessed the glory of the region in are the and enriched here and there by the and by the purple the only discovered in and the only species in the the lowly hardy adventurous has exceedingly slender creeping branches leaves and pale pink or white bell flowers few plants large or small so well endure hard weather and rough ground over so great a range in july it a wavering interrupted belt of the loveliest bloom around lakes and meadows and across wild between roar our national ing streams all along the and northward beneath cold skies by way of the mountain rf w n and to the regions gradually descending until at the north end of the continent it reaches the level of the sea blooming as and at about the same time on i as on the high the companion of it as far north as where together they thick beds on rounded mountain tops above the it grows mostly at slightly lower the upper margin of what may be called the belt in the th and the lower margin of the the wide bell shaped flowers are bright purple about three of an inch in hundreds to the square yard the young branches mostly erect being covered with them no in more luxurious rest than the in a bed of blooming and imagine the show on calm mornings when there is a radiant globe in the throat of every flower and smaller gems on the needle shaped leaves the pouring through them in the same wild cold region the tiny mixed with and dwarf wild gardens of the park thinner carpets the leaves sprinkled with pink bells and on higher sandy slopes you will find several species of with gorgeous masses of yellow bloom and the lovely with many blessed companions charming plants gentle nature s which seem always the finer the higher and their homes many interesting are distributed over the park from the to a little above the timber line the greater number are rock with small and and the	28
cliffs and the most important of the larger species are and the common is a superb five to eight feet high growing in where the ground is level and on slopes in a regular over like on a roof its range in the park is from the western boundary up to about five thousand feet mostly on benches of the north walls of watered by small streams it is far more abundant in the coast mountains beneath the noble where it a height of ten to twelve feet the are mostly to the moist parts of the lower forests f od national to streams the hardy the commonest of grows tall and graceful on sunny and at between three thousand and six thousand feet those who know it only in the eastern states can form no fair conception of its stately beauty in the sunshine of the on the level sandy floors of valleys it often a height of six to eight feet in fields thirty or forty acres in extent the magnificent in a nearly position forming a ceiling beneath which one may walk erect in delightful mellow shade no other does so much for the color glory of autumn with its and and changing and even after lying dead all winter beneath the snow it a lively brown mantle over the desolate ground until the young with a noble display of faith and hope come rolling up into the light through the midst of the beautiful ruins a few weeks suffice for their development then gracefully poised each in its place they manage themselves in every of weather as if they had passed through a long course of training i have seen solemn old sugar pines thrown into momentary confusion by the sudden of a storm tossing their arms excitedly as if scarce awake and wondering what had happened but i never noticed surprise or embarrassment in the behavior of this noble wild gardens of the park of five species of in the park the handsome growing in with is the largest p the and at the same time the most fragile of the grows in dense among rocks on storm mountain sides along the upper margin of the line it is a charming little four or five inches high has shining colored which are about as as glass and pale green its companions on the lower part of its range are and the latter soft and tender not at all like a rock though it grows on rocks where the snow lies longest p with blue green narrow simply is about the same size as and ranks next to it as a growing in and around on about a thousand feet lower we find the smaller and more abundant p on and strewn watered until late in summer by currents from snow banks or thin streams from growing in close its little bright green about an inch in length as innumerable as leaves of grass p has twice or thrice is dull in color and dwells on hot rocky among our national three species of and with ul two to four an inch to five inches long adorn the walls of the however dry and sheer the exceedingly and interesting is rare the others abundant at from three thousand to seven thousand feet elevation and are often accompanied by the little gold and rarely by the curious little the smallest of which are less than an inch high the finest of all the rock is lover of and the of spray no other is so constant a companion of white spray covered streams or tells so well their wild thundering music the homes it loves best are cave like hollows beside the main falls where it can float its on their breath safely sheltered from the heavy spray laden many of these moss lined chambers so cool so moist and brightly colored with rainbow light contain thousands of these happy clinging to the walls by the slightest holds reaching out the most wonderfully delicate on dark glossy sensitive tremulous all alive in an attitude of eager attention throb in with every motion and tone of the waters to their fain wild gardens of the park est moving each division of the separately at times as if ihe c playing on invisible keys considering the lilies as you go up the mountains the first you come to is l th large orange yellow purple spotted flowers big enough for babies it is seldom found higher than thirty five hundred feet above the sea grows in magnificent groups of fifty to a hundred or more in romantic in the pine woods shaded by and willow and with bushes in front of the trees for a border and and in front of the bushes while the bed of black in which the are set is with and these richly furnished lily gardens are the pride of the on the lower of the and rivers falls not like those of valleys coming from the sky with rock shaking thunder tones but small with low kind voices cheerily singing in calm leafy self contained keeping their snowy skirts well about them yet furnishing of spray for the lilies the washington lily l is white fragrant moderate in size with three to ten the largest i ever measured was eight feet high the two feet long with fifty two flowers fifteen of national them open the others had faded or were in the bud this famous lily is distributed over the sunny portions of the sugar pine woods never in large garden companies like but widely scattered standing up to the waist in dense and waving its lovely flowers above the blooming wilderness of and giving their fragrance to the breeze these stony are about the last places in the mountains in which one would look for lilies but though they toil not nor spin like other people under adverse	28
circumstances they have to do the best can because their large are good to eat they are dug up by indians and bears therefore like hunted animals they seek refuge in the where among the and tough tangled roots they are comparatively safe this is the favorite and it is now in all the best and gardens of the world the gardens in the park lie in the silver fir forests on the top of the main dividing or hang like colored down their sides their wet places are in great part taken up by a robust broad plant determined to be seen and and the parts by tall etc standing deep in grass with here and there around the borders but the wild gardens of the park finest feature of these forest gardens is it greatly in size the being from six to nine feet high with splendid of ten to fifty small orange colored flowers which rock and wave with great dignity above the other flowers in the winds that fall over the protecting wall of trees though rather m looking it s strong reaching prime vigor and beauty eight thousand feet above the sea and in some places venturing as high as eleven thousand or is a unique of many species confined to the side of the continent charming plants somewhat resembling the of europe but far finer the richest region lies below the western boundary of the park still five or six species are included c is common on in the forests of the two pine and c and very slender lowly species may be found in moist garden spots near c with pure white flowers growing in shady places among the shrubs is i think the very loveliest of all the lily family a soul plant saint that every one must love and so be made better it the wildest on his good behavior with this plant the whole world would seem rich though none other existed next after is the most interesting our national nearly ail the many species have heads of blue and yellow flowers the gardens of the lower pine region other plants likely to attract attention are the blue the of which are as food by indians and the climbing the common plants are and the only flower i have seen in the park is a handsome ful looking plant living beside cool the large oval lip is white delicately with purple the other and purple and curved and twisted to the most attractive of all the flowers of the forest is the snow plant it is a bright red pillar tiiat up through the dead needles in the pine and fir woods like a gigantic shoot the first intimation of its coming is a and of the brown of needles on the forest floor in the cracks of which you notice fiery presently a blunt dome shaped head an inch or two in appears covered with closely scales and in a week or so it grows to a height of six to twelve inches then the long fringed spread and curl aside wild of the park allowing the twenty or thirty five flowers to open and look straight out from the it is said to grow up through the snow on the contrary it always waits until the ground is warm though with other early flowers it is occasionally buried or half buried for a day or two by spring storms the entire plant flowers stem scales and roots is red but notwithstanding its glowing color and beautiful flowers it is singularly and cold everybody it as a wonderful curiosity but nobody loves it without fragrance rooted in vegetable matter it stands beneath the pines and lonely silent and about as rigid as a monument down in the main adjoining the and rose gardens there are fine beds of plants tall and and bright beds of on the meadows and airy purple adorn near falls the trees and with wild and while lightly shaded are covered with and of many species ch etc thousands of the most interesting gardens in the park are never seen for they are small and v our national lie far up on and of the sheer walls wherever a strip of soil however narrow and shallow can rest the birds winds and down washing rains have planted them with all sorts of hardy mountain flowers and where there is sufficient moisture they flourish in profusion many of them are watered by little streams that seem lost on the tremendous clinging to the face of the rock in and dripping from ledge to ledge too silent to be called falls from the upper meadows which for centuries have been seeking a way down to the rivers they belong to without having worn as yet any channel mostly or given to the plants they meet before reaching the foot of the cliffs to these unnoticed streams the finest of the cliff gardens owe their and freshness of beauty in the larger ones and flowers flourish in wonderful profusion pink and scarlet and with and a few specimens of each that seem to have been from the large gardens above and beneath them even lilies are occasionally found in these cliff gardens swinging their bells over the giddy seemingly as happy as their relatives down in the most of wild gardens of the park the cliff gardens however are dependent on summer showers and though from the of the soil beds they are often dry they still display a surprising number of bright scarlet purple bush and of glowing golden nor is there any lack of plants the homely is often found in them and sweet and for the bees in the upper where the walls are inclined at so low an angle that they are loaded with material through which streams in broad diffused currents there are long wavering garden beds	28
that seem to be descending through the forest like their lines suggesting motion swaying from side to side of the banks up here and there over island like piles or dividing and flowing around them in some of these the vegetation is chiefly and ruffled with in others flowers like those of the lily gardens on the main another curious and picturesque series of wall gardens are made by thin streams that slowly from and slip gently over smooth slopes from of sand and mud they carry a pair of sheets of soil an inch or two thick are formed one of them hanging down rom the brow of the slope the other leaning up ous national from the foot of it like and the soil being held together by the moisture loving plants growing in it along the rocky parts of the between lake where the streams flow fast over polished granite there are rows of gardens full of and other common plants of the neighborhood nicely arranged like and standing out in telling relief on the bare shining rock banks and all the way up the to the summit mountains wherever there is soil of any sort there is no lack of flowers however short the summer may be within eight or ten feet of a snow bank lingering beneath a shadow you may see their in september and hurrying up their brown on ground that has been free from snow only eight or ten days and likely to be covered again within a few weeks the winter in the of these shadow gardens being about eleven months long while spring summer and autumn are hurried and crowded into one month again under favorable conditions gardens three or four thousand feet higher than the last are in their prime in june between the summit peaks at the head of the effects are produced where the sunshine falls direct on rocky slopes and among toward the end of august in wild gardens of the park one of these natural on the north shore of a lake feet the sea i found a luxuriant growth of hairy and the mountain with thousands of purple flowers an inch wide while the opposite shore at a distance of only three hundred yards was bound in heavy snow summer on one side winter on the o er and i know a bench garden on the north wall of in which a few flowers are in bloom all winter the massive rocks about it up sunshine enough in summer to melt the snow about as fast as it falls when tired of the confinement of my cabin i used to camp out in it in january and never failed to find flowers and also except during and a few days after from one can easily walk in a day to the top of mount a massive gray mountain that rises in the centre of the park with easy slopes adorned with piles and on the south side rugged with perpetual snow on the north most of the broad summit is comparatively level and smooth and covered with of etc out and strewn loosely as if sown their radiance so dazzling in some places as to fairly hide the multitude of our national small flowers that grow among them of keen lance rays infinitely fine white or colored making an almost continuous glow over all the ground with here and there throbbing lilies of light on the larger gems at first sight only these crystal are noticed but looking closely you discover minute etc in thousands showing more than leaves and larger plants in hollows and on the borders of mountain fringed with tou wander about from garden to garden enchanted as if walking among gathering thb brightest gems each and all apparently doing their with eager enthusiasm as if everything on faithful shining and considering the flowers in the glorious light many of them looking like of and that were resting after long dances in the now your attention is called to colonies of and the in front of their glittering like heaps of romantic ground to live in or die in now you look abroad over the vast round landscape bounded by the down sky nearly all the park in it displayed like a map f meadows lakes rock waves and snowy mountains northward lies the basin of creek paved with bright and lakes like larger cry wild gardens of the park eastward the region and the summit peaks in glorious array southward and westward the boundless forests on no other mountain that i know of are you more likely to linger it is a magnificent camp ground of dwarf pine furnish roots and branches for f and the pure water around your camp fire the flowers seem to be looking eagerly at the light and the shine making fine company as you he at rest in the very heart of the serene majestic night the finest of the meadow gardens ue at an elevation of about nine thousand feet in the upper pine forests like lakes of light they are smooth and level a mile or two long and tiie rich weu drained ground is completely covered with a soft sod with flowers not one of which is in the least or coarse in some places the sod is so crowded with flowers that the are scarce noticed in others they are rather scattered while every leaf and flower seems to have its winged representative in the of happy flower like insects that the air above them with the winter wings and are folded and for more than half the year the meadows are snow buried ten or fifteen feet deep in june they begin to out small patches of our national the dead sod appear gradually in size until they are free and warm again face to face with the sky of growing points push through	28
the steaming mould sing soon joined hy the birds and the merry insects come back as if suddenly from the dead soon the ground is green with and and dotted with making the first crop of the season then the grass leaves a new sod and the exceedingly slender rise above it like a purple mist speedily followed by yellow and purple and a few later come the and and of the last there are three species small and fine with varying tones of blue and in glorious abundance extensive patches where the sod is lowest through the midst flows a stream only two or three feet wide silently gliding as if careful not to disturb the hushed calm of the solitude its banks by the common sod bent down to the water s edge and trimmed with and slender grass lean over like miniature pine trees and here and there on the places small of heath are neatly spread without the down sod in spring and summer the weather is mostly crisp sunshine though magnificent of wild gardens of the park are often about noon their shady hollows tinged with purple fine their snowy sun beaten glowing against the sky casting shadows for an hour or two then in a quick washing rain but for days in succession there are no clouds at all or only faint and scarcely toward the end of august the sunshine grows announcing the coming of indian summer the outlines of the are softened and and more and more plainly are the mountains clothed with light tinged with pale purple richest in the morning and evening the warm brooding days are full of life and thoughts of to come seeds with next summer in them or a hundred the nights are impressive and calm frost of wondrous beauty grow on the grass each carefully planned and finished as if intended to endure forever the sod becomes yellow and brown but the late and carefully closing their flowers at night do not seem to feel the frost no plants of any kind are to be seen even the early fail to them at last the precious seeds are ripe all the work of the season is done and the sighing pines tell the coming of winter and rest ascending the range you find that many of our national the higher meadows slope considerably from the of loose material washed into their and and are mixed with the or take their places though all are still more or less and bordered with and dwarf here and there you come to small the smooth and adorned with and others and like bits of their and with dwarf shrubs on piles the red and on sandy slopes several species of low some of the plants less than a foot high being very old a century or more as is shown by the rings made by the annual of leaves on the big roots above these flower dotted slopes the gray savage wilderness of and peaks seems lifeless and bare all the way up to the tops of the highest mountains commonly supposed to be covered with eternal snow there are bright garden spots crowded with flowers their warm colors calling to mind the sparks and of fire on rising above a world of ice the principal mountain top plants are and growing in detached and the highest streaks and of the summer wave as it breaks against these wintry wild gardens of the park heights the most beautiful are the and and the red with innumerable flowers hiding the leaves though plants like the trees and shrubs are as they ascend two of these mountain and are notable exceptions the yellow is eight to twelve inches high stout erect the leaves three to six inches long a fragrant standing up boldly on the grim stained and never looking in the least tired or discouraged both the ray and flowers are yellow the heads are nearly two inches wide and are eagerly sought for by bee the is quite as luxuriant and tropical looking as its companion about the same height fragrant its blue flowers closely packed in eight or ten heads twenty to forty in a head it is never far from growing at of between eleven and thirteen thousand feet wherever a little hollow or situated with a handful of wind driven soil can be found from these frosty sky gardens you may descend in one straight to the and gardens of where the sunshine is warm enough for palms but the greatest of all the gardens is the belt of forest trees covered in the spring our national with blue and red and yellow blossoms each tree with a gigantic of flowers fifty to a hundred feet long yet strange to say they are seldom noticed few travel the woods when they are in bloom the flowers of some of the species opening before the snow is off the ground nevertheless one would think the news of such gigantic flowers would quickly spread and from all the world would make haste to the show eager inquiries are made for the of covered mountains and for the of streams that they may be enjoyed in their prime but the far outburst of tree bloom covering a thousand mountains who about that that the flowers of the pines and should escape the eyes of careless is less to be wondered at since they mostly grow aloft on the branches and can hardly be seen from the foot of the trees yet even these make a magnificent show from the top of an overlooking ridge when the are pouring through bat the far more numerous flowers of the pines in large rosy clusters and those of the silver in countless thousands on the under side of the branches cannot be hid stand where you may the mountain also is colored with a profusion of lovely	28
blue and purple flowers a spectacle to gods and men wild gardens of the a pine or or silver fir in the prime of its beauty about the middle of june is well worth the pains of the longest journey how much more broad forests of them thousands of miles long one of the best ways to see tree flowers is to climb one of the trees and to get into close touch with them and then look abroad speaking of the benefits of tree climbing says i found my account in climbing a tree once it was a tall white pine on the top of a hill and though i got weu pitched i was well paid for it for i discovered new mountains in the horizon which i had never seen before i might have walked about the foot of the tree for years and ten and yet i certainly should never have seen them but above all i discovered around me it was near the middle of june on the ends of the branches a few minute and delicate red blossoms the fertile flower of the white pine looking i carried straightway to the village the spire and showed it to stranger who walked the streets for it was court week and to farmers and and and hunters and not one had ever seen the like before but they wondered as at a star dropped down the same blindness here although the blossoms are a more our national abundant and telling once when i was collecting flowers of the red silver fir near a summer resort on the mountains above lake i carried a handful of branches to the boarding house where they quickly attracted a wondering admiring crowd of men women and children oh where did you get these they cried how pretty they are mighty handsome just too lovely for anything where do they grow on the commonest trees about you i replied you are now standing beside one of them and it is in full bloom look up and i pointed to a blossom laden about a hundred and twenty feet high in front of the house used as a post and seeing its beauty for the first time their wonder could hardly have been greater or more sincere had their silver fir post for them at that moment as suddenly as s rod the mountain extends an almost continuous belt along the and northern to prince william s sound accompanied part of the way by the pines our two silver to mount thence the fir belt is continued through washington and british by four other species and while the ma with large bright purple flowers the coast region from to cook s wild gardens of the park and all these form one belt one garden blooming in rocking its in the hearty weather bowing and enjoying clouds and the winds and filling them with covering thousands of miles of the wildest mountains clothing the long slopes by the sea crowning and and innumerable islands and the banks of the one wild wavering belt of the noblest flowers in the world worth a lifetime of love work to know it chapter vi among the animals of the the bear brown or the of the animals over all e park though few have the pleasure of seeing him on he through the majestic forests and facing all sorts of weather rejoicing in his eye at home with the trees and rocks and shaggy happy fellow lines have fallen in pleasant places lily gardens in silver fir forests miles of bushes in endless variety and of bloom over hill waves and valleys and along the banks of streams full of music and fair as places in which one might expect to meet angels rather than bears in this happy land no famine comes nigh him all the year round his bread is sure for some of the thousand kinds that he likes are always in season and accessible ranged on the shelves of the mountains like stores in a from one to another from climate to climate up and down he on each in turn en among the animals of the as great variety as if he to far off countries north and south to him almost every thing is food except granite every tree helps to feed him every bush and with fruits and flowers leaves and bark and all the animals he can catch ground etc and bees old and young together with their eggs and and nests and down all go to his stomach and vanish as if cast into a fire what a sheep or a wounded deer or a pig he eats warm about as quickly as a boy eats a or should the meat be a month old it still is welcomed with tremendous relish after so gross a meal as this perhaps the next will be and or with and nuts or and and as if fearing a t ea ble in hi do should escape being eaten he breaks into to look after sugar dried apples bacon etc occasionally he eats the s bed but when he has had a full meal of more tempting he leaves it undisturbed though he has been known to drag it up through a hole in the roof carry it to the foot of a tree and lie down on it to enjoy a eating everything never is he himself eaten except by man and only man is an enemy to be feared b ar meat said a hunter from whom i was seeking our national tion b ar meat is the best meat in the their skins make the best beds and their the best butter with b ar goes as far as beans a man will walk all day on a couple of them in my first interview	28
with a bear we were fr and embarrassed both of us but the bear s behavior was better than mine when i discovered him he was standing in a narrow strip of meadow and i was concealed behind a tree on the side of it after studying his appearance as he stood at rest i rushed toward him to frighten him that i might study his gait in running but contrary to all i had heard about the shyness of bears he did not run at all and when i stopped short within a few steps of him as he held his ground in a fighting attitude my mistake was plain i was then put on my good behavior and never afterward forgot the right manners of the wilderness this happened on my first excursion in the forest to the north of valley i was eager to meet the animals and many of them came to me as if willing to show themselves and make my acquaintance but the bears kept out of my way an old in reply to my questions told me that bears were very shy all save grim old and that i might travel the mountains for years without seeing one unless i gave among the animals of the my mind to them and the stealthy ways of hunters nevertheless it was only a few weeks after i had received this information that i met the one mentioned above and obtained instruction at first hand i was in the woods about a mile back of the rim of beside a stream that falls into the valley by the way of indian nearly every day for weeks i went to the top of the north dome to sketch for it commands a general view of the and i was anxious to draw every tree and rock and a st dog was my companion a fine intelligent fellow that belonged to a hunter who was compelled to remain all summer on the hot plains and who him to me for the season for the sake of having him in the mountains where he would be so much better off knew bears through long experience and he it was who led me to my first interview though he seemed as much surprised as the bear at my like behavior one morning in june the began to stream through the trees i set out for a day s on the dome and before we had gone half a mile from camp the air and looked cautiously ahead lowered tail drooped his ears and began to step softly like a cat turning every few yards and looking me in the face with a telling saying plainly enough there is a bear a our national little way ahead i walked carefully in the indicated direction until i approached a small meadow that i was familiar with then crawled to the foot of a tree on its margin bearing in mind what i had been told about the shyness of bears looking out cautiously over the of the tree i saw a big bear about thirty yards off half erect his resting on the trunk of a fir that had fallen into the meadow his buried in grass and flowers he was listening attentively and trying to catch the scent showing that in some way he was aware of our approach i watched his gestures and tried to make the most of my opportunity to learn what i could about him fearing he would not stay lone he made a fine picture the most beautiful in the world after examining him at leisure noting the sharp thrust forward the long shaggy hair on broad chest the stiff ears nearly buried in hair and the slow heavy way in which he moved his head i foolishly made a rush on him throwing up my arms an to frighten him to see him run he did not mind the demonstration much only pushed his head farther forward and looked at me sharply as if asking what now if you want to fight i m ready then i began to fear that on me would fall the work of running but i was afraid to among the animals of the run lest he be encouraged to pursue me therefore i held my ground staring him in the face within a dozen yards or so putting on as bold a look as i could and hoping the influence of the human eye would be as great as it is said to be under these strained relations the view seemed to last a long time finally the bear seeing how still i was calmly withdrew his huge from the log gave me a piercing look as if warning me not to follow him turned and walked slowly up the middle of the meadow into the f or est stopping every few steps and looking back to make sure that i was not trying to take him at a disadvantage in a rear attack i was glad to part with hun and greatly enjoyed the vanishing view as he through the lilies and i always tried to give bears respectful notice of my approach and they usually kept well out of my way though they often came around my camp in the night only once afterward as far as i know was i very near one of them in daylight this time it was a i met and as luck would have it i was even nearer to him than i had been to the big though not a large specimen he seemed formidable enough at a distance of less than a dozen yards his shaggy coat was well his head almost white when i first caught sight of him he was eating our national under a oak at a distance of perhaps seventy five yards and i tried to slip past without disturbing him but he	28
had either heard my steps on the gravel or caught my scent for he came straight toward me stopping every rod or so to look and listen and as i was afraid to be seen running i crawled on my hands and knees a little way to one side and hid behind a hoping he would pass me unnoticed he soon came up opposite me and stood looking ahead while i looked at him peering past the trunk of the tree at last turning j d be c h right ot i sharply a minute or two and then with fine dignity disappeared in a covered earthquake considering how heavy and broad footed are it is wonderful how httle harm they do in the wilderness even in the well watered gardens of the middle region where the flowers g w and where daring warm weather the bears and roll no of destruction is visible on the contrary under nature s direction the massive he tl as on the forest floor with needles and brush and on the tough sod of meadows bears make no mark but around the sandy margin of lakes their magnificent tracks form grand lines of their well worn extend along the main on either side and among the animals of the dusty in some places make no on the landscape they bite and break off the branches of some of the pines and oaks to get the nuts but this is so light that few ever notice it and though they interfere with the orderly veiled decay of fallen trees tearing them to pieces to reach the colonies of that them the scattered ruins are quickly pressed back into harmony by snow and rain and over leaning vegetation the number of bears that make the park their home may be guessed by the number that have been killed by the two best hunters and old david brown began to be known as a bear about the year he was then the woods hunting and on the south fork of the a friend told me that he killed his first bear near his cabin at that after courage to fire he fled without waiting to learn the effect of his shot going back in a few hours he found poor dead and gained courage to try again confessed to me when we made an excursion together in that he was at first afraid of bears but after killing a half dozen he began to keep count of his victims and became ambitious to be known as a great bear hunter in nine years he had killed forty nine keeping count by cut on one of the of his cabin on the shore of our national cent lake near the south boundary of the park he said the more he knew about bears the more he respected them and the less he feared but at the same time he grew more and more cautious and never fired until he had every advantage no matter how long he had to wait and how far he had to go before he got the bear just right as to the direction of the wind the distance and the way of escape in case of accident making allowance also for the character of the animal old or young or for old he said he had no use whatever and he was mighty careful to avoid their acquaintance he wanted to kill an even hundred then he was going to confine himself to safer game there was not much money in bears anyhow and a round hundred was enough for glory i have not seen or heard of him lately and do not know how his bloody count stands on my excursions i occasionally passed his cabin it was full of meat and skins hung in bundles from the and the ground about it was strewn with bones and hair infinitely less tidy than a bear s den he went as hunter and guide with a survey party for a year or two and was very proud of the scientific knowledge he picked up his admiring fellow he said gave him credit for knowing not only the names of all the trees and among the animals of the bushes but also the names of the bears the most famous hunter of the region was david brown an old who early in the gold period established his main camp in a little forest on the north fork of the which is still called brown s hat no finer solitude for a hunter and could be found the climate is delightful all the year and the scenery of both earth and sky is a perpetual feast though he was not much of a scenery fellow friends say that he knew a pretty place when he saw it as well as any one and liked to get on the top of a commanding ridge to look off when out of provisions he would take down his old fashioned long rifle from its deer horn rest over the fireplace and set out in search of game seldom did he have to go far for because the deer liked the wooded slopes of pilot peak ridge with its open spots where they could rest and look about them and enjoy the se from the sea in warm weather free from troublesome flies while they found hiding places and fine food in the deer brush a small wise dog was his only companion and well the little understood the object of every hunt whether deer or bears or only hidden in the fir tops in deer hunting sandy had little to do trotting behind our national his master as he walked noiselessly the fragrant woods careful not to step heavily on dry twigs open spots in the where the deer feed in the early morning and toward sunset peering over and as new were reached and	28
left the to help themselves while calling him a coward and declaring that he was not going to let bears eat up his sheep before his face set the dogs on them and rushed toward a great noise and a stick the frightened ran up a tree and the mother ran to meet the shepherd and dogs stood astonished for a moment the bear then fled faster than joe had closely pursued he scrambled to the roof of their little cabin the only refuge quickly available and fortunately the bear anxious about her young did not climb after him only held him in mortal terror a few minutes glaring and threatening then hastened back to her called them down went to the frightened huddled flock killed a sheep and in peace entreated cautious joe to show him a good safe tree up which he climbed like a sailor climbing a mast and held on as long as he could with legs crossed the sum pine recommended by joe being nearly so you too are a bear coward as well as joe i said after hearing the story oh i tell you he replied with grand solemnity bear face close by look awful she just as soon among the animals of the eat me as not she do so as all my b long every one to her own self i run to bear no more i take tree every time after this the the flock about an hour before large quantities of dry wood and made a circle of fires around the every night and one with a gun kept watch on a stage built in a pine by the side of the cabin while the other slept but after the first night or two this fire fence did no good for the robbers seemed to regard the light as an advantage after becoming used to it on the night i spent at their camp the show made by the wall of fire when it was blazing in its was magnificent the trees round about relieved against solid darkness and the two thousand sheep lying down in one gray mass sprinkled brilliant gems the effect of the in their eyes it was nearly midnight when a pair of the arrived they walked boldly through a gap in the fire circle killed two sheep carried them out and vanished in the dark woods leaving ten dead in a pile trampled down and smothered against the fence while the scared in the tree did not fire a single shot saying he was afraid he would hit some of the sheep as the bears got among them before he could get a good sight in the morning i asked the why our national they did not move the flock to a new oh no use cried look my dead we move three four time before all the same bear come by the track no use to morrow we go home below look my dead soon all dead thus were they out of the mountains more than a month before the usual time after uncle sam s soldiers bears are the most effective forest police but some of the are very in killing them altogether by and probably five or hundred have been killed within the of the park during the last thirty years but they are not in danger of now that the park is guarded by soldiers not only has the vegetation in great part come back to the desolate but all the wild animals are increasing in numbers no guns are allowed in the park except under certain and after a permit has been obtained from the officer in charge this has stopped the barbarous slaughter of bears and especially of deer by hunters and hunting who it would seem can find no pleasure without blood the deer the spend the in the and exceedingly rough region just below the main timber belt and are less accessible to hunters there than when they among the animals of the are passing through the open forests to and from their summer pastures near the of the range they go up the mountains early in the spring as the snow not waiting for it all to disappear reaching the high about the first of june and the recesses at the base of the peaks a month or so later i have them for miles over snow from three to ten feet deep deer are capital making their way into the heart of the mountains seeking not only but a cool climate and safe hidden places in which to bring forth young they are not supreme as animals they take second rank yielding the first to the mountain sheep which dwell above them on the highest and peaks still the two meet frequently for the deer all the peaks save the lofty above the crossing piles of roaring swollen streams and sheer walled by and passes that would try the nerves of the climbing with graceful ease and reserve of strength that cannot fail to arouse admiration everywhere some species of deer seems to be at home on rough or smooth ground or in and and the woods in varying hot or cold over au the continent maintaining glorious health never our national ing an awkward step standing lying down walking feeding running even for life it is always and adds beauty and animation to every landscape a charming and a great credit to nature i never see one of the common deer the only species in the park without fresh admiration and since i never carry a gun i see them well lying beneath a or dwarf pine among ihe brown needles on the brink of some cliff or the end of a ridge commanding a outlook feeding in sunny among selecting leaves and twigs leading their out of my way or making them lie down and	28
hide bounding past through the forest or curiously advancing and retreating again and again one morning when i was eating breakfast in a little garden spot on the e around with i noticed a deer s head thrust through the bushes the big beautiful eyes gazing at me i kept still and the deer ventured forward a step then and withdrew in a few minutes she returned and came into the open garden stepping with infinite followed by two others after showing themselves for a moment they bounded over the hedge with sharp timid and vanished but curiosity brought them back with still another and all four came into my among the animals of the garden and satisfied that i meant them no ill began to feed actually eating breakfast with me like tame gentle sheep around a shepherd rare company and the most graceful in movements and attitudes i eagerly watched them while they fed on and wild cherry single leaves here and there from the side of the hedge turning now and then to a few leaves of from the midst of the garden flowers grass they did not eat at all no wonder the contents of the deer s stomach are eaten by the indians while exploring the upper c on of the north fork of the san one evening the sky threatening rain i searched for a bed and made choice of a big that had been pushed down by a snow but was resting on its knees high enough to let me lie under its broad trunk just below my shelter there was another on the very brink of a precipice and examining it i found a deer bed beneath it completely protected and concealed by drooping branches a fine refuge and as well as resting place about an hour before dark i heard the clear sharp of a deer and looking down on the rocky bottom discovered an anxious that no doubt had her concealed near by she over the and up the farther slope of the wall often stopping to look national back and picture of eager i sat perfectly still and as my was colored like the bark i was not seen after a little she came cautiously toward me the air and and her movements as she descended the side over piles and brush and fallen timber were admirably strong and beautiful she never strained or made apparent efforts although jumping high here and there as she drew nigh she anxiously trying the air in different directions until she caught my scent then bounded off and vanished behind a small g of soon she came back with the same caution and coming and going five or six times while i sat admiring her a evidently excited by her noisy climbed a beneath me and witnessed her performances as attentively as i did while a too restless or hungry for such shows busied himself about his supper in a thicket of the fruit of which was then ripe glancing about on the twigs lightly as a toward the end of the indian summer when the young are strong the deer b in to gather in little bands of from six to fifteen or twenty and on the approach of the first they set out on their march down the mountains to their winter quarters lingering usually on warm among the animals of the and spurs eight or ten miles below the as if to leave about the end of november a heavy far reaching storm drives item down in haste along the dividing between the rivers led by old experienced whose knowledge of the is wonderful it is when the deer are coming down that the indians set out on their grand fall hunt too lazy to go into the recesses of the mountains away from they wait for the deer to come out and then them this plan also has the advantage of finding them in bands great preparations are made old guns are mended bullets and the hunters wash themselves and st to some extent to good luck as they say men and women old and young set forth together central are made on the well known of the deer which are soon red with blood each hunter comes in laden old as well as maidens smiling on the all grow fat and merry boys each armed with an head play at buck and plague the w men who b the meat for by stealing np behind them and throwing fresh hides over them but the indians are passing away here as everywhere and their red on the mountains are fewer every year our national there are and in the park but not in large i have seen well back in the range at the head of the meadows as early as june st before the snow was gone feeding on but they are r more numerous on the inhabited around where they enjoy life on chickens eggs ground etc and all kinds of fruit few wild sheep i fear are left for though safe on the high peaks they are driven down the eastern slope of the when the deer are driven down the western to and spurs where the snow does not fall to a great depth and there they are within reach of the s the two of the park the and the gray keep all the woods lively the former is far more abundant and more widely distributed being found all the way up from the to the dwarf pines on the summit peaks he is the most influential of the animals though small and the brightest of all the i know a of quick mountain vigor and purely wild and as free from disease as a one cannot think of such an animal ever being weary or sick he claims all the woods and is inclined to drive away even	28
men as how he and what faces he makes if among the animals of the not so small he would be a dreadful fellow the gray f is the hand i think of all the large american he is something like the eastern gray but is brighter and clearer in color and more and slender he in the oak and pine woods up to a height of about five thousand feet above the sea is rather common in valley kings and indeed in all the and but does not like the high compared with the the gray is more than twice as large nevertheless he to make his way through the trees with less stir than his small neighbor and is much less influential in every way in the spring before the pine nuts and nuts are ripe he last year s for the few seeds that may be left in them between the scales and fallen nuts and seeds on the ground among the leaves after making sure that no enemy is nigh his fine tail now behind now above him level or curled light and radiant as dry his body seems hardly more substantial than his tail the is a firm emphatic bolt of life fiery full of and show and fight and his movements have none of the deliberation of the gray they are so quick and keen they almost sting the national and the show he makes of himself one giddy to see the gray is shy and stealthy as if half expecting to find an enemy in every tree and and behind every log he seems to to be let alone and no desire to be seen or admired or feared he is hunted by the indians and this of itself is cause enough for caution the is less attractive for game and probably increasing in numbers in spite of every enemy he goes his ways bold as a lion up and down and across round and round the happiest of all the hairy tribe and at the same time earn and solemn sunshine making every tree with his electric toes if you him you cannot think he will he seems above the chance and change that beset common mortals though in busily gathering and nuts he shows that he has to work for a living like the rest of us i never found a dead he gets into the world and out of it without being noticed only in prime is he seen like some plants that are visible only when in bloom the little striped is one of the most amiable and delightful of all the mountain tree a brighter does not exist he is more and like than the familiar species and is distributed as widely on the among the animals of the as the every forest however dense or open every and however or bare is cheered and by this happy little animal you are likely to notice him first on the lower edge of the belt where the and yellow pines meet and thence upward go where you may you will find him every day even in winter unless the weather is stormy he is an exceedingly interesting little fellow full of odd quaint ways confiding thinking no evil and without being a a true shadow tail he lives the life of a and has almost all accomplishments without i never weary of watching him as he about the bushes gathering seeds and on slender twigs of wild cherry along prostrate trunks or over the grassy needle strewn forest floor darting from to on and the tops of the g eat when the seeds of the are ripe he the trees and cuts off the for a winter store working diligently though not with the tremendous lightning energy of the who frequently drives him out of the best trees then he lies in wait and up a share of the cut off by his cousin and stores them beneath logs and in hollows few of the animals are so well liked as this little airy our national half half so confiding and busily cheery and happy he takes one s heart and keeps his place among the of the mountain a of seeds nuts and of course he is well fed though never in the least with fat on the contrary he looks like a mere of fur weighing but little more than a field mouse and of his without haste is no end can bark with his mouth closed but little always opens his when he talks or sings he has a considerable variety of notes which correspond with his movements some of them sweet and liquid like water dripping into a pool with sound his eyes are black and animated like dew he seems dearly to like a dog venturing within a few feet of it away with a lively and low beating time to his music such as it is with his tail which at each and describes a half circle not even is footed or takes greater risks i have seen him running about on sheer cliffs holding on with as uttle effort as a fly and as little thought of danger in places where if he had made the least slip he would have fallen thousands of feet how fine it would be could move about on with the same sure grip among the animals of the before the pine nuts are ripe grass seeds and those of the many species of with and the soft red of form the bulk of his food and a is not to be found in the mountains bees powdered with their blunt noses into the bells of flowers are comparatively clumsy and along some fallen pine or fir when the grass seeds are ripe he looks about him considering which of the he sees is likely to have the best runs out to it what he	28
thieves because they carry away and pile together everything knives forks tin cups spectacles nails wood etc as well as of all sorts to strengthen their or to shine among rivals once far back in the high they stole my the lid of my and my and one stormy night when under a prostrate i was awakened our national by a sound on the granite and by the light of my fire i discovered a handsome beside me dragging away my ice pulling with might and main by a string on the handle i threw bits of bark at him and made a noise to frighten him but he stood scolding and chattering back at me his fine eyes shining with an air of injured innocence a great variety of the warm portions of the park some of them are more than a foot in length others but httle larger than a few are and repulsive at first sight but most of the species are handsome and attractive and bear acquaintance well we like them better the farther we see into their charming mortals and g they are easily tamed and have beautiful eyes expressing the innocence so that in spite of prejudices brought from cool countries one must soon learn to like them even the of the plains and called horrid is mild and gentle with charming eyes and so are the species found in the of the lower forests these glide in curves with all the ease and grace of while their small limbs drag for the most part as useless one specimen that i measured was fourteen inches long and as far as i saw it made no use whatever of its limbs among the animals of the most of them and dart on the sunny rocks and across open spaces from bush to bush swift as and and about as brilliantly colored they never make a long run whatever their object but dart direct as arrows for a distance of ten or twenty feet then suddenly stop and as suddenly start again these stops are necessary as rests for they are short and when pursued steadily are soon run out of breath and may easily be caught where no retreat in bush or rock is quickly available if you stay with them a week or two and behave well these gentle descendants of an ancient race of giants will soon know and trust you come to your feet play and watch your every motion with cunning curiosity you will surely learn to like them not only the bright ones gorgeous as the rainbow but the little ones gray as granite and scarcely bigger than and they will teach you that scales may cover as fine a nature as hair or feathers or anything there are many in the and lower forests but they are mostly handsome and harmless of all the and who have visited and the adjacent mountains not one has been bitten by a snake of any sort while thousands have been charmed by them some of them with the in ous national beauty of color and dress patterns only ihe is and he carefully keeps his to himself as far as man is concerned unless his life is threatened before i learned to respect i killed two the first on the san plain he i as comfortably around a of bunch grass and i discovered him when he was between my feet as i was stepping over him he held his head down and did not attempt to strike although in danger of being trampled at that time thirty years ago i imagined that should be killed wherever found i had no weapon of any sort and on the smooth plain there was not a stick or a stone within miles so i crushed him by jumping on him as the deer are said to do looking me in the face he saw i meant mischief and quickly cast himself into a ready to strike in i knew he could not strike when therefore i threw of dirt and grass at him to him out of he held his ground a few minutes threatening and striking and then started off to get rid of me i ran forward and jumped on him but he drew back his head so quickly my heel missed and he also missed his stroke at me persecuted tormented again and again he tried to get away bravely striking out to protect himself but at last my heel came down sorely wound among the animals of the ing and a few more brutal crushed him i felt degraded by the killing business farther from heaven and i made up my mind to try to be at least as fair and charitable as the themselves and to kill no more save in self the second killing might also i think have been avoided and i have always felt somewhat sore and guilty about it i had built a little cabin in and for convenience in getting water and for the sake of music and society i led a small stream from creek into it along the side of the wall it was not in the way and it had just fall enough to ripple and sing in low sweet tones making delightful company especially at night when i was lying awake then a few came in and made merry with the stream and one snake i suppose to catch the from my long walks i usually brought home a large handful of plants partly for study for ornament and set them in a comer of the cabin with their stems in the stream to keep them fresh one day when i picked up a handful that had begun to fade i uncovered a large that had been hiding behind the flowers thus suddenly brought to light face to face with the owner of the place the poor was desperately	28
embarrassed evidently that he v national had no light in the cabin it was not only fear that he showed but a good deal of downright and embarrassment like that of a more than half honest person under suspicious circumstances behind a door instead of striking or threatening to strike though and ready he slowly drew his head down as far as he could with awkward confused in his neck and a expression as if wishing the ground would open and hide him i have looked into the eyes of so many wild animals that i feel sure i did not mistake the feelings of this unfortunate snake i did not want to kill him but i had many visitors some of them children and i came in late at night so i judged he must die since then i have seen perhaps a hundred or more in these mountains but i have never disturbed them nor have they disturbed me to any g eat extent even by accident though in danger of being stepped on once while i was on my knees a fire one glided under the arch made by my arm he was only going away from the ground i had selected for a camp and there was not the slightest danger because i kept still and allowed him to go in peace the only time i felt myself in serious danger was when i was coming out of the by a steep side toward the head of on an among the animals of the earthquake a in my way presented a front so high that i could just reach the upper edge of it while standing on the next below it drawing myself up as soon as my head was above the flat top of it i caught sight of a my hands had him and he was ready for me but even with this provocation and when my head came in sight within a foot of him he did not strike the last time i sauntered through the big i saw about two a day one was not but neatly folded in a narrow space between two on the side of the river his head below the level of them ready to shoot up like a the box for or birds my foot the space above within an inch or two of his head but he only held it lower in making my way through a particularly tedious of i parted the branches on the side of an open spot and threw my bundle of bread into it and when with my arms free i was pushing through after it i saw a small his tail from beneath mv bundle when sight of me he y d with an air of righteous indignation seemed to be asking why i had thrown that stuff on him he was so small that i was inclined to slight him but he struck out so angrily that i drew back and approached the opening from the other side but he had been listening and national when i looked through the i found me still with a come in if you expression in vain i tried to explain that i only wanted my bread he stoutly held the ground in front of it so i went back a dozen rods and kept still for half an hour and when i returned he had gone one near in a very rough portion of the i searched long for a level spot for a bed and at last was glad to find a patch of flood sand on the and a lot of close by for a but when i threw down my bundle i found two in possession of the ground i might have passed the night even in this snake den without danger for i never knew a single instance of their coming into camp in the night but fearing that in so small a space some late comers not aware of my presence might get stepped on when i was the fire to avoid possible crowding i on one of the earthquake there are two species of in the park and when i was exploring the basin of greek i thought i had discovered a new one i saw a snake with curious divided on its head going nearer i found that the strange was only the feet of a cutting a i struck the snake until he the poor or rather allowed it to among th animals of the back out on its return to the light from one of the very darkest of death valleys it a moment with a sort of dazed look then plunged into a stream apparently happy and well abound in all the pools and lakes however cold and high and isolated how did they manage to get up these high mountains surely not by jumping long and dry excursions through weary miles of and brush would be trying to most likely their is carried on the feet of ducks and other anyhow they are most thoroughly distributed and flourish what a cheery hearty set they are and how bravely their and the rocky none of the high lying mountain lakes or branches of the rivers above sheer falls had fish of any sort until by the agency of man in the high the only river in which exist naturally is the middle fork of kings river there are no sheer falls on this stream some of the however are so swift and rough even at the lowest stage of water that it is surprising any fish can climb them i found in abundance in this fork up to seventy five hundred feet they also run quite high on the on the they get no higher than valley four thousand feet all the forks of the river being barred there by sheer falls and on national the main they are	28
stopped by a fall below still lower than though these upper waters are inaccessible to the one would suppose their eggs might have been planted there by some means nature case she waited for the agency of man and now many of these hitherto lakes and streams are full of fine by individual enterprise clubs etc in great part under the of the united states fish commission a few carried into in a common water bucket have multiplied wonderfully fast lake at an elevation of over eight thousand feet was eight years ago by mr who carried a few from many of the small streams of the slope have also been with transported over the passes in tin on the backs of soon it would seem all the streams of the range will be enriched by these fish and will become the means of drawing thousands of visitors into the mountains catching with a bit of bent wire is a rather trivial business but fortunately people fish better than they know in most cases it is the man who is caught fishing regarded as bait for catching men for the saving of both body and soul is important and deserves all the expense and care bestowed on it chapter vn among the of the in the forests usually complain of the want of life the trees they say are fine but the empty stillness is deadly there are no animals to be seen no birds we have not heard a song in all the and no wonder they go in large parties with and horses they make a great noise they are dressed in unnatural colors every animal them even the frightened pines would run away if they could but devout silent open eyed looking and listening with love find no lack of inhabitants in these mountain and they come to them gladly not to mention the large animals or the small insect people every has its and every tree its or or bird tiny the of the bark cheerily whispering to itself as it off loose scales and the curled edges of or crow or examining the or some singer resting feeding attending to domestic affairs our national and sail overhead walk in happy flocks below and song sing in every bed of there is no crowding to be sure unlike the low eastern trees those of the in the main forest belt average nearly two hundred feet in height and of course many birds are required to make much show in them and many voices to fill them nevertheless the whole range from to snowy is shaken into song every summer and though low and thin in winter the music never ceases the sage cock is the largest of the game birds and the king of american it is an admirably strong hardy handsome independent bird able with comfort to bid defiance to heat cold hunger and all sorts of storms living on whatever seeds or insects chance to come in its way or simply on the leaves of sage brush everywhere abundant on its desert range in winter when the temperature is below and heavy are blowing he site beneath a sage bush and allows himself to be covered his head now and then through the snow to feed on the leaves of his shelter not even the is in frost and snow and wintry darkness when in full he is a beautiful bird with a long firm sharp pointed tail which in walking is raised and back and among the birds of the forth with each step the male is handsomely marked with black and white on the neck back and wings five or six pounds and measures about thirty inches in length the female is clad mostly in plain brown and is not so large they occasionally wander from the sage plains into the open nut pine and woods but never enter the main forest it is only in the broad dry half desert sage plains that they are quite at home where the weather t h o one passes through a flock all on the gray ground and hold their heads low hoping to escape observation but when approached within a rod or so they rise with a magnificent burst of wing beats looking about as big as and making a noise like a on the th of june at the head of s valley i caught one of the young that was then just able to fly it was seven inches long of a uniform gray color blunt and when captured cried in a shrill voice clear in tone as a boy s small willow whistle i have seen flocks of from ten to thirty or forty on the east margin of the park where the desert meets the gray of the but since cattle have been there they are becoming every year another magnificent bird the blue or dusky next in size to the sage cock is found all our national through the main forest belt though not in great numbers they like best the heaviest silver fir woods near garden and meadow where there is but little to cover the approach of enemies when a flock of these brave birds and feeding on the sunny of some hidden meadow or valley far back in the heart of the mountains see a man for the first time in their lives they rise with hurried notes of surprise and excitement and alight on the lowest branches of the trees wondering what the wanderer may be and showing great eagerness to get a good view of the animal knowing nothing of g ns they allow you to approach within a half dozen paces then quietly hop a few branches higher or fly to the next tree without a thought of concealment so that you may observe them as long as you like near enough to see the fine of their the	28
feathers on their toes and the innocent in their beautiful wild eyes but in the neighborhood of roads and they soon become shy and when disturbed fly into the highest trees and suddenly become invisible so well do they know how to hide and keep still and make use of their nor can they be easily ere they are ready to go in vain the hunter goes round and round some tall pine or fir into which he has perhaps seen a dozen enter among the birds op the np through the branches his eyes while his gun is held ready not a feather can he see unless his eyes have been sharpened by long experience and knowledge of the blue s habits then perhaps when he is thinking that the tree must be hollow and that the birds have all gone inside they burst forth with a startling of wing beats and after gaining full speed go swiftly away through the forest arches in a long silent with wings held steady the summer they are most of the time on the und feeding on in seeds etc around the of open spots and rocky playing and taking sun and sand and drinking at little pools and during the heat of the day in winter they live mostly in the trees depending on for food beneath dense branches at night and storms on the of the themselves on the in fine weather and sometimes into the snow to flutter and apparently for exercise and fun i have seen young running beneath the in june at a height of eight thousand feet above the sea on the approach of danger the mother with a peculiar cry the helpless to scatter and hide beneath leaves and twigs and even in plain open places it is almost our national impossible to them in the meantime the mother throws herself at your feet and and to draw your attention from the the young are generally able to fly about the middle of july but even after they can fly well they are usually advised to run and hide and lie still no matter how closely approached while the mother goes on with her loving lying acting apparently as desperately concerned for their safety as when they were f sometimes however after carefully studying the circumstances she tells them to take wing and up and away in a and they scatter to all points of the compass as if blown up with dropping out of sight three or four hundred yards off and keeping quiet until called after the danger is supposed to be past if you walk on a little way without any inclination to hunt them you may sit down at the foot of a tree near enough to see and hear the happy one touch of nature makes the whole world kin and it is truly wonderful how love telling the small voices of these birds are and how far they reach through the woods into one another s hearts and into ours the tones are so perfectly human and so full of anxious affection few can fail to be touched by them they are cared for until full grown on the among the birds of the th of august as i was passing along the margin of a garden spot on the head waters of the san a rose from the ruins of an old that had been and brought down by an from a cliff overhead she threw herself at my feet and fluttered and gasped showing as i thought that she had a nest and was raising a second brood looking for the eggs i was surprised to see a strong winged flock nearly as large as the mother fly up around me instead of seeking a warmer climate when the winter storms set in these hardy birds stay all the year in the high forests and i have known them to suffer in any sort of weather able to live on the of pine and fir they are forever independent in the matter of food supply which g so many of us trouble dragging us here and there away from our best work how gladly i would live on pine however for the sake of this grand independence with all his superior resources man makes more difficulty concerning food than any other of the family the mountain or ore is common in all the upper portions of the park though nowhere in numbers he considerably higher than the in summer but is unable to endure the heavy storms of winter when his food is our national he the range to the at a height of from two thousand to three thousand feet above the sea but like every true he is quick to follow the spring back into the highest mountains i think he is the very and most interesting of all the american larger and than the famous bob white or even the fine valley or the p o j m not so regarded is because as a lonely he is not half known his is delicately shaded brown above white and rich chestnut below and on the sides with many dainty of and white and gray here and there while his beautiful head three or four inches long nearly straight composed of two feathers closely folded so as to appear as one is worn backward like a single feather in a boy s cap giving hun a very marked appearance they wander over the lonely mountains in family flocks of from six to fifteen beneath and wild cherry and over dry sandy meadows rocky and beds of around lakes especially in autumn when the of the upper gardens are ripe uttering low notes to enable them to keep together when they are so suddenly disturbed that they are among the birds of the afraid they cannot escape the danger by into they rise th	28
a fine hearty and scatter in the brush over an area of half a square mile or so a few of them into leafy trees but as soon as the danger is past the parents with a clear note call them together again by the end of july the young are two thirds grown and fly well though only dire necessity can compel them to try their wings in gait gestures habits and general behavior they are like domestic chickens but infinitely finer searching for insects and seeds looking to this side and that scratching among fallen leaves jumping up to pull down grass heads and and muttering in low tones once when i was seated at the foot of a tree on the head waters of the i heard a flock up the valley behind me and by their voices gradually sounding nearer i knew that they were feeding toward me i kept still hoping to see them soon one came within three or four feet of me without noticing me any more than if i were a stump or a the trunk le my clothing being brown nearly like the bark presently along came another and another and it was delightful to get so near a view of these handsome chickens perfectly undisturbed observe their manners and hear their low peaceful notes at last one of them caught my eye our national gazed in silent wonder for a moment then uttered a peculiar cry which was followed by a lot of hurried muttered notes that sounded like speech the others of course saw me as soon as the alarm was sounded and joined the wonder talk gazing and chattering astonished but not frightened then all with one accord ran back with the news to the rest of the flock what is it what is it oh you never saw the like they seemed to be saying not a deer or a wolf or a bear come see come see where where down there by that tree then they approached cautiously past the tree s aad y af in turn as if knowing from the story told them just where i was for fifteen or twenty minutes they kept coming and going venturing within a few feet of me and discussing the wonder in charming chatter their at last they began to scatter and feed again going back in the direction they had come om while i to part with them followed noiselessly crawling beneath the bushes keeping them in sight for an hour or two learning their habits and finding out what seeds and they liked best the valley is not a and seldom enters the park except at a few of the lowest places on the western boundary it belongs to the and among the birds of the and and is a hundred times more numerous than the mountain it is a beautiful bird about the size of tiie bob white and has a handsome crest of four or five feathers an inch long standing nearly erect at times or drooping forward the loud of these in the spring pe check ah a are heard far and near over all the they have vastly increased in numbers since the settlement of the country notwithstanding the immense numbers killed every season by boys and pot hunters as well as the regular from the towns for man s destructive action is more than by increased supply of food from cultivation and by the destruction of their enemies etc which not only kill the old birds but plunder their nests where and abound scarce one pair in a hundred is successful in raising a brood so well aware are these birds of the protection afforded by man even now that the number of their wild enemies has been greatly diminished that they prefer to nest near houses notwithstanding they are so shy four or five pairs rear their young around our cottage every spring one year a pair in a straw pile within four or five feet of the stable door and did not leave the eggs when the men led the horses back and forth within a foot or two for our national many seasons a pair in a of grass in the garden another pair in an ivy vine on the cottage roof and when the young were it was interesting to see the parents the down they were greatly excited and their calls and directions to their many attracted onr attention they had no g difficulty in persuading the young birds to pitch themselves from the main roof to the porch roof among the ivy but to get them safely down from the latter to the ground a distance of ten feet was most distressing it seemed impossible the frail soft could avoid being killed the anxious parents led them to a point above a bush that reached nearly to the which they seemed to know would break the fall anyhow they led their to this point and with infinite and encouragement got them to tumble themselves off down they rolled and through the soft leaves and to the pavement and strange to say all got away except one that lay as if dead for a few minutes when it revived the joyful parents with their brood fairly launched on the journey of life proudly led them down the cottage hill through the garden and along an orange hedge into the cherry orchard these charming birds even enter towns and villages where the gardens are of good size and guns are forbidden sometimes among the birds of the going several miles to f and returning every evening to their in ivy or trees and shrubs occasionally visit the park but never stay long sometimes on their way across the range a flock into or to rest or get something to eat and if shot at are often sorely bewildered in seeking a	28
way out i have seen them rise from the meadow or river wheel round in a until a height of four or five hundred feet was reached then form ranks and try to fly over the wall but seem to be as to as to men for they would suddenly find themselves against the cliffs not a fourth of the way to the top then turning in confusion and screaming at the strange heights they would try the opposite side and so on until exhausted they were compelled to rest and only after discovering the river could they make their escape large shaped flocks may often be seen crossing the range in the spring at a height of at least fourteen thousand feet think of the strength of wing required to sustain so heavy a bird in air so thin at this elevation it is but little over half as dense as at the sea level yet they hold bravely on in beautifully dressed ranks and have breath enough to spare for loud after the crest of the is passed it is only a smooth slide down the sky to our national the waters of where they may rest as long as they like ducks of five or six species among which are the and wood duck go far up into the heart of the mountains in the spring and of course come down in the fall with the families they have reared a few as if to leave the mountains pass the winter in the lower valleys of the park at a height of three thousand to four thousand feet where the main streams are never wholly frozen over and snow never falls to a great depth or lies long in summer they are found up to a height of eleven thousand feet on all the lakes and branches of the rivers except the smallest and those beside the with drifting ice and snow i found and wood ducks at lake june before the ice covering was half melted and a flock of young ones in bloody lake june they are usually met in pairs never in large flocks no place is too wild or rocky or solitary for these brave no too rapid li the roaring torrents they seem as much at home as in the tranquil reaches and lakes of the broad valleys themselves to the wild play of the waters they go drifting through blinding spray dancing on waves tossing in beautiful security on water than is usually encountered by sea birds when storms are blowing among the birds of the a mother duck her f of ten little ones round and in a pot hole ornamented with foam huge rocks leaning over them and and them made one of the most interesting bird pictures i ever saw i haye never found the great northern in the park lakes most of them are inaccessible to him he might plump down into them but would hardly be able to get out of them since with his wings and heavy body a wide of elbow room is required in rising now and then one may be seen in the lower lakes to the northward about and at a height of four thousand to five thousand feet making the places with the wildest of wild cries are found along the sandy shores of nearly all the mountain lakes on the water s edge picking up insects and it is interesting to learn how few of these familiar birds are required to make a solitude cheerful are sometimes found in comparatively small mere in the mighty forest in such spots at an elevation of from six thousand to eight thousand feet above the sea they are occasionally met in pairs as early as the end of may while the snow is still deep in ihe surrounding fir and sugar pine woods and on sunny days in autumn large national flocks may be seen sailing at a great height above the f shaking the crisp air into rolling waves with their hearty r r r r soaring in circles for hours together on their majestic wings seeming to float without effort like clouds the wrinkled landscape like a map with lakes and and meadows and with shadowy and streams and surveying every marsh and sandy flat within a hundred miles and are seen above the and the greatest height at which i have observed them was about twelve thousand feet over the of mount in the middle region of the park a few pairs had their nests on the cliffs of this mountain and could be seen every day in summer hunting mountain etc a pair of golden have made their home in to ever since i went there thirty years ago th ir nest is on the fall cliff opposite the liberty cap their screams are rather pleasant to hear in the vast g between the granite cliffs and they help the in keeping the echoes busy but of all the birds of the high the strangest and most notable is the crow he is a foot long and nearly two feet in extent of wing gray in general color with black wings white among the birds of the tail and a strong sharp bill with which he into the pine for the seeds on which he mainly he is quick boisterous and irregular in his movements and speech and makes a loud and advertisement of himself and in deep curves across and valleys from ridge to ridge on dead looking about and leaving his dry spring trembling from the vigor of kick as he himself for a new flight screaming from time to time loud enough to be heard more than a mile in still weather he dwells far back on the high margin of the forest where the mountain pine and grow wide apart on and and rough crumbling and the dwarf pine makes a low growth	28
along the of the summit peaks in so open a region of course he is well seen everybody notices him and nobody at first knows what to make of him one he must be a another a crow or some sort of another a he seems to be a pretty thoroughly mixed and f ei compound of all these birds has all their strength cunning shyness and wary suspicious curiosity combined and he flies like a dead limbs for insects big holes in pine to get at the seeds cracks nuts held be national his toes cries like a crow or but in a far louder and more forbidding tone of voice and besides his crow and screams has a great variety of small chatter talk mostly uttered in a fault finding tone like the he articles that can be of no use to him once when i made my camp in a grove at cathedral lake i chanced to leave a cake of soap on the shore where i had been washing and a few minutes afterward i saw my soap flying past me through the grove pushed by a crow in winter when the snow is deep the of the mountain pines are empty and the and dwarf pine orchard buried he comes down to seeds in the yellow pine f startling the with his loud screams bat even in winter in calm weather he stays in his high mountain home the bitter frost once i lay through a three days storm at the timber line on mount and while the roaring snow laden blast swept by one of these brave birds came to my camp and began at the on the branches of half buried pines without showing the slightest distress i have seen feeding their young as early as june at a height of more than ten thousand feet when nearly the whole landscape was snow covered they are excessively shy and keep away from among the birds of the the as long as they think they are observed but when one goes on without seeming to notice them or sits down and keeps still their curiosity speedily gets the better of their caution and they come flying from tree to tree nearer and nearer and watch every motion few i am afraid will ever learn to like this bird he is so suspicious and self and his voice is so harsh that to most ears the scream of the eagle will seem melodious compared with it the who has and suffered and struggled must admire his strength and endurance the way he faces the mountain weather the icy cares for his young and a living from the stem wilderness higher yet than dwells the little headed from early spring to late autumn he is to be found only on the snowy icy peaks at the head of the and his feeding grounds in spring are the snow sheets between the peaks and in and autumn the many bold insects go almost as soon as they are bom ascending the highest on the mild breezes that blow in from the sea every day during steady weather but comparatively few of these find their way down or see a flower bed again getting tired and chilly they alight on the snow fields and attracted perhaps by the national glare take cold and die there they lie as if on a white cloth purposely for them and the find them a rich and varied requiring no pursuit bees and on ice and many a perpetual feast on tables big for guests so small and in vast halls by cool breezes that the feathers of the fairy happy fellows no rivals come to dispute possession with them no other birds not even as far as i have noticed so high they see people so seldom they flutter around the with the curiosity and come down a little way sometimes nearly a mile to meet him and conduct him into their icy homes when i was exploring the group climbing up the grand between the and red mountains into the fountain of an ancient just as i was approaching the small active that back in the shadow of mountain a flock of twenty or thirty of these httle birds the first i had seen came down the to meet me flying low straight toward me as if they meant to fly in my face instead of attacking me or passing by they round my head and fluttering for a minute or two then turned and escorted me up the on the nearest rocks on either hand and flying ahead a few yards at a time to keep even with me among the birds of the i have not discovered their winter quarters probably they are in the desert to the eastward for i never saw any of them in the winter refuge of so many of the mountain humming birds are among the best and most conspicuous of the flashing their throats in countless wild gardens far up the higher slopes where they would be least expected all one has to do to enjoy the company of these mountain mi ts is to display a blanket or handkerchief the is another delightful singing a wild cheery song and carrying the sky on his back over all the gray and of the region a fine hearty good natured lot of dwell in the park and keep it lively all the year round among the most notable of these are the magnificent log cock the prince of and only second in rank as far as i know of all the of the world the large black glossy that and flies like a crow does but little and in great part on wild and and the carpenter who stores up great quantities of in the bark of trees for winter use the last named species is a beautiful	28
bird and far more than the others in the woods our national of the west he represents the eastern red head bright cheerful industrious not in the least shy the give delightful animation to the open forests at a height of from three thousand to fifty five hundred feet especially in autumn when the are ripe then no works harder at his pine nut harvest than these at their harvest holes in the thick bark of the yellow pine and incense in which to store the crop for winter use a hole for each so nicely adjusted as to size that when the point foremost is driven in it fits so well that it cannot be drawn out without dig around it each is thus carefully stored in a dry bin perfectly protected from the weather a most laborious method of away a crop a for each the birds seem never to weary at the work but go on so diligently that they seem determined to save every in the grove they are never seen eating at the time they are them and it is commonly believed that they never eat them or intend to eat them but that the wise birds store them and protect them from the of and solely for the sake of the worms they are supposed to contain and because these worms are too small for use at the time the drop they are shut up like lean and each in a among the birds of the separate stall with of food to grow big and fat by the time they will be most wanted that is in winter when insects are scarce and stall fed worms most so these are supposed to be a sort of cattle each with a drove of thousands the that raise grain and keep herds of plant for milk cows needless to say the story is not true though some even believe it when was in the park having heard the worm story and seen the great pines full of he asked just to pump me i suppose why do the take the trouble to put into the bark of the trees for the same reason i replied that bees store honey and nuts but they tell me mr that don t eat yes they do i said i have seen them eating them during they seem to eat little besides i have repeatedly interrupted them at their meals and seen the perfectly sound half beaten they eat them in the shell as some people eat eggs but what about the worms i suppose i said that when they come to a one they eat both worm and anyhow they eat the sound ones when they can t find anything they like better and from the time they store them until they are used they guard them and woe to the or our national caught stealing indians in times of frequently resort to these stores and chop them out with a or more mar be gathered from a or pine the robin with all his familiar notes and gestures is found nearly everywhere throughout the park in shady and along the banks of the streams about the of meadows in the fir and pine woods and far beyond on the shores of lakes and the slopes of the peaks how admirable the constitution and temper of this cheery graceful bird keeping glad health over so vast and varied a range in au america he is at home flying from plains to mountains up and down north and south away and back with the seasons and of food u the s as you wander through the solemn woods and silent you will hear the voice of this fellow wanderer ringing out sweet and clear as if saying fear not fear not only love is here in the he seems as happy as in gardens and apple the enter the park as soon as the snow and go on up the mountains gradually higher with the opening flowers until the meadows are reached in june and july after the short summer is done they among the birds of the descend like most other summer visitors in with the weather keeping oat of the first heavy as much as possible while lingering among the wild on the slopes just below the meadows thence go to the lower slopes of the forest region compelled to make haste at times by heavy storms picking up seeds or insects by the way and at last all save a few that winter in valleys arrive in the and and fields of the in november picking up fallen fruit and and awakening old time memories among the white headed who cannot fail to recognize the influence of so a bird they are then in flocks of hundreds and make their way into the gardens of towns as well as into the and fields and about the bay of san where many of the are shot for sport and the morsel of meat on their breasts man then seems a beast of prey not even genuine piety can make the robin quite respectable saturday is the great slaughter day in the bay region then the city pot hunters with a rag of boys go forth to kept in countenance by a of regular arrayed in self conscious majesty and dogs and carrying gi s of makers over the fine the killing our national goes forward with shameful enthusiasm after escaping countless dangers thousands fall big are gathered many are left wounded to die slowly no red cross society to help them next day sunday the blood and vanish from the most devout of the bird who go to church carrying gold headed instead of guns after prayers and sermon they go home to feast to put s song to use put them in their dinners instead of in their hearts eat them and the pitiful	28
little it is only race living on race to be sure but christians singing divine love need not be driven to such straits while wheat and apples grow and the shops are full of dead cattle song birds for food compared with this making of and would be pious economy the come in large flocks from the and mountains in the fall and are as as the fortunately most of our song birds keep back in leafy and are comparatively inaccessible the in his rocky home amid foaming waters seldom sees a gun and of all the singers i like him the best he is a plainly dressed little bird about the size of a robin with short crisp but rather broad wings and a tail of moderate length up giving him with his nodding manners a look among the birds of the he is seen fluttering about in the spray of falls and the rapid portions of the main branches of the rivers these are his favorite haunts but he is often seen also on comparatively level reaches and occasionally on the shores of mountain lakes especially at the beginning of winter when heavy have the streams with though not a water bird in structure he gets his living in the water and is never seen away from the immediate margin of streams he into rough boiling and to feed at the bottom flying under water seemingly as easily as in the air sometimes he in shallow places thrusting his head under from time to time in a nodding way that is sure to attract attention his flight is a solid of wing beats like that of a and in going from place to place along his favorite string of he follows the of the stream and usually on some rock or on the bank or out in the current or rarely on the dry limb of an overhanging tree like a tree bird when it suits his convenience he has the manners imaginable and all his gestures as he about in the wild dashing waters the utmost cheerfulness and confidence he sings both winter and summer in all sorts of weather a sweet melody rather low and much less keen and our national than from the brisk vigor of his one be led to expect how romantic and beautiful is the life of this brave little singer on the wild mountain streams building his round nest of moss bj the side of a rapid or fall where it is sprinkled and kept fresh and green by the spray no wonder he sings well since all air about him is music every breath he draws is part of a song and he gets his first music lessons before he is bom for the eggs in time with the tones of the bird and stream are inseparable and wild gentle and strong the bird ever in danger in tiie midst of the stream s mad yet seemingly immortal and so i might go on writing words words words but to what purpose ro see him and love him and through him as through a window look into nature s warm heart chapter vm the fountains and of the ite national park come let b to the the the the forests us the and the the joyful streams of the are among the most famous and interesting in the world and draw the admiring on and on h their wonderful year after year after long wanderings l em tracing them to their fountains learning their history and the forms they take in their wild works and ways throughout the different seasons of the year we may then view them together in one magnificent show over all the range like their silvery branches on a thousand mountains singing their way home to the sea the small with hard roads to travel dropping from ledge to ledge pool to pool like chains of bells slipping gently over beds of pebbles and sand resting in lakes the with and g over our national leaning bushes and grass the larger and rivers in the di noble and beauty with energy rushing down smooth in wide sheets fold over fold springing up here and there in magnificent crisp the to bursting with hoarse roar through rugged and in falls gliding glancing with cool murmuring through long reaches richly filling the with glorious song and giving life to all the landscape the present rivers of the are still young and have made but little mark as yet on the grand prepared for them by the ancient only a very short time ago they all lay buried beneath the they drained singing in low smothered or silvery ringing tones in crystal channels while the summer weather melted the ice and snow of the surface or gave showers at first only in warm weather was any part of these buried rivers displayed in the light of day for as soon as frost prevailed the surface vanished though the streams beneath the ice and in the body of it flowed on all the year when toward the close of the period the ice mantle began to shrink and from the the lower portions of the rivers were fountains and streams developed issuing from on the melting margin and growing longer as the ice while for many a century the and upper portions of the trunks remained covered in the of time these also were set free in the sunshine to take their places in the each with its smaller branches being gradually developed like the main trunks as the changes went on at first all of them were muddy with and they became clear only after the they drained had beyond lake in which the were dropped this early history is clearly explained by the present rivers of of those that discharge into arms of the sea only the on the surface of the ice and	28
currents in the tide water in front of the ice wall are visible where in the first stage of have from the shore short sections of the trunks of the rivers that are to take their places may be seen rushing out from and in the melting front rough roaring laden torrents foaming and tumbling over to the sea perhaps without a single bush or flower to their raw shifting banks again in some of the warmer and valleys from which the trunk have been melted the national main of the rivers are well developed and their banks planted with fine forests while their upper branches lying high on the snowy are still buried beneath shrinking every of development from icy darkness to light and from to crystal clearness now that the hard work of the period is done the whole bright band of rivers run clear all the year except when the snow is melting fast in the warm spring weather and during extraordinary winter floods and the heavy of summer called cloud bursts even then they are not muddy above the region unless the have been loosened and the vegetation destroyed by sheep for the rocks of the upper are dean and the most able streams find but little to carry save the spoils of the forests trees branches of bark leaves dust etc with scales of sand and which are rolled along the bottom of the steep parts of the main channels short sections of a few of the highest heading in are of course with finely ground rock mud but this is dropped in the first lakes they enter on the northern part of the range with rocks t e fountain waters sink and flow below the surface for con fountains and streams distances groping their way in the dark like the streams of and at last bursting forth in big springs and cool and exquisitely clear some of the largest look like lakes their waters straight up from the bottom of deep rock in quiet massive volume giving rise to young rivers others issue from in sheer with loud tumultuous roaring that may be heard half a mile or more magnificent examples of these great northern spring fountains twenty or thirty feet deep and ten to nearly a hundred yards wide abound on the main branches of the feather and fall rivers the springs of the park and the high in general though many times more numerous are comparatively small from and in thin flat irregular currents which remain on the surface or near it the rocks of the south half of the range being mostly granite and since granite is but slightly the streams are particularly pure nevertheless though they are all clear and in the upper and main central forest regions delightfully lively and cool they vary somewhat in color and taste as well as temperature on account of differences however slight in exposure and in the rocks and vegetation with which they come in contact some national are more exposed than others to winds and son shine in their falls and thin the amount of dashing mixing and the waters of each receive considerably and there is always more or less variety in the kind and quantity of the vegetation they flow through and in the time they lie in shady or sunny lakes and the water of one of the branches of the north fork of river near the of the park at an elevation of ninety five hundred feet above the sea is the best i ever found it is not only delightfully cool and bright but brisk sparkling and so positively delicious to the taste that a party of friends i led to it twenty five years ago still praise it and refer to it as wonderful champagne water though comparatively the finest wine is a coarse and vulgar drink the party about a week in a pine grove on the edge of a little round meadow through which the stream ran bank full and drank its icy water on frosty mornings before breakfast and at night about as eagerly as in the heat of the day lying down and taking draughts direct from the flood lest the touch of a cup disturb its celestial flavor on one of my excursions i took pains to trace this stream to its head springs it is mostly derived from snow that lies in heavy and j fountains and streams heaps on or near the of the range it flows first in sheets over coarse sand or derived from a granite ridge and the of red mountain then gathering its many small branches it runs through beds of material and a series of and meadows and frosty bordered with and linked together by short ery reaches below these growing strong with tribute drawn from many a snowy fountain on either side the glad stream goes dashing and through of the white pine and tangled willow and enriched by the fragrant vegetation usually found about them and just above the level camp meadow it is and and beaten white over and over again in crossing a of big earthquake giving it a very thorough but to what the peculiar excellence of this water is due i don t know for other streams in adjacent are in about the same way and draw traces of and plant from similar sources the best water yet discovered in the park flows from the springs on the north side of the big meadow like it and every healing virtue to it but in no way can any of these waters be compared with the river champagne it is a curious fact that the waters of some our national of the lakes and streams are invisible or nearly so under certain weather conditions this is noticed by hunters and wide awake sharp eyed little likely to be by fine one of these mountain men whom	28
i had nursed while a broken leg was mending always g reported the wonders he found once returning from a trip on the head waters of the he came running eagerly crying i ye found the l e in the mountains i it s high up where nothing grows and when it isn t shiny you can t see it and you walk right into it as if there was nothing there the first you know of that lake you are in it and g t tripped up by the water and hear the splash the waters of creek are nearly invisible in the autumn so that in f the channel jumping from to after a shower you will frequently drag your feet in the apparently pools excepting a few low warm slopes fountain snow usually covers all the park from november or december to may most of it until june or july while on the parts of the north slopes of the mountains at a height of eleven to thirteen thousand feet it is perpetual it seldom lies at a greater depth two or three feet on the lower margin ten feet over the middle region or fifteen to twenty feet fountains and streams in the shadowy and among the peaks of the summit except where it is drifted or piled in heaps at the foot of long slopes to form fountains the first crop of snow that the mountains and the streams usually falls in september or october in the midst of charming indian summer weather often while the and are in their prime but these indian summer like some of the late ones that bury the june gardens vanish in a day or two and garden work goes on with speed the grand winter storms that load the mountains with enduring fountain snow seldom set in before the end of november the fertile clouds descending glide about and in brooding silence as if thoughtfully examining the forests and streams with reference to the work before them then small or single appear and in and and soon the masses fill the sky and make darkness like night wandering to their winter quarters the fall is usually about two to four feet deep then with intervals of bright weather not very cold storm storm snow on snow from thirty to fifty or sixty feet has fallen but on account of heavy settling and and the waste from and melting the depth in the our national middle region as stated above ten feet never wholly ceases even in the weather and the sunshine between storms the surface more or less waste from melting also goes on at the bottom from summer heat stored in the rocks as is shown by the rise of the streams after the first general storm and their steady sustained flow all in the deep sugar pine and silver fir woods np to a height of eight thousand feet most of the snow where it falls in one smooth universal fountain until set free in the streams but in the lighter forests of the two pine and on the bleak slopes above the timber line there is much d drifting during storms accompanied by high winds and for a day or two after they have fallen when the temperature is low and the snow dry and dusty then the trees bending in the darkening blast roar like feeding lions the frozen lakes ore buried so also are the streams which now flow in dark as if another period had come on high where the winds have a free sweep magnificent are formed which with the piles last as fountains all summer and when an high wind is blowing from the north the snow rolled drifted and ground to dust is driven up the northern slopes of the peaks and sent flying for miles in the form of bright wavering fountains and streams displayed in wonderful clearness and beauty against the sky the greatest storms however are usually followed by a deep peculiar silence especially profound and solemn in the forests and the noble trees stand hushed and motionless as if under a until the morning begin to through their laden then the snow shifting and falling from the top branches strikes the lower ones in succession and masses all the way down thus each tree is enveloped in a hollow of fairy silvery white on the outside while the branches spring up and wave with startling effect in the stillness as if moving of their own these beautiful tree hundreds of which may be seen falling at once on fine mornings after storms pile their snow in raised rings around corresponding hollows beneath the trees making the forest mantle somewhat irregular but without greatly its duration and the flow of the streams the storm are most abundant on the summit peaks of the range they descend the broad steep slopes as well as narrow and with grand roaring and and glide in graceful curves out on the they so feed down in the main of the middle region our national broad masses are launched over the brows of cliffs three or four thousand feet high which worn to dust by in falling so far through the air hang for a minute or two in front of the tremendous like half transparent beautiful when the sun is shining through them most of the however flow in regular channels like the of streams when the snow first gives way on the upper slopes of their a dull muffled rush and is heard which increasing with heavy seems to draw rapidly nearer with appalling intensity of tone presently the wild flood comes in sight bounding out over and sheer places leaping from bench to bench spreading and and throwing off clouds of whirling diamond dust like a majestic compared with and falls are short lived and the sharp sounds so common in dashing water are usually wanting but in	28
their deep thunder tones and purple tinged whiteness and in dress gait gestures and general behavior they are much alike besides these common storm there are two other kinds the annual and the century which further the scenery though their influence on fountains is comparatively small annual are composed of heavy com fountains and streams snow which has been subjected to frequent of frost and they are developed on and mountain sides the greater number of them at of from nine to ten thousand feet where the slopes are so inclined that the dry of winter and hold fast until the spring sap their foundations and make them slippery then away in grand go the ponderous icy masses adorned with spray without any cloudy snow dust some of the largest descending more than a mile with even sustained energy and like the g and century that wide through the upper forests occur on shady mountain sides about ten to twelve thousand feet high where under ordinary conditions the snow accumulated from ter at rest for many g a to grow undisturbed on the slopes below them on their way through the forests they usually make a clean sweep o e the soil as well as the trees clearing paths two or three hundred yards wide from the timber line to the meadows and the trees head downward in along the sides like and broken branches on the standing trees the record the side depth of the overwhelming flood and when we come to count the annual wood rings of the trees we our national learn that some of these colossal occur only once in about a century or even at still wider intervals few go far enough daring the snowy months to see many and fewer still know the thrilling of riding on them in all my wild i have enjoyed only one ride and the start was so and the end came so soon i thought but little of the danger that goes with this sort of travel though one thinks fast at such times one calm bright morning in after a hearty storm had g ven three or four feet of fresh snow to the mountains being eager to see as many as possible and gain wide views of the peaks and forests arrayed in their new robes before the sunshine had time to change or them i set out early to climb by a side to the top of a commanding ridge a little over three thousand feet above the valley on account of the of the snow that blocked the i knew the climb would be trying and estimated it might require three or four hours but it proved far more difficult than i had foreseen most of the way i sank waist deep in some places almost out of sight and after spending the day to within half an hour of in this loose snow work i was still several hundred feet below the summit then my hopes were reduced to get fountains and streams ting up in time for the sunset and a quick sparkling home going beneath the stars but i was not to get top views of any sort that day for deep near the head where the snow was strained started an and i was back down to the foot of the as if by the ascent of about a mile had taken all day the descent perhaps a minute when the snow suddenly gave way i instinctively threw myself on my back and spread my arms to try to keep from sinking fortunately though the grade of the was steep it was not interrupted by step or big enough to cause or free plunging on no part of the rush was i buried i was only on the surface or a little below it and covered with a hissing back streaming veil of dusty snow and as the whole mass beneath or about me joined in the flight i felt no though tossed here and there and from side to side and when the torrent and came to rest i found myself on the top of the pile without a single or says that steam has travel notwithstanding the smoke smells and clatter of boat and rail riding this flight in a way of snow flowers was the most spiritual of all my travels and after many years the mere thought of it is still an our national in the after all the are down and the snow is melting fast it is to hear the streams sing out on the every swelling countless hurry together to the rivers at the call of the sun beginning to run and sing soon after sunrise increasing until toward then gradually failing through the cold frosty hours of the night thus the volume of the upper rivers even in flood time is nearly doubled during the day rising and falling as r as the tides of the sea at the height of flood in the warmest june weather they seem fairly to shout for joy and clash their waters together like clapping of hands racing down the with white flying in glorious of strength compelling huge sleeping to wake up and join in the dance and song to swell their chorus then the plants also are in flood the hidden sap singing into leaf and flower as faithfully to the call of the sun as the streams from the snow gathering along the roots like in their channels on the mountains rushing up the stems of and tree ib like in p holes spreading along the branches and breaking into bloom while fragrance like a finer music rises and flows with the winds about the same may be said of the spring fountains and streams gladness of blood when the red streams and sing in accord with the swelling plants and rivers animals and everybody to travel in crowds	28
thrilling motion and could not be mistaken and i ran out of my near the rock both glad and our national frightened shouting a noble earthquake feeling sure i was going to learn something the were so violent and varied and succeeded one another so closely one had to balance in walking as if on the deck of a ship among the waves and it seemed impossible the high cliffs should escape being shattered in particular i feared that the sheer which to a height of three thousand feet would be shaken down and i took shelter back of a big pine hoping i might be protected from should any come so far i was now convinced that an earthquake had been the maker of the and positive proof soon came it was a calm moonlight night and no sound was heard for the first minute or two save a low muffled and a slight rustling of the agitated trees as if in with the mountains nature were holding her breath then suddenly out of the strange silence and strange motion there came a tremendous roar the eagle rock a short distance up the valley had given way and i saw it falling in thousands of the great i had been studying so long pouring to the valley floor in a free curve luminous from making a terribly sublime and beautiful spectacle an arc of fire fifteen hundred feet span as true in form and as steady as a rainbow in the midst of the roaring rock storm the fountains and streams sound was deep and broad and earnest as if the whole earth like a living creature had at last found a voice and were calling to her sister it seemed to me that if all the thunder i ever heard were into one roar it would not equal this rock roar at the birth of a mountain think then of the roar that arose to heaven when all the thousands of ancient throughout the length and breadth of the range were simultaneously given birth the main storm was soon over and eager to see the new bom i ran up the valley in the moonlight and climbed it before the huge blocks after their wild fiery flight had come to complete rest they were slowly settling into their places grating against one another groaning and whispering but no motion was visible ex in a stream of small fragments down the face of the cliff at the head of the a cloud of dust the smallest of the floated out across the whole breadth of the valley and formed a that lasted until after sunrise and the air was loaded with the of crushed from a grove that had been down and like weeds about to see what other changes had been made i found the indians in the middle of the valley terribly frightened of course fear our national ing the angry spirits of the rocks were trying to kill them the few in the valley were assembled in front of the old hotel comparing notes and meditating flight to ground seemingly as sorely frightened as the indians it is always interesting to see people in dead earnest from whatever cause and make everybody earnest shortly after sunrise a low blunt muffled rambling like distant thunder was followed by another series of which though not nearly so severe as the first made the cliffs and tremble like and the big pines and oaks thrill and and wave their branches with startling effect then the groups of were suddenly hushed and the solemnity on their faces was sublime one in particular of these winter neighbors a rather thoughtful man with whom i had often conversed was a firm in the origin of the valley and i now remarked that his wild tumble might soon be proved since these and might be the of another which would perhaps double the depth of tiie valley by the floor leaving the ends of the wagon roads and three or four thousand feet in the air just then came the second series of and it was fine to see how awfully silent and solemn he became fountains and streams belief in the existence of a mysterious abyss into which the suspended floor of the valley and all the and of the walls might at any moment go roaring down troubled him to cheer and him into another view of the case i said come cheer up smile a little and clap your hands now that kind mother earth is trotting us on her knee to amuse us and make us good but the joke seemed and utterly failed as if only terror could rightly belong to the wild beauty making business even after all the heavier were over i could do nothing to him on the contrary he handed me the keys of his little store and with a companion of like mind fled to the in about a month he returned but a sharp shock occurred that very day which sent flying the rocks trembled more or less every day for over two months and i kept a bucket of water on my table to learn what i could of the movements the blunt thunder tones in the depths of the mountains were usually followed by sudden from the northward often succeeded by twisting movements judging by its effects this or earthquake as it is sometimes called was gentle as compared with the one that gave rise to the grand system of the range and did so much our national for the scenery nature usually so deliberate in her operations then created as we have seen a new set of features simply by giving the mountains a shake changing not only the high peaks and cliffs but the streams as soon as these rock fell every stream began to sing new songs for in many thousands of were hurled into	28
their channels and half them compelling the waters to and roar in where before they were gliding smoothly some of the streams were completely leaves etc filling the between the thus giving rise to lakes and level reaches and these again after being gradually filled in to smooth meadows through which the streams now silently while at the same time some of the took the places of old meadows and groves thus rough places were made smooth and smooth places rough but on the whole by what at first sight seemed pure confusion and ruin the were enriched for gradually every however big the it was covered with groves and gardens and made a finely and ornamental base for the sheer cliffs in this beauty work every is prepared and measured and put in its place more thoughtfully than are the stones of temples if for a moment you are inclined to regard these as mere climb fountains and streams to the top of one of them tie your mountain shoes firmly over the and with nerves run down without any hesitation boldly jumping from to with even speed you will then find your feet playing a tune and quickly discover the music and of rock piles a fine lesson and all nature s tells the same story storms of every sort torrents of nature etc however mysterious and lawless at first sight they may seem are only harmonious notes in the song of creation varied expressions of god s love i chapter ix the general the big tree is nature s forest and so far as i know the of things it belongs to an ancient stock as its remains in old rocks show and has a strange air of other days about it a look inherited from the long ago the of trees once the was and with many species flourished in the now desolate regions in the interior of north america and in but in long wanderings from climate to climate only two q have survived the hardships they had to encounter the and the former now to the western slopes of the the other to the coast mountains and both to excepting a few groves of which extend into the pacific coast in general is the paradise of here nearly all of them are giants and display a beauty and magnificence unknown elsewhere the climate is mild the ground never the and moisture and sunshine abound all the year nevertheless it is not easy to account for the colossal size of the the largest are about three hundred feet high and thirty feet in who of au the of the plains and and fertile home forests of round headed oak and and elm ever dreamed that earth could bear such trees that the familiar pines and seem to know nothing about lonely silent serene with a almost and so old thousands of them still living had already counted their years by of centuries when set sail from spain and were in the vigor of youth or middle age when the star led the to the infant s cradle as far as i man is concerned they are the same yesterday r to day and forever of j no description can give any adequate idea of their singular majesty much less of their beauty with pointed tops seem to be forever shout ing the big tree though above them all seems satisfied its rounded head poised lightly as a giving no impression i of trying to go higher only in youth does it show like other a yearning keenly with a long quick growing top indeed the whole tree for the first century or two or until a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet our national high is in f and compared the solemn of age is as sensitive to the wind as a tail the lower branches are dropped as it grows older and the upper ones out until comparatively few are left these however are to great size divide again and and in rounded masses of leafy while the head becomes dome shaped then poised in of strength and beauty stem and solemn in mien it with eager enthusiastic life quivering to the tip of every leaf and branch and far reaching root calm as a granite dome the first to feel the touch of the rosy beams of the morning the last to bid the sun good night perfect specimens by running fires or in general form though not at all conventional showing infinite variety in sure y and harmony of plan the strong stately shafts with rich brown bark are free of limbs for a hundred and fifty feet or so though dense of occur here and there producing an ornamental effect while long parallel give a appearance it shoots forth its limbs with equal boldness in every direction showing no weather side on the old trees the main branches are crooked and rugged and strike rigidly outward mostly at right angles from the trunk but there is always a certain the measured restraint in their reach t hich keeps them within bounds no other tree has foliage so or outline so finely firmly drawn and so subordinate to an ideal type a particularly looking branch five to eight feet in and perhaps a thousand years old may occasionally be seen pushing out from the trunk as if determined to break across the bounds of the regular curve but like all the others as soon as the general outline is approached the huge into of and as if the tree were growing beneath an invisible glass against the sides of which the branches were while many small varied from the ideal form give the impression of freedom to grow as they like except in picturesque old age after being struck by lightning and broken by a thousand this regularity of form is one of the big tree s most	28
characteristics another is the simple beauty of the trunk and its great thickness as compared with its height and the width of the branches many of them being from eight to ten feet in at a height of two hundred feet from the ground and seeming more like finely and columns than the stems of trees while the great strong limbs are like sup magnificent dome head our national the root system in the other dimensions of the tree forming a flat far reaching two hundred feet or more in width without any and the is so grand and fine so of endless strength it is long ere the eye is released to look above it the natural swell of the roots though at first to no greater than are required for beauty as well as strength as at once appears when you stand back far enough to see the whole tree in its true proportions the of the of the trunk ib shown by its thickness at great heights a of ten feet at a height of two hundred being as we have seen not uncommon indeed the of but few trees hold their thickness as well as resolute determined in form always beheld with wondering admiration the big tree always seems standing alone with peculiar awfully solemn and earnest nevertheless there is nothing alien in its looks the clad in thin smooth red and yellow bark and big glossy leaves seems in the dark forests of washington and island like some lost wanderer from the groves of the south while the with all its strangeness seems more at home than any of its neighbors holding the best right to die g und as the oldest strong the est one soon becomes acquainted with new species of pine and fir and as friendly people shaking their outstretched branches like shaking hands and their beautiful little ones while the venerable ancient of other days keeps you at a distance taking no notice of you speaking only to the winds thinking only of the sky looking as strange in aspect and behavior among the neighboring trees as would the or hairy elephant among the homely bears and deer only the is at all like it standing rigid and on for of years grim rusty silent with an air of antiquity about as pronounced as that so characteristic of the bark of full grown trees is from one to two feet thick rich brown on young trees and shady parts of the old forming magnificent masses of color the and beds of flowers toward the end of winter the trees themselves bloom while the snow is still eight or ten feet deep the flowers are about three of an inch long pale green and grow in countless thousands on the ends of the the are still more abundant pale yellow a fourth of an inch long and when the golden is ripe they color the whole tree and dust the air and the ground far and near n our national the are bright grass green in color about two and a half inches long one and a half wide and are made up of thirty or forty strong closely packed scales with four to eight seeds at the base of each the seeds are extremely small and light being only from an eighth to a fourth of an inch long and wide including a surrounding wing which causes them to and in falling and the wind to carry them considerable distances from the tree the faint of as they alight is one of the smallest sounds mortal can hear the sound of falling seeds even when they happen to strike on flat leaves or of bark is about as faint very different is the and of the falling most of them are cut off by the and stored for the sake of the seeds small as they are in the calm indian summer these busy with ivory go to work early in the morning as soon as breakfast is over and nearly all day the ripe fall in a steady shower unless in this way they discharge their seeds and remain on the trees for many years in fruitful seasons the trees are fairly laden on two small specimen branches one and a half and two inches in i counted four hundred and eighty no other produces nearly so many the seeds excepting perhaps its relative the of the coast mountains millions are by a single tree and the product of one of the main groves in a fruitful year would suffice to plant all the mountain of the world the dense make snug places for birds and in some of the towers of thousands of generations have been reared the great solemn trees off flocks of merry singers every year from nests like the flocks of winged seeds from the the big tree keeps its youth far longer than any of its neighbors most silver are old in their second or third century pines in their fourth or fifth the big wing beside them is still in the bloom of its youth in every feature at the age of old pines and cannot be said to attain prime size and beauty before its fifteen year or under favorable circumstances become old before its three many no doubt are much older than this on one of the kings river giants thirty five feet and eight inches in exclusive of bark i counted upwards of four thousand annual wood rings in which there was no trace of decay after all these centuries of mountain weather there is no absolute limit to the existence of any tree their death is due to accidents not as of animals to the wearing out of national organs only the leaves die of old age their all is foretold in their structure but the leaves are renewed every year and so also are the other essential	28
organs wood roots bark most of the trees die of disease thus the magnificent silver are devoured by and comparatively few of them live to see their three birth year but nothing hurts the big tree i never saw one that was sick or showed the slightest sign of decay it lives on through indefinite thousands of years until burned blown down or shattered by some tremendous lightning stroke no bolt ever seriously hurts in all my walks i have seen only one that was thus killed outright lightning rare in the is common on the almost every day in june and july small refresh the main forest belt clouds like snowy o n of b w r the calm sky about midday and cast shadows and showers that seldom last more than an hour nevertheless these brief kind storms wound or kill a good many trees i have seen silver two hundred feet high split into long rails and down to the roots leaving not even a stump the rails like the of a wheel from a hole in the ground where the tree stood but the instead of being split and usually has forty or the fifty feet of its top smashed off in short about the size of cord wood the beautiful rosy red ruins covering the ground in a circle a hundred feet wide or more i never saw any that had been cut down to the ground or even to below the branches except one in the grove about twelve feet in the greater part of which was smashed to f rag ments leaving only a stump about seventy five feet high it is a curious fact that all the very old have lost their heads by lightning all things come to him who waits but of all living things is perhaps the only one able to wait long enough to make sure of being struck by lightning thousands of years it stands ready and waiting offering its head to every passing cloud as if inviting its fate praying for heaven s fire as a blessing and when at last the old head is off another of the same shape immediately begins to grow on every bud and branch seems excited like bees that have lost their queen and tries hard to repair the e branches that for many centuries have ward and all their arrange themselves with reference to a new top of the same peculiar curve as the old one even the small subordinate branches down the trunk do their best to push up to the top and help in this curious head making our national the great age of these noble trees is even more wonderful than their huge size standing bravely np in out to all that fortune may bring them triumphant over tempest and fire and time fruitful and beautiful giving food and shelter to multitudes of small fleeting creatures dependent on their other trees may claim to be about as large or as old english and venerable trees of renown some of which are from ten to thirty feet in we read of oaks that are supposed to have existed ever since the creation but strange to say i can find no definite accounts of the age of any of these trees but only based on tradition and assumed average of growth no other known tree approaches the in grandeur height and thickness being considered and none as far as i know has looked down on so many centuries or opens such impressive and suggestive views into history the majestic monument of the kings river forest is as we have seen fully four thousand years old and measuring the rings of growth we find it was no less than twenty seven feet in at the beginning of the christian era while many observations lead me to expect the discovery of others ten or twenty centuries older as to those of moderate age there are thousands mere youths as yet that the s w the light that shone on s uplifted on many a royal gilded throne and deed forgotten in the present saw the age of trees and groves and mystic and saw from forest like these the bring his arches great trees and groves used to be as sacred monuments and halls of council and worship but soon after the discovery of the grove one of the trees was cut down for the sake of a stump the laborious had seen the biggest tree in the world they must try to see the biggest stump and dance on it the growth in height for the first two centuries is usually at the rate of eight to ten inches a year of course all very large trees are old but those equal in size may vary greatly in age on account of variations in soil or of growth etc thus a tree about ten feet in that grew on the side of a meadow was according to my own count of the only two hundred and fifty nine years old at the time it was while another in the same grove of almost exactly the same size but less situated was fourteen hundred and forty years old the tree cut for a dance floor was twenty four feet in and only thirteen hundred years old another about the same size was a thousand years older i our national the following notes and are copied from my age s inside ma x in at of feet feet in at of however is to be learned in hurried spending only a poor noisy hour in a grove with a guide you should go looking and listening alone on long walks through the wild forests and groves in all the seasons of the year in the spring the winds are and sweet blowing up and down over great beds of and through the woods now	28
into the high about the head waters of and rivers i had seen nothing of the south end of the belt nearly all my has been done on foot carrying as little as possible depending on camp fires for warmth that so i might be light and free to go wherever my studies might l d on this trip which promised to be long i was persuaded to take a small wild mule me to carry provisions and a pair of our national the friendly owner of the animal having that i sometimes looked tired when i came down from the peaks to my bread sack assured me that his little mule was just what i wanted tough as a knot perfectly low and narrow just right for through brush able to climb like a jump from to like a wild sheep and go anywhere a man could go but tough as he was and accomplished as a many a time in the course of our journey when he was and hungry fast in rocks or struggling in like a fly in a his troubles were sad to see and i wished he would leave me and find his way home alone we set out from about the end of august and our first camp was made in the grove here and in the adjacent pine woods i spent nearly a week carefully examining the boundaries of the grove for traces of its greater extension without finding any then i struck out into the majestic forest to the hoping to find new g or traces of old ones in the dense silver fir and pine woods about the head of big creek where soil and climate seemed most favorable to their growth but not a single tree or old monument of any sort came to light until i climbed the high rock called by the indians here i obtained tell the ing views of the fertile forest filled basin of the upper innumerable of the noble yellow pine were displayed rising above one another on the slopes and yet nobler sugar pines with superb arms outstretched in the rich light while away toward the on the verge of the glowing horizon i discovered the majestic dome like crowns of big trees towering high over all singly and in close grove there is something wonderfully attractive in this king tree even when beheld from afar that draws us to it with indescribable enthusiasm its superior height and massive smoothly rounded outlines its character in any company and when one of the oldest full stature on some commanding ridge it seems the veiy god of the woods i ran back to camp packed over the divide and down into the heart of the grove then choosing a camp on the side of a brook where the grass was good i made a cup of tea and set off free among the brown giants in the abundance of new work about me one of the first special things that caught my attention was an extensive the ground on the side of a stream had given way to a depth of about fifty feet and with all its trees had been launched into the bottom of the stream most of the trees incense and were still national standing erect and as if that anything out of the common had happened tracing ihe alongside the i saw many trees whose roots had been laid bare and in one instance discovered a about fifteen feet in growing above an old prostrate trunk that seemed to belong to a former generation this slip had occurred seven or eight years ago and i was glad to find that not only were most of the big trees but that many companies of hopeful and were g wing on the fresh soil along the broken front of ihe these young trees were already eight or ten feet high and were shooting up vigorously as if sure of eternal life though young pines and were a race with them for the sunshine with an even start farther down the i counted five hundred and thirty six promising young on a bed of rough soil not exceeding two acres in extent the big trees covered an area of about four square miles and while wandering about surveying the boundaries of the grove anxious to see every tree i came suddenly on a handsome log cabin richly and so fresh and it was still of and like a newly tree strolling forward wondering who could have built it the i found an old weary eyed g man on a bark stool by e door reading a book the discovery of by stranger seemed to sunrise him but when i explained that i was only a tree lover along the mountains to study he bade me welcome made me r my mule down to a meadow before l door and camp with him promising to show me his pet trees and man c ous bearing on my after supper as the evening shadows were falling the good his life in the mines which in the main was like that of most other gold hunters a succession of intense experiences fuu of big and downs like the mountain since he had wandered oyer most of the sinking innumerable prospect holes like a sailor making digging new channels for streams gold sprinkled and gravel beds with energy life s noon the passing unnoticed into late afternoon shadows then health and gold gone the game played and lost like a wounded deer creeping into this forest solitude he the call how sad the of many a life here now the noise of the first big gold battles has died away how many interesting lie drifted and in hidden of the gold region i perhaps no other range contains our national ihe remains of so many rare and interesting men the name of my friend	28
is john a a fine kind man who in going into the woods has at last gone home for he loves nature truly and that these last shadowy days with scarce a of gold in them are the best of all birds plants get loving natural recognition and delightful it was to see how he to the silent influences of the woods his eyes brightened as he gazed on the trees that stand guard around his little home and mountain came to his call to be fed and he tenderly the little sap hoping they yet might grow straight to sky and rule the g ve one of the greatest of his trees stands a little way back of his cabin and he proudly led me to it bidding me admire its colossal proportions and measure it to see if in all the forest there could be another so grand it proved to be only twenty six feet in and he seemed distressed to learn that the giant was larger i tried to comfort him by observing that his was the taller finer formed and perhaps the more situated then he led me to some noble ruins of gigantic trunks of trees that he supposed must have been larger than any now standing and though they had lain on the damp ground exposed to fire and the weather for centuries the wood was perfectly sound the timber is not only beautiful in rose red when fresh and as easily worked as pine but it is absolutely build a house of big tree logs on granite and that house last about as long as its foundation indeed fire seems to be the only agent that has any effect on it from one of these ancient trunk i cut a specimen of the wood which neither in color strength nor could be distinguished from specimens cut from living trees although it had certainly lain on the damp forest floor for more than three hundred and eighty years probably more than thrice as long the time in this instance was determined as follows when the tree from which the specimen was derived fell it sunk itself into the g und making a ditch about two hundred feet long and five or six feet deep and in the middle of this ditch where a part of the fallen trunk had been burned a silver fir four feet in and three hundred and eighty years old was growing showing that the trunk had lain on the ground three hundred and eighty years the unknown time that it lay before the part whose place had been taken by the fir was burned out of the way and that which had elapsed ere the seed from which the fir sprang into prepared soil and took root now because trunks are never consumed in one forest fire and national these fires only at considerable intervals and because after being cleared are often left for centuries it becomes evident that the trunk remnant in question may have been on the ground a thousand years or with the root and long straight of the fallen throw a sure light back on the history of the species bearing on its distribution one of the most interesting features of this grove is the apparent r ease and strength and comfortable independence in which the trees occupy their place in the general forest young and middle aged trees are around the old betraying no sign of approach to on the contrary all seem to be saying everything is to our mind and we mean to live forever but sad to tell a lumber company was building a large mill and near by assuring destruction in the and sometimes in the lower portion of the trunk and roots there is a dark substance which readily in water and a magnificent purple color it is a strong and is said to be used by the indians as a big medicine mr showed me specimens of ink he had made from it which i tried and found good flowing freely and holding its color well indeed everything about the tree seems constant the with these interesting trees forming the largest of the northern groves i stopped only a week for i had far to go ore the fall of the snow the seemed to cling to me and tried to make ihe promise to winter with him after the season s work was done had to be got home however and other work awaited me therefore i could only promise to stop a day or two on my way back to and give him the forest news the next two weeks were spent in the wide of the san climbing innumerable and surveying the far extending sea of pines and but not a single crown appeared among them au nor any trace of a fallen trunk until i had crossed the south divide of the basin opposite creek one of the of kings river on this stream there is a small grove said to have been discovered a few years before my visit by two hunters in pursuit of a wounded bear just as i was one of the branches of creek i met a shepherd and when i asked him whether he knew anything about big trees of the neighborhood he replied i know all about them for i visited them only a few days ago and my sheep in the grove he was fresh from the east and as this was his first summer in the i was curious to learn what impression the had made on him when i asked national whether it was that the big trees were really so big as people say he warmly replied oh yes sir you bet they re i never used to believe half i heard about the awful size of trees but they re monsters and no mistake one of them over here they tell	28
me is the biggest tree in the whole world and i guess it is for it s forty foot through and as many good long paces around he was very earnest and in of faith offered to guide me to the grove that i might not miss seeing this biggest tree a fair four feet from the ground above the main swell of the roots showed a of only thirty two feet much to the young man s disgust only thirty two feet he lamented only thirty two and i always thought it was forty then with a sigh of relief no matter that s a big tree anyway no fool of a tree sir that you can cut a plank out of thirty feet broad edged no bark all good wood sound and solid it would make the white pine from old look like a good many other fine specimens are distributed along three small branches of the creek and i noticed several growing on a granite ledge apparently as independent of deep soil as the pines and clinging to and and sending their roots far abroad in search of moisture the creek is very clear and beautiful gliding the s through of and flower gay bee and pastures the grove s own stream pure water flowing all the year every drop h moss and leaves and of tie gun tree one o the most interesting features of the grove is a small with a clear pool at the foot of it how cheerily it sings the songs of the wilderness and how sweet its tones you seem to taste as well as hear them while only the subdued roar of the river in the deep reaches up into the grove sounding like the sea and the winds so charming a fall and pool in the heart of so glorious a forest good would have consecrated to some lovely hence down il the main kings river a mile deep i led and dragged and my patient much enduring mule through miles and miles of gardens and brush innumerable streams crossing savage rock slopes and sliding through and then up into the grand forests of the south side cheered by the royal crowns displayed on the narrow horizon in a day and a half we reached the woods in the neighborhood of the old thomas mill flat thence striking off i found a magnificent forest nearly six miles long by two in width composed mostly of big trees with groves as far our national east as creek here five or six days were spent and it was to from countless trees old and how they were settled down in with climate and soil and their noble neighbors in these majestic woods there are meadows around the sides of which the big trees press close together in beautiful lines showing their openly the ground to their heads in the s the young trees are still more numerous and than in the and standing apart in beautiful family groups or crowding around the old giants for every venerable lightning tree there is one or more in all the glory of prime and for each of these many young trees and crowds of the young trees express the grandeur of their race in a way by any words at my command when they are five or six feet in and a hundred and fifty feet high they seem like mere baby as many inches in their habit and gestures completely their real size even to those who from long experience are able to make fair in their of common trees one morning i noticed three quick growing babies on the side of a meadow the largest of which i took to be about eight inches in on measuring it i found to the my astonishment it was five feet six inches in and about a hundred and forty feet high on a bed of sandy ground fifteen yards square which had been occupied by four sugar pines i counted ninety four promising an instance of gaining ground from its neighbors here also i noted eighty six young from one to fifty feet high on less than half an acre of ground that had been cleared and prepared for their reception by fire this was a small bay burned into dense showing that fire the great of tree life is sometimes followed by conditions favorable for new sufficient fresh soil however is f ur for the constant renewal of the forest by the fall of old trees without the help of any other agent animals fire flood etc for the ground is tamed and stirred as well as cleared and in every shady hollow beside the walls of roots many hopeful spring up the largest and as far as i know the oldest of all the kings river trees that i saw is the majestic stump already referred to about a hundred and forty feet high which above the swell of the roots is thirty five feet and eight inches inside the bark and over four thousand years old it was burned nearly half through at the base and i spent a day in o p the surface national cutting into the heart and counting with the aid of a i made out a over four thousand without difficulty or doubt but i was unable to get a complete count owing to confusion in the rings where wounds had been healed over judging by what is left of it was a fine tall tree nearly forty feet in before it lost its bark in l e last sixteen hundred and seventy two years the increase in was ten feet a short distance south of this forest lies a beautiful grove now mostly included in the general grant national park i found many shake makers at work in it access to these magnificent woods having been made easy by the old wagon road	28
the park is only two miles square and the largest of its many fine trees is the general grant so named before the date of my first visit twenty eight years ago and said to be the largest tree in the world though above the base the is less than thirty feet the lumber company owns nearly all the kings river outside the park and for many years the mills have been spreading desolation any advantage one of the shake makers directed me to an old grant it proved to be a huge black stump thirty two feet in the next in size to the grand monument mentioned above th i found a scattered growth of big trees ex tending across the main divide to within a short distance of s mill on a of dry creek the mountain ridge on the south side of the stream was covered from base to summit with a most superb growth of big trees what a picture it made in all my wide forest wanderings i had seen none so sublime every tree of all the mighty host seemed perfect in beauty and strength and their majestic heads rising above one another on the mountain slope were most displayed like a range of clouds on a calm sky in this glorious forest the mill was busy forming a sore sad centre of destruction though small as yet so immensely heavy was the growth only the smaller and most accessible of the trees were being cut the logs from three to ten or twelve feet in were dragged or with long strings of oxen into a and sent flying down the steep mountain side to the mill flat where the lai est of them were into dimensions for the and as the timber is very by this and careless on ground half or three of the timber was wasted i spent several days exploring the ridge and counting the annual wood rings on a large ber of in the then my bread sack and pushed on southward all our national the way across the broad rough of the and tale rivers ruled supreme an almost continuous belt for sixty or miles waving up and down in huge mountain in compliance with the grand day after day from grove to grove to i made a long wavering way terribly rough in some places for but for me for big trees were seldom out of sight we crossed the rugged picturesque of creek the north fork of the and marble fork and full of beautiful and falls sheer and infinitely varied with broad curly foam and of in which the thence we climbed into the noble forest on the marble and middle fork divide after a general of the basin this part of the belt seemed to me the finest and i then named it the giant forest it extends a magnificent g of giants in pure temple groves ranged in along the sides of meadows or scattered among the other trees from the granite overlook ing the hot and plains of the san back to within a few miles of the old fountains at an elevation of to feet above the sea when i entered this sublime wilderness the the day nearly done the trees with rosy glowing countenances seemed to be hushed and thoughtful as if waiting in conscious religious dependence on the sun and one naturally walked softly and awe stricken among them i wandered on meeting nobler trees where all are noble subdued in the general calm as if in some vast hall pervaded by the deepest and that sway human souls at the trees seemed to cease their worship and breathe free i heard the birds going home i too sought a home for the night on the edge of a level meadow where there is a long open view between the trees standing guard along its sides then after a good place was found for poor who had had a hard weary day sliding and across the marble i made my bed and supper and lay on my back looking up to the stars through arches finer far than the pious heart of man telling its love ever reared then i took a walk up the meadow to bee the trees in the pale light they seemed still more massive and tall than by day heaving their colossal heads into the depths of the sky among the stars some of which appeared to be sparkling on their branches like flowers i built a big fire that vividly the huge brown of the nearest trees and the little plants and and fallen leaves at their feet keeping up the show until i fell asleep to dream our national of forests and for joyous birds welcomed the dawn and the now their food were ripe and had to be quickly gathered and stored for winter their work before sunrise my tea breakfast was soon done and leaving to feed and rest i sauntered forth to my studies in every direction ruled the woods most of the big were present here and there but not as rivals or companions they only served to and the general wilderness trees of every age cover as well as the deep soiled slopes and plant their magnificent shafts along every and meadow and meadows are rare or entirely wanting in the isolated groves north of kings river here there is a beautiful series of them lying on the broad top of the main dividing ridge in the veiy heart of the woods as if for ornament their smooth kept bright and fertile by streams and sunshine awhile on one of the most beautiful of them when the sun was high it seemed impossible that any other forest picture in the world could rival it there lay the grassy lawn three of a mile long smoothly in mellow autumn light colored brown and yellow and purple with lines	28
of green the along the streams and ruffled here and there with patches of and scarlet around the margin there is first a fringe of and willow bushes colored orange yellow with vivid of red as if painted then up spring the mighty walls of three hundred feet high the brown pillars so thick and tall and strong they seem fit to the sky the dense foliage swelling forward in rounded on the upper half shaded and tinted that of the young trees dark green of the old an aged smitten a forward beyond the general line with arms was covered with gray and yellow and surrounded by a group of whose slender seemed to lack not a leaf or spray in lit wondrous perfection such was the meadow picture that golden afternoon and as i gazed every color seemed to and glow as if the progress of the fresh sun work were visible from hour to hour while every tree seemed religious and conscious of the presence of god a free man in a scene like this and time goes by i stood fixed in silent wonder or sauntered about shifting my points of view studying the of separate trees and going out to the different color patches to see how they were put on and what they were made of giving free ex our national to my joy in s wild immortal vigor and beauty never dreaming any other human being was near suddenly the was broken by dull sounds and a man and horse came in at the farther end of the meadow where they seemed sadly out of place a good big bear or or would have been more in keeping with the old forest nevertheless it is always pleasant to meet one of our own species after solitary and i stepped out where i could be seen and shouted when the rider in his galloping and waited my approach he seemed too much surprised to speak until laughing in his puzzled face i said i was glad to meet a fellow in so lonely a place then he abruptly asked what are you doing how did you get here i explained that i came across the from and was only looking at the trees oh then i know he said greatly to my surprise you must be john he was a band of horses that had been driven up a rough trail from the to feed on these forest meadows a few of was all that was left in my bread sack so i told him that i was nearly out of provision and asked whether he could spare me a little flour oh yes of course you can have anything i ve got he said just take my the track and it will lead you to my camp in a big hollow log on the side of a meadow two or three miles from here i must ride after some strayed horses but i ll be back before night in the mean time make yourself at home he galloped away to the northward i returned to my own camp and by the middle of the afternoon discovered his noble den in a fallen by fire a spacious of one log lined centuries old yet sweet and fresh weather proof earthquake proof likely to the most stone castle and commanding views of garden and grove far than the richest king ever enjoyed found plenty of grass and i found bread which i ate with views from the big round ever open door soon the good came in and i enjoyed a famous rest listening to his observations on trees animals adventures etc while he was busily preparing supper in answer to inquiries concerning the distribution of the big trees he gave a good deal of particular information of the forest we were in and he had heard that the species extended a long way south he knew not how far i wandered about for several days within a of six or seven miles of the camp surveying boundaries measuring trees and climbing the highest points for general views from the south side of the divide i saw telling national ranks of crowned stretching far into the distance and down into profound depths weeks of good work i had now been out on the trip more than a month and i began to fear my studies would be interrupted by snow for winter was drawing nigh where there is n t a way make a way is easily said when no way at the time is needed but to the with a mule across the lines of the brave old phrase becomes heavy th meaning there are ways across the by well marked and followed by men and beasts and birds and one of them even by but none natural or artificial along the range and the who would thus travel at right angles to the ways must and extending side by side in endless succession by side and and stubborn and defended by innumerable my own ways are easily made in any direction but though one of the and most of his race was discouraged for want of hands and caused endless work wild at first he was tame enough now and when turned loose he not only refused to run away but as his troubles increased came to depend o me in such a pitiful touching way i became attached to him and helped him as if the he were a good natured boy in distress and then the labor grew lighter bidding good by to the kind cave we vanished again in the wilderness drifting slowly southward on every ridge top and pointing the way in the forest between the middle and east forks of the i met a great fire and as fire is the master and of the distribution of trees i stopped to watch it and learn what i	28
forward and streaming away on the upper wind to bum these green trees a strong fire of dry wood beneath them is required to send up a current of air hot enough to from the leaves and then instead of the lower gradually catching fire and the next and next in the whole tree seems to almost our national and awful roaring and throbbing a flame shoots up two or three hundred f and in a second or two is leaving the green spire a black dead mast and with down curling boughs nearly all the trees that have been burned down are lying with their heads because they are burned far more deeply on the upper side on account of broken limbs rolling down against to make hot fires while only leaves and twigs on the lower side and are quickly consumed without injury to the tree but green wood very slowly and many successive fires are required to bum down a large tree fires can run only at intervals of several years and when the ordinary amount of that has rolled against the gigantic trunk is consumed only a shallow is made which is slowly deepened by fires fer beyond the centre of gravity and when at last the tree falls it of course falls the healing folds of wood on some of the deeply burned trees show that centuries have elapsed since the last wounds were made when a great falls its head is smashed into fragments about as small as those made by lightning which are mostly devoured by the first running hunting fire that finds them while the trunk is slowly wasted away by centuries of fire and weather one of the most interesting fire the actions on the trunk is the of those great like hollows through which may gallop all of these famous hollows are out of the wood for no is ever by decay when the tree falls the trunk is often broken straight across into sections as if into these joints the fire and on account of the great size of the broken ends burns for weeks or even months without being much influenced by the weather after the great ends each other have bum so f ar tha their cease to bum the fire continues to work on in the and the ends become deeply then heat g from ride to d e g on in each section of the trunk independent of the other until the of the bore is so that the heat across from side to de is not sufficient to keep them burning it appears therefore that only very large trees can receive the fire and have any shell rim left fire attacks the large trees only at the ground the fallen leaves and at their feet doing them but little harm unless considerable quantities of fallen limbs happen to be piled about them their thick mail of almost bark affording strong protection therefore the oldest and most perfect trees are found on g round that is nearly level while those growing on our national against which falling branches roll are always deeply on the upper side and as we have seen are sometimes burned down the thing of au was to see the hopeful many of them and bent with the pressure of winter snow yet bravely at the top helplessly and young trees perfect of and naturally immortal suddenly changed to dead the sun looked cheerily down the in the forest roof turning the black smoke to a beautiful brown as if au was for the best beneath the smoke clouds of the suffering forest we again pushed southward descending a side of the east fork and climbing another into new forests and groves not a whit less noble the meanwhile had been resting while i was weary and sleepy with almost ceaseless wanderings giving only an hour or two each night or day to sleep in my log home way making here seemed to become more and more difficult impossible in common phrase for four legged two or three miles was all the day s work as far as distance was concerned nevertheless just before we found a charming camp ground with plenty of grass and a forest to study that had felt no fire for many a year the camp hollow was evidently a favorite home of bears on many of the trees at a height of six or eight feet the were inscribed in strong free flowing strokes on the soft bark where they had stood np like cats to stretch their limbs using both hands every a pen the handsome curved lines of their writing take the form of remarkably regular pointed arches producing a truly ornamental effect i looked and listened half expecting to see some of the writers alarmed and withdrawing from the unwonted disturbance also looked and listened for fear bears instinctively and have a very keen nose for them when i turned him loose instead of going to the best g ass he kept cautiously near the camp fire for protection but was careful not to step on me the great night passed away in deep peace and the rosy morning were searching the grove ere i awoke from a long blessed sleep the breadth of the belt here is about the same as on the north side of the river extending rather thin and scattered in some places among the noble pines from near the main forest belt of the range well back towards the frosty peaks where most of the trees are growing on but little changed as yet two days scramble above bear hollow i enjoyed th s after sunrise a little company of four came to my camp in a wild garden in and after much cautious observation quietly our national began to eat breakfast with me keeping per still i soon had their confidence and they	28
j near i d b ing their graceful manners and g in what plants they were eating thus gaining a far finer knowledge and sympathy than comes by killing and hunting indian summer gold with scarce a whisper of winter in it was painting the glad wilderness in richer and yet richer colors as we scrambled across the south into the basin of the here the big tree forests are still more extensive and furnished abundance of work in tracing boundaries and crowned up and down back and forth exploring studying admiring while the great passed on and away but in the calm of the camp fire the end of the season seemed near too often brought to mind he became doubly though i n r r e him and j li il in camp to feed and rest while i the invincible bread business also troubled me again the last were consumed and grass was becoming scarce even in the naturally inaccessible to sheep one afternoon as i gazed over the rolling stretching southward seeking a way and counting how far i might go without food a rifle shot rang out sharp and the dear marking the direction i pushed gladly on hoping to find some hunter who could spare a little food within a few hundred rods i struck the track of a shod horse which led to the camp of two indian one of them was cooking supper when i arrived glancing curiously at me he saw that i was hungry and gave me some mutton and bread and said as he pointed to the west soon indian come heap speak english toward two thousand sheep beneath a cloud of dust came streaming through the grand to a meadow below the camp and presently the english speaking shepherd came in to whom i explained my wants and what i was doing like most white men he could not conceive how anything other than gold could be the object of such as mine and asked repeatedly whether i w y nine i l l make him talk about trees and the wild animals but unfortunately he proved to be a tame indian from the had been to school claimed to be civilized and spoke contemptuously of wild indians and so of course his inherited instincts were or lost the big trees he said grew far south for he had seen them in crossing the mountains from to lone pine in the morning he kindly gave me a few pounds of flour and assured me that i would get plenty more at a on the south fork national if i reached it before it was shut down for the season of all the basin forest the section on the north fork seemed the finest surpassing i think even the giant forest of the e southward from here though the width and general of the belt is well sustained i i could detect a slight falling off in the height of the trees and in of growth all the basin was swept by of the southern part over and over again until not a leaf within reach was left on the the outer edges of the beds or even on the young which unless under the stress of dire famine sheep never touch of course suffered though i made search for grassy sheep proof spots turning him loose one evening on the side of a he the desolate neighborhood without finding anything that even a starving mule could eat then utterly discouraged he stole up behind me while i was bent over on my knees making a fire for tea and in a pitiful mixture of and begged for help it was a mighty touching prayer and i answered it as well as i could with half of what was left of a cake made from the last of the flour given me by the indians hastily passing it over my shoulder and saying yes poor fellow i know but soon you u have plenty to the row down we go to and speaking to him as if he were human as through stress of trouble plainly he was after eating his portion of bread he seemed content for he said no more but patiently turned away to such clinging confiding dependence after all our and adventures together was very touching and i felt conscience stricken for having led him so far in so rough and desolate a country man says lord bacon is the god of the dog so also he is of the mule and many other dependent fellow mortals next morning i turned westward determined to force a way straight to pasture letting wait fortunately ere we had struggled down through half a mile of we heard a mill whistle for which we gladly made a bee line at the we both got a good meal then taking the dusty lumber road pursued our way to the the nearest good pasture i counted might be thirty or forty miles away but scarcely had we gone ten when i noticed a little log cabin a hundred yards or so back from the road and a tall man straight as a pine standing in front of it observing us as we came down through the dust seeing no sign of grass or hay i was going past without stopping when he shouted then drawing nearer where have you come from i did n t our national notice yoa go ap i replied i had come the woods from the north looking at the trees oh then you must be john halt yoa re tired come and rest and i cook for you then i explained that i was tracing the belt that on account of sheep my mule was starving and therefore must push on to the no no he said that over there is full of hay and grain turn your mule into it i don	28
t own it but the fellow who does is lumber and it will be all right he s a white man come and rest how tired you must be the big trees don t go much farther south i know the country up there have hunted all over it come and rest and let your little rat of a mule rest how in heavens did you get him across the roll him or carry him he s poor but he get fat and i give you a horse and go with you up the mountains and while you re looking at the trees i go hunting it will be a short job for the end of the big trees is not far of course i stopped no true invitation is ever declined he had been hungry and tired himself many a time in the rocky mountains as well as in the now he owned a band of cattle and lived alone his cabin was about eight by ten feet the door at one end a fireplace at the other and a bed on one side fastened to the logs leading me in without a word of mean apology the he made me lie down on the then reached under it brought forth a sack of apples and advised me to keep at them until he got supper ready finer hospitality i never found in all this good world so often called selfish next day with hearty easy alacrity the procured horses prepared and packed provisions and got everything ready for an early start the following morning well mounted we pushed rapidly up the south fork of the river and soon after noon were among the giants once more on the divide between the and deer creek a central camp was made and the spent his time in deer hunting while with provisions for two or three days i the woods and in accordance with what i had been told soon reached the southern extremity of the belt on the south fork of deer creek to make sure i searched the woods a considerable distance south of the last deer creek grove passed over into the basin of the and several high points commanding extensive views over the sugar pine woods without seeing a single crown in all the wide expanse to the southward on the way back to camp however i was greatly interested in a grove i on the east side of the river divide opposite the north fork of deer creek the height of the pass where the species crossed over our national about f and i heard of still grove whose waters drain into the upper opposite the middle fork of the it appears therefore that though the belt is two hundred and sixty miles long most of the trees are on a section to the south of kings river only about seventy miles in length but though the area occupied by the species so much to the southward there is but little difference in the size of the trees a of twenty feet and height of two hundred and seventy five is perhaps about the average for anything like mature and situated trees specimens twenty five feet in are not rare and a good many approach a height of three hundred feet occasionally one meets a specimen thirty feet in and rarely one that is larger the majestic stump on kings river is the largest i saw and measured on the entire trip careful search around the boundaries of the forests and groves and in the of the belt failed to discover any trace of the former existence of the species beyond its present limits on the contrary it seems to be slightly extending its boundaries for the met a mile or two from the main bodies are young instead of old mental trees ancient ruins and the and root the big trunks make in were found in all the groves but none outside the of them we may therefore conclude that the area covered by the species has not been diminished the last eight or ten thousand years and probably not at all in post times for admitting that upon those supposed to have been once covered by every tree may have fallen and that fire and the weather had left not a of them many of the made by the fall of the ponderous trunks weighing five hundred to nearly a thousand tons and the made by their roots would remain visible for thousands of years after the last of the trees had vanished some of these records would doubtless be ed in a comparatively short time by the of but no part of them would remain engraved on flat ridge tops wholly free from such action in the northern groves the only ones that at first came under the observation of students there are but few and young trees to take the places of the old ones therefore the species was regarded as doomed to speedy as being only an remnant in the so called struggle for life and into its last in moist where conditions are favorable but the majestic continuous forests of the south end of the belt create a very different impression here our national as we have seen no tree in the forest is more established nevertheless it is vaguely said that the climate is drying out and that this constantly increasing will of itself surely king though sections of wood rings show that there has been no change of climate during the last forty centuries that can grow and is growing on as dry ground as any of its neighbors or rivals we have seen proved over and over again why then it will be asked are the big tree groves always found on well watered spots simply because big trees give rise to streams it is a mistake to suppose that the water is the cause	28
of the groves being there on the contrary the groves are the cause of the water being there the roots of this immense tree the g und forming a which the of the and sends it forth in clear streams instead of allowing it to rush headlong in short lived destructive floods is also checked and the air kept still in the shady depths while thirsty robber winds are shut out since then it appears that can and does grow on as dry ground as its neighbors and that the greater moisture found with it is an effect rather than a cause of its presence the notions as to the former greater extension of th the species and its near approach to based on its supposed dependence on greater moisture are seen to be indeed all my observations go to show that in case of prolonged the sugar pines and would die before again if the and irregular distribution of the species be interpreted as the result of the of the range then instead of increasing in individuals toward the south where the is less it should if then its peculiar distribution has not been governed by superior conditions of soil and moisture by what has it been governed several years before i made this trip i noticed that the northern groves were on those parts of the soil belt that were first laid bare and opened to when the ice sheet began to break up into individual and when i was examining the basin of the san and trying to account for the absence of when every condition seemed favorable for its growth it occurred to me that this remarkable gap in the belt is in the channel of the great ancient of the san and kings river which poured its frozen floods to the plain fed by the that fell on more than fifty miles of the summit peaks of the range brooding on the question i next perceived that the great gap in the belt to our national the northward forty miles wide between the and groves occurs in the channel of the great and and that the smaller gap between the and groves occurs in the channel of the smaller the wider the ancient the wider the gap in the belt while the gloves and forests attain their greatest development in the and river just where owing to conditions the region was first cleared and warmed while protected from the main that flowed past to right and left down the kings and valleys in general where the ground on the belt was first cleared of ice there the now is and where at the same elevation and time the ancient lingered there the is not what the other conditions may have been which enabled the to establish itself upon these oldest and warmest parts of the main soil belt i cannot say i might venture to state however that since the forests present a more and more ancient and long established aspect to the southward the species was probably distributed from the south toward the close of the period before the arrival of other trees about this branch of the question however there is at present much fog but the general relationship we have pointed out between the distribution of the big tree and the the ancient system is dear and when we bear in mind that all the existing forests of the are growing on comparatively fresh soil and that the range itself has been recently and brought to light from beneath the ice mantle of the winter then many lawless mysteries vanish and take their places but notwithstanding all the observed phenomena bearing on the post history of this colossal tree point to the conclusion that it never was more widely distributed on the since the close of the epoch that its present forests are scarcely past prime if indeed they have reached prime that the day of the species is probably not half done yet when from a wider outlook the vast antiquity of the is considered and its ancient richness in species and individuals comparing our giant and of the coast the only other living species with the many species ah discovered and described by and some of which flourished over large around the circle and in europe and our own during and times then indeed it becomes plain that our two sur species to narrow within the limits of are mere of the both as to species and individuals and our national that they probably are to but the verge of a period beginning in times may have a breadth of of thousands of years not to mention the possible existence of conditions calculated to and both species and individuals no change of climate so far as i can see no disease but only fire and the axe and the of flocks and herds threaten the existence of these noblest of s trees in nature s keeping they are safe but through man s agency destruction is making rapid progress while in the work of protection only a beginning has been made the belongs to and is guarded by the state the grant and national established ten years ago are guarded by a troop of cavalry under the direction of the secretary of interior so also are the small and groves which are included in the national park while a few scattered patches and scarce at all protected though belonging to the national government are in tiie forest perhaps more than half of all the big trees have been sold and are now in the hands of and mill men even the beautiful little grove of ninety trees so interesting from its being the first discovered is now owned together with the much the m larger or grove by a lumber company far the largest and most important section of protected big trees is in the grand national park now	28
easily accessible by stage from it contains seven and extends across the whole breadth of the magnificent basin but large as it is it should be made much larger its natural eastern boundary is the high and the northern and southern boundaries the kings and rivers thus including the sublime scenery on the of these rivers and perhaps nine of all the big trees in existence private claims cut and both of the as well as all the best of the forests every one of which the government should gradually by purchase as it readily may for none of these are of much value to their owners thus as far as possible the grand blunder of selling would be corrected the value of these forests in and tiie of the mountain clouds is infinitely greater than lumber or sheep to the of the plain dependent on the big tree leaving all its higher uses out of the count is a tree of life a never failing spring sending living water to the all through the hot summer for every g cut down a stream is dried up therefore all is crying save the national trees of f nor judging hj the signs of the times is it likely that the will cease the salvation of all that is left of is chapter x thb forests the forests of america however by man most have been a great delight to god for they were the best he ever planted the whole continent was a garden and from the beginning it seemed to be favored above all the other wild and gardens of the globe to prepare the ground it was rolled and in seas with infinite loving deliberation and lifted into the light and warmed over and over again pressed and into folds and mountains and with heaving fires and ground and into scenery and soil with and rivers every feature growing and changing from beauty to beauty higher and higher and in the of time it was planted in groves and and broad forests with the largest most varied most fruitful and most beautiful trees in the world bright seas made its with wave and gray deserts were in the middle of it our national on the north on the and blooming and plains while and rivers shone through au the vast forests and and happy birds and beasts gave delightful animation everywhere everywhere over all the blessed continent there were beauty and melody and kindly wholesome f abundance these forests were composed of about five hundred species of trees all of them in some way useful to man in size from twenty five feet in height and less than one foot in at the ground to four hundred feet in height and more than twenty feet in the gospel of beauty like for many a century after the ice were melted nature fed them and them every day working like a a loving devoted gardener every leaf and flower and bending painting them with the loveliest colors bringing over them now clouds with shadows and showers now sunshine them with gentle winds and their leaves them in every fibre with storms and them them with flowers and fruit them with snow and ever making them more beautiful as the years rolled by wide oak and elm in endless variety and the american forests chestnut and and touching limb to limb spread a leafy along the coast of the atlantic over the wrinkled folds and of the a green sea in summer golden and purple in autumn gray like a steadfast frozen mist of branches and in winter to the southward stretched dark level in tangled grassy in the midst of them like lakes of light groves of gay sparkling trees and palms glossy and blooming and shining continually to the northward over and rose hosts of white pine and and shoulder to shoulder laden with purple their needles sparkling and covering hills and rocky and ever bravely and seeking the sky the ground in their shade now snow clad and frozen now and meadows here and there full of lilies and lakes gleaming like eyes and a silvery of rivers and watering and brightening au the vast glad wilderness thence westward were oak and elm and and and ash and laurel spreading on ever wider in glorious over the great f er our national tile of the over damp level low hollows and hills sunny and cheery park half sunshine half shade while a dark wilderness of pines covered the region around the great lakes thence still westward swept the forests to right and left around grassy plains and a thousand irrepressible hosts of and pine and willow nut pine and and caring nothing for extending from to mountain over and desert to join the darkening multitudes of pines that covered the high rocky and the glorious forests along the coast of the moist and pacific where new species of pine giant and silver and kings of their race growing close together like grass in a meadow poised their brave and in the sky three hundred feet above the and the lilies that the ground towering serene through the long centuries preaching god s fresh from heaven here the forests reached their highest development hence they went wavering northward over icy brave and fir and by the and the rivers to within sight of the ocean american forests the glory of the world surveyed thus from the east to the west from the north to the south the american forests they are rich beyond thought immortal enough and to spare for every feeding beast and bird insect and son of adam and nobody need have cared had there been no pines in no and on and the no vine clad in the basin of the with such harmony and triumphant even nature it would seem might have rested content with the forests of america and	28
planted no more so they appeared a few centuries ago when they were rejoicing in the indians with stone could do them no more harm than could and even the fires of the indians and the fierce lightning seemed to work together only for good in clearing spots here and there for smooth garden and for seeking the light but when the steel axe of the white man rang out on the startled air their doom was sealed every tree heard the sound and pillars of smoke gave the sign in the sky i suppose we need not go mourning the in the nature of things they had to give place to better cattle though the change might have been made n barbarous wickedness likewise many of nature s five hundred kinds of wild trees had to make way for our national and in the settlement and civilization of the bread more than timber or beauty was wanted and in the blindness of hunger the early claiming heaven as their guide regarded s trees as only a larger kind of weeds extremely hard to get rid of accordingly with no eye to the future these pious interminable forest wars flew thick and fast trees in their beauty fell crashing by millions smashed to confusion and the smoke of their burning has been rising to heaven more than two hundred years after the atlantic coast from to had been mostly cleared and into melancholy ruins the overflowing multitude of bread and money poured over the all into the fertile middle west spreading ever wider and farther over the rich valley of the and the vast shadowy pine region about the great lakes thence still westward the of called made its fiery way over the broad rocky mountains and burning more fiercely than ever until at last it has reached the wild side of the continent and entered the last of the g eat forests on the shores of the pacific surely then it should not be wondered at that lovers of their country its are now crying aloud save what is left of the american forests the forests clearing has surely now gone far enough soon timber will be scarce and not a grove will be left to rest in or pray in the remnant protected will yield plenty of timber a harvest for every right use without further of its area and will continue to cover the springs of the rivers that rise in the mountains and give waters to the dry valleys at their feet prevent wasting floods and be a blessing to everybody forever every civilized nation in the world has been compelled to care for its forests and so must we if waste and destruction are not to go on to the bitter end leaving america as barren as or spain in its calmer moments in the midst of bewildering hunger and war and less over industry has learned that the forest plays an important part in human and that the advance in civilization only makes it more indispensable it has therefore as shown by mr refused to deliver its forests to more or less speedy destruction by them to pass but die state are not allowed to lie idle on the contrary they are made to produce as much timber as is possible without them in the administration of its forests the state considers itself bound to treat them as a trust for the nation as a whole and to keep in view the common good of the people for all time d our national in no forests have been sold since on the hand one half of the fifty million spent on has been given to works to make the of possible the disappearance of the forests in the first place it is claimed may be traced in most cases directly to mountain the provisions of the code concerning private are these no private owner may clear his without giving notice to tiie ment at least four months in advance and the forest service may forbid the clearing on the grounds to maintain the soil on mountains to defend the soil against and by rivers or torrents to the existence of springs or to protect the and etc a proprietor who has cleared his forest without permission is subject to heavy fine and in addition may be made to the cleared area in after many laws like our own had been found wanting the forest school was established in and soon after the forest law was which is binding over nearly two thirds of the country under its provisions the must and pay the number of educated required for the of the forest law and in the organization of a forest the american forests the object of first importance must be the cutting each year of an amount of timber equal to the total annual increase and no more the russian government passed a law in declaring that clearing is forbidden in protected forests and is allowed in others only when its effects will not be to disturb the suitable relations which should exist between forest and agricultural lands even is ahead of us in the management of her forests they cover an area of about million acres the lords valued the and vigorous laws and when in the latest civil war tiie government destroyed the system it declared the forests that had belonged to the lords to be the property of the state a forest law binding on the whole kingdom and founded a school of in the forest service does not rest satisfied with the present proportion of but looks to planting the best forest trees it can find in any country if likely to be useful and to in in india forest management was begun about forty years ago under difficulties presented by the character of the country the of running fires opposition from etc not unlike those	28
special agents alone was to which must be added the expense of the trials thus for nearly thirty seven million dollars worth of timber the government got less than nothing and the value of that consumed by running fires during the same period without benefit even to thieves was probably over two hundred millions of dollars land and of the interior have repeatedly called attention to this state of affairs and asked to the requisite for reasonable reform but busied with etc has g ven no heed to these or other appeals and our forests the most valuable and the most of all the natural resources of the country are being robbed and burned more rapidly than ever the annual for so called protection service is sufficient to keep twenty five timber agents in the field and as far as any efficient protection the american forests of timber is concerned these agents themselves might as well be timber that a change from robbery and ruin to a permanent policy is needed nobody with the slightest knowledge of american forests will deny in the east and along the northern pacific coast where the is abundant comparatively few care keenly what becomes of the trees so long as fuel and lumber are not dear but in the rocky mountains and and where the forests are and where the of the u upon opinion i growing stronger every year in favor of permanent by the government of all the forests that cover the sources of the streams even in these regions long accustomed to steal are now willing and anxious to buy lumber for their mills under cover of law some possibly from a late second growth of honesty but most especially the small mill owners simply because it no longer pays to steal where all may not only steal but also destroy and in particular because it costs about as much to steal timber for one mill as for ten and therefore the ordinary can no longer with the large many of the find that timber is already becoming scarce and dear on a e for the better compelled by public is now f on our national the hills around their mills and they too are asking for protection of forests at least against fire the dow going farmers also are beginning to realize that when the her is from the mountains the streams dry up in summer and are destructive in winter that soil scenery and everything slips off with the trees so of course they are coming into the ranks of tree friends of all the magnificent forests around the great lakes once the property of the united states scarcely any belong to it now they have disappeared in lumber and smoke mostly smoke and the government got not one cent for them only the land they were growing on was considered valuable and two and a half dollars an acre was charged for it here and there in the southern states there are still considerable of government land but these are comparatively unimportant only the forests of the west are significant in size and value and these although still great are rapidly vanishing last summer of the forests of the pacific coast range the united states commission could not find a single that remained in the hands of the government the state of recently a two hundred and fifty to a of land near cm for a state a larger national park be made in or county i the american forests under the timber and stone act of which might well have been called the dust and ashes act any citizen of the united states take up one hundred and sixty acres of timber land and by paying two dollars and a half an acre for it obtain title there was some virtuous effort made with a view to limit the operations of the act by requiring that the should make that he was entering the land exclusively for his own use and by not allowing any association to enter more than one hundred and sixty acres nevertheless under this act wealthy have obtained title to from ten thousand to thousand acres or more the plan was usually as follows a mill company desirous of getting title to a large body of or sugar pine land first the eyes and ears of the land agents and then hired men to enter the land they wanted and immediately deed it to the company after a compliance with the law false swearing in the wilderness against the government being held of no account in one case which came under the observation of mr it was the practice of a lumber company to hire the entire crew of every vessel which might happen to touch at any port in the belt to enter one hundred and sixty acres each and immediately deed the land to the company in consideration of the company s paying our national all expenses and giving the jolly sailors fifty dollars apiece for their trouble by such methods have our magnificent and much of the sugar pine forests of the been absorbed by foreign and resident uncle sam is not often called a fool in business matters yet he has sold millions of acres of timber land at two dollars and a hale an acre on which a single tree was worth more than a hundred dollars but this land has been and nothing can be done now about the crazy bargain according to the everlasting law of even the fraud at less than one per cent of its value are making little or nothing on account of fierce competition the trees are and about half of each giant is left on the ground to be converted into smoke and ashes the better hale is into choice lumber and sold to citizens of the united states or to foreigners thus the country of its glory and it	28
without right benefit to anybody a bad black business from beginning to end the is one of the few that from the stump and roots and it declares itself willing to begin immediately to repair the damage of the and also that of the forest as soon as a is cut down or burned it sends up a crowd of eager hopeful shoots which if allowed to grow would in a the forests few attain a height of a feet and the strongest of them would finally become giants as great as the original tree gigantic second and third growth trees are found in the forming magnificent temple like circles around ruins more than a thousand years old but not one acre in a hundred is allowed to raise a new forest growth on the all the brains religion and superstition of the neighborhood are brought into play to prevent a new growth the from th roots and are cut off again and again with zealous concern as to the best time and method of making death sure in the of one of the largest mills on the coast we found thirty men at work last summer cutting off red in the dark of d in that all the and roots cleared at this time would send up no more shoots anyhow these vigorous almost immortal trees are killed at last and black are now their only monuments over most of the and burned the is the glory of the coast it extends along the western slope in a nearly belt about ten miles wide from beyond the boundary to the south of a distance of nearly four hundred miles and in massive sustained grandeur and of growth all the other timber woods of the our national world trees from ten to fifteen feet in and three hundred feet high are not mon and a few attain a height of three hundred and fifty feet or even four hundred with a at the base of fifteen to twenty feet or more while the ground beneath them is a den of fresh lilies and this grand tree is surpassed in size only by its near relative or big tree of the if indeed it is surpassed the is certainly the of the two the a greater and b ore noble in po d beautiful these two are all that are known to exist in the world though in former times the was common and had many species the is to die coast and the big tree to the as timber the is too good to live the largest ever built are bu along its border with all the modem improvements but so immense is the yield per acre it will be long ere the supply is exhausted the big tree is also to some extent being made into lumber it is far less abundant than the and is fortunately less accessible extending along the western flank of the in a partially interrupted belt about two hundred and fifty long at a height of from four to eight road thk the american forests thousand feet above the sea the logs too heavy to handle are into dimensions with a large portion of the best timber is thus shattered and destroyed and with the huge tops is left in ruins for tremendous fires that kill every tree within their range great and small still the species is not in danger of it has been planted and is flourishing over a great part of europe and magnificent sections of the forests have been reserved as national and state the grove near managed by the state of and the general grant and national on the kings and rivers g by a small troop of united states cavalry under the direction of the secretary of the interior but there is not a single specimen of the in any national park only by gift or purchase so far as i know can the government get back into its possession a single acre of this wonderful forest the legitimate demands on the forests that have passed into private as well as those in the hands of the government are increasing every year with the rapid settlement and of the country but the methods of are as yet in most mills only the best portions of the best trees are used while the ruins are left on the ground to feed our national great fires which kill much of what is left of the less together with the on which the of the forest depends thus every mill is a centre of destruction far more severe from waste and fire than from use the same thing is true of the mines which and indirectly immense quantities of with their fires accidental or set to make open ways and often without regard to how far they run the deliberately sets fires to clear off the woods just where they are to lay the rocks bare and make the discovery of mines easier and their also set fires everywhere through the woods in the fall to the march of their countless flocks the next summer and perhaps in some places to improve the the axe is not yet at the root of every tree but the sheep is or was before the national were established and by the military the only effective and arm of the government free from the of politics not only do the at the time of the year set fire to everything that will bum but the sheep every green leaf not even the young when they are in a starving condition from crowding and they and the loose soil of the mountain sides for tiie spring floods to wash away and thus at last leave the ground barren the american forests of all the that the woods the shake maker seems the happiest twenty or thirty years ago shakes a kind of long split	28
with a and a were in great demand for covering and sheds and many are used stiu in preference to common d th e lie w th pine which do not or crack in the sunshine drifting in after harvest and are over meet to discuss their plans for the winter and their talk is interesting once in a company of this kind i heard a man say as he peacefully smoked his pipe boys as soon as this job s done i m goin into the duck business there s big money in it and your costs nothing joe made five hundred dollars last winter on and shot em on the tied em in by the neck and em to san and when he was tired in the and touched with he just knocked off on ducks and went to the hills for dove and it s a mighty good business and you re your own and the whole thing s fun another of the company a bearded fellow with a trace of in his voice out bird business is well enough for some but bear is my game with a deer and a lion thrown in now and then for change there s our national always market for bear and sometimes you can sell the they re good as any day and you are your own in my business too if the bears ain t too big and too many for you old i despise they want cannon to kill em but the and are beauties for and when once i get em just right and draw a bead on em i fetch em every time another said he was going to catch up a lot of as soon as the rains set in them to a and go to farming on the san plains for wheat but most preferred the shake business until something more profitable and as sure could be found with equal comfort and independence with a cheap or mule to carry a pair of blankets a sack of flour a few pounds of coffee and an axe a and a cross cut saw the shake maker the mountains to the pine belt where it is most accessible usually by some mine or mill road then he strikes off into the virgin woods where the sugar pine king of all the hundred species of pines in the world in size and beauty towers on the open sunny slopes of the in the of its glory selecting a favorable spot for a cabin near a meadow with a stream he his animal and it out on the meadow then he into one after another of the pines until the american forests he finds one that he feels sure will freely cats this down o e a section four feet long it and from this first cut perhaps seven feet in he gets shakes enough for a cabin and its furniture walls roof door table and stool besides his labor only a few pounds of nails are required poles form the frame of the airy building usually about six feet by eight in size on which the shakes are nailed with the edges a few from the same section that the es were made from are into square sticks and built up to form a chimney the inside and being and filled in with mud thus with abundance of fuel shelter and comfort by his own fireside are secured then he goes to work and for the market tying the shakes in bundles of fifty or a hundred they are four feet long four inches wide and about one fourth of an inch thick the first few thousands he or trades at the nearest mill or store getting provisions in exchange then he in whatever way he can that he has excellent shakes for sale easy of access and cheap only the lower perfectly clear free portions of the giant pines are used perhaps ten to twenty feet from a tree two hundred and fifty in height all the rest is left a mass of ruins to rot or to feed the forest fires while thousands are deeply and rejected in proving our national the grain over nearly all of the more slopes of the and mountains in southern at a height of from three to six thousand feet above the sea and for a distance of about six hundred miles this waste and confusion extends happy robbers dwelling in the most beautiful woods in the most climate breathing delightful day and night drinking cool ter roses and lilies at their feet in the spring shedding fragrance and ringing bells as if cheering them on in their work there is none to say them nay they buy no land pay no taxes dwell in a paradise with no forbidding angel either from washington or from heaven every one of the frail shake ia a centre of destruction and the extent of the wrought ia this quiet way is in the enormous it ib not generally known that notwithstanding the immense quantities of timber cut every year for foreign and home and mines from five to ten times as much is destroyed as is used chiefly by running forest fires that only the government can stop through the west in summer are not likely to forget the displayed along the various railway tracks when contemplating the destruction of the forests on the east side of the continent said that soon the country would be so bald that every the american forests man would have to grow whiskers to hide its but he thanked god that at least the sky was safe had he gone west he would have found out that the sky was not safe for all through the summer months over most of the mountain regions the smoke of mill and forest fires is so thick and black that no can pierce	28
it the whole sky with clouds sun moon and stars is simply blotted out there is no real sky and no scenery not a mountain is left in the landscape at least none is in sight from the and they all might as well be on the moon as far as scenery is concerned the half dozen railroad companies the beauties of their lines in gorgeous many colored each claiming its as the route the route of superior desolation the smoke dust and ashes route would be a more truthful description every train rolls on through dismal smoke and barbarous melancholy ruins and the companies might well cry in their come travel our way ours is the it is the only genuine route the sky is black and the ground is black and on either side there is a continuous border of black and logs and trees appealing to heaven for help as if still half alive and their mute eloquence is most touching the blackness is perfect on account of the superior skill of our workmen our national advantages of climate and the kind of trees the is generally deeper along our line and the ashes are deeper and the confusion and desolation displayed can never be no other route on this continent so fully the of desolation such a claim would be reasonable as each seems the whatever route you chance to take of course a way had to be cleared through the woods but the timber is not worked up into for the engines and into lumber for the company s use it is left lying in vulgar confusion and is fired from time to time by sparks from or by the workmen along the line the whether accidental or set are allowed to run into the woods as r as they may thus assuring comprehensive destruction the of a line that guarded against fires and cleared a clean gap edged with living trees and fringed and with the grass and flowers and beautiful that are ever ready and willing to spring up might justly boast of the beauty of their road for nature is always ready to heal every but there is no such road on the western side of the continent last summer in the rocky mountains i saw six fires started by sparks from a a distance of miles and nobody was in sight to prevent them from spreading they might run into the adjacent forests the forests and bum the timber from hundreds of square miles not a man in the state would care to spend an hour in fighting them as long as his own fences and buildings were not threatened notwithstanding all the waste and use which have been going on like a storm for more than two centuries it is not yet too late though it is high time for the government to begin a rational administration of its forests about seventy million acres it still owns enough for all the country if wisely used these forests are generally on mountain slopes just where they are doing the most good and where their removal would be followed by the greatest number of evils the lands they cover are too rocky and high for and can never be made as valuable for any other crop as for the present crop of trees it has been shown over and over again that if these mountains were to be stripped of their trees and and kept bare and by of sheep and the innumerable fires the set besides those of the shake makers and all sorts of both and mountains would speedily become little better than deserts compared with their present beneficent during heavy and while the winter of snow were melting the larger streams would swell into destructive torrents cutting deep rugged mm our national carrying away the fertile and soil as well as sand and rocks filling up and overflowing their lower channels and covering the fields with raw and would follow in their natural condition or under wise management keeping out destructive sheep preventing fires selecting the trees that should be cut for lumber and preserving the young ones and the shrubs and sod of vegetation these forests would be a never failing fountain of wealth and beauty the cool shades of the forest give rise to moist beds and currents of air and the sod of and the various plants and shrubs thus together with the and of tree roots and hold back the rain and the waters from melting snow compelling them to and and flow gently through tiie soil in streams that never dry all the pine needles and and blades of and the fallen trunks of trees ihe bo of the clouds and it in life giving streams instead of allowing it to gather suddenly and rush headlong in lived floods everybody on the dry side of the continent is beginning to find this out and in view of the waste going on is growing more and more anxious for government protection the we hear against forest come the forests mostly from thieves who are wealthy and steal by they have so long been allowed to steal and destroy in peace that any to forest robbery is as a and interference with rights likely to the repose of all welfare gold gold gold how strong a voice that metal has o for tlie it ib even in a of gold carefully concealed will and all the on a subject like weu smothered in ignorance and in which the money interests of only a few are involved under these circumstances the stuff the voice of god himself the dawn of a new day in f is breaking honest citizens see that only the rights of the government are being trampled not those of the only what belongs to all alike is reserved and every acre that is left should be held together	28
under the government as a basis for a general policy of administration for the public good the people will not always be deceived by selfish opposition whether from lumber and or from and however brought forward underneath and gold says that things refuse to be k v our national aged long an exception seem to be found in the case of oar f which have been rather long and now come desperately near being like smashed eggs and still in the long run the world does not move backward the wonderful advance made in the last few years in creating four national in the west and thirty forest embracing nearly forty million acres and in the planting of the borders of streets and and spacious in au the t cities to satisfy the natural taste and hunger for landscape beauty and that has put in some measure into eveiy human being and animal shows the of awakening public opinion the making of the far new york central park was opposed by even good men with pluck perseverance and ingenuity but straight right won its way and now that park is appreciated so we confidently believe it will be with our g national and forest there will be a period of indifference on the part of the rich sleepy with wealth and of the toiling millions sleepy with poverty most of whom never saw a forest a period of screaming protest and objection from the who are as and as satan but light is surely ing and the friends of destruction will preach and in vain n x the american forests the united states government has always been of the welcome it has extended to good men of every nation seeking freedom and homes and bread let them be welcomed still as nature them to the woods as well as to the and plains no place is too good for good men and stiu there is room they are invited to heaven and may well be allowed in america every place is made better by them let them be as free to pick gold and gems from the hills to cut and dig and plant for homes and bread as the birds are to pick from the wild bushes and moss and leaves for nests the ground will be glad to feed them and the pines will come down from the mountains for their homes as willingly as the came from for solomon s temple nor will the woods be the worse for this use or their influences be diminished any more than the sun is diminished by shining mere however tree wool and mutton men spreading death and confusion in the fairest groves and gardens ever planted let the government hasten to cast them out and make an end of them for it must be told again and again and be borne in mind that just now while measures are d d are on b ji farther every day the axe and saw are busy are flying thick as national and every summer thousands of acres of f with their soil springs scenery and religion are vanishing away in clouds of smoke while except in the national not one forest guard is employed au sorts of local laws and have been tried and found wanting and the costly lessons of our own as well as that of every civilized nation show that the fate of the remnant of our forests is in the hands of the government and that if the remnant is to be saved at all it must be saved quickly any fool can destroy trees they cannot run away and if they could they would still be destroyed chased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides horns or magnificent few that fell trees plant them nor would planting avail much towards getting back anything like the noble forests during a man s life only can be grown in ae place of the old trees of centuries old that have been destroyed it took more than three thousand years to make some of the trees in these western woods trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty waving and singing in the mighty forests of through all the wonderful centuries since christ s time and long before that the american forests god has cared for these trees saved them from disease and a thousand straining and floods but he cannot save them from fools only sam can do that index its on the of stem land age of trees fir and of ai e wild snow axe bear brown and his dog food of with tracks and meadows birds of of ue grand of toe of the cathedral peak red a forest carpet chestnut of danger deer deserts de great northern dog sandy david in forests of ore ducks dwarf eagle earthquake formation of i on scenery index and the of big of and of l o two see silver fir flower of tiie ol pine fir and fine f coast opposition to of forest bitter boot grand forest interest in of the mountains of park giant of the of of on streams management of of frost i gardens wild of the east hills mountains forest wall shadow ter meadow sky and tree general grant national and tree enters off giants of i g f period b s easier meadows sl pa of the a goat wild gold of l gray great the a f v his work the region ting it set apart aa a park green sir di l hot and index their tame dr on trees of and father on the upper l western lakes new changes in of the western lark meadow la and library light and log houses a in the man on mai le meadows in	28
of the world the ground once beautiful is desolate and repulsive like a face by disease this is true also of many other pacific coast and rocky mountain valleys and forests the same fate sooner or later e national awaiting them all unless awakening public opinion comes forward to stop it even the great deserts in and new which offer so little to attract and which a few years ago were afraid of as places of desolation and death are now taken as pastures at the rate of one or two square miles per cow and of course their plant treasures are passing away the delicate etc only a few of the bitter shrubs are left and the sturdy that defend themselves with and most of the wild plant wealth of the east also hm vanished gone into dusty history only of its glorious and wealth remain to bless humanity in rocky places fortunately some of these are purely wild and go far to keep nature s love visible white water lilies with deep and safe in mud still send up every summer a way of fragrant flowers around a thousand lakes and many a of wild grass waves its on rocks beyond reach of feet in company with and even in the midst of farmers fields precious too soft for the feet of cattle are preserved with their charming plants unchanged etc wild of the west still in the of canada and away to the southward there are and like guardian angels defend their treasures and keep them as pure as paradise and beside a that and a that the east is blessed with good and clouds that shed white flowers over all the land every and making the landscape divine at least once a year the most extensive least spoiled and most of the gardens of the continent are the vast of in summer they extend smooth even continuous beds of flowers and leaves from about to the shores of the ocean and in winter sheets of make all the country shine one mass of white radiance like a star nor are these plant people the pitiful frost pinched they are guessed to be by those who have never seen them though lowly in stature keeping near the frozen ground as if loving it they are bright and cheery and speak nature s love as plainly as their big relatives of the south tenderly and tucked in beneath snow to sleep through the long white winter they maker haste to bloom in the spring without trying to g ow tall though some rise high enough to ripple and wave in the wind and display masses of color yellow purple and blue so national rich they look like of and are visible miles and miles away as early as june one may find the in flower and the dwarf putting forth of f to be followed quickly especially on the ground by gains and a host of and heath with bright stars and bells in glorious profusion particularly and the most abundant and beautiful of them all many also g ow here and wave fine purple and over the other flowers etc even are found thus far north carefully and comfortably their precious and au on a bed of and not the seen on rails and trees and fallen logs to the southward but massive finely colored plants like wonderfully beautiful worth going round the world to see i should like to mention all the plant friends i found in a summer s wanderings in wild of the west cool reserve bat i fear few would care to read their names although everybody i am sure would love them could they see them blooming and rejoicing at home on my last visit to the region about sound near the middle of september the weather was so fine and mellow that it suggested the indian summer of the eastern states the winds were hushed the glowed in golden sunshine and the colors of the ripe foliage of the and red purple and yellow in pure bright tones were enriched those of which were scattered everywhere as if they had been from the clouds like hail when i was back a mile or two from the shore in this color glory and how fine it would be could i cut a square of the sod of conventional picture size frame it and hang it among the paintings on my study walls at home saying to myself such a nature painting taken at ran from any part of the thousand mile would make the other pictures look dim and coarse i heard merry shouting and looking round saw a band of men women and children loose and hairy like wild animals running towards me i could not guess at first what they were seeking for they seldom leave the shore but soon they told me as they threw themselves down and laughing i our national on the mellow and began to feast on the a lively picture they made and a pleasant one as they frightened the and surprised their with the beautiful of many kinds and filled them to cr aw f o days in winter i nowhere on my travels have i seen so j much warm blooded rejoicing life as in this grand by so many regarded as desolate not only are there in abundance along the shores and innumerable and white bears but on the great herds of fat and wild sheep and birds perhaps more birds are bom here than in any other region of equal extent on the continent not only do strong wing and water fowl to whom the length of the continent is merely a pleasant excursion come up here every summer in great numbers but also many winged and hither to rear their young in safety the plant bloom with their and the	28
as well as the dry biting of the interior and making itself at home on the most dangerous flame swept slopes and of the rocky mountains in abundance and variety of forms thousands of acres of this species are destroyed by running fires nearly every summer but a new growth springs quickly from the ashes it is generally small and few of commercial value but is of importance to the farmer and supplying mine and holding the soil on steep slopes preventing and and giving kindly shelter to i u national animals and the widely sources of the life giving rivers the other trees are mostly mountain pine and fir some of them especially on the western slopes of the mountains grand size and furnishing abundance of fine timber perhaps the least known of all this grand group of is the bitter root of more than four million acres it is the wildest g est block of forest in the rocky mountains full of happy healthy storm loving trees full of streams that dance and sing in glorious array and full of nature s animals deer wild sheep bears cats and innumerable smaller people in calm indian summer when the heavy winds are hushed the vast forests covering hill and and falling over the rough and vanishing in the distance seem lifeless no moving thing is seen as we climb the peaks and only the low mellow murmur of falling water is heard which seems to the silence nevertheless how many hearts with warm red blood in them are beating under cover of the woods and how many teeth and eyes are shining i a multitude of animal people intimately related to us but of whose lives we know almost nothing are as busy about their own affairs as we are about ours are building and mending and huts for winter and wild of the west them with food are quarters as they stand thoughtful in open spaces while the gentle breeze the long hair on their backs deer on the heights are considering cold pastures where they will be farthest away from the wolves and are busily laying up provisions and their nests against coming frost and snow foreseen and countless thousands of re forming parties and gathering their young about them for flight to the while and bees apparently with no thought of hard times to come are hovering above the late blooming and with countless other v insect folk are dancing and right merrily in the ud all the air into music wander here a whole summer if you can thousands of god s wild blessings will search you and you as if you were a and the big days wiu go by if you are business tangled and so with duty that only weeks can be got out of the year then go to the reserve j for it is easily and quickly reached by the great northern t off the track at station and in a few minutes you will find yourself in the midst of what you are sure to say is the best care killing scenery on the continent beautiful lakes derived straight from our national y mountains in lovely blue skies and clad with forests and in their hollows nameless and and gardens in the best of everything when you are calm enough for observation you will find the king of tiie one of the best of the western giants beautiful picturesque and r al in port easily the of all the in the world it grows to a height of one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet with a at the g und of five to eight feet throwing out its branches into the light as no other tree does to those who before have seen only the european or the species of the eastern rocky mountains or the little or of the eastern states and canada this western king must be a revelation associated with this grand tree in the making of the forests is the large and beautiful mountain pine or western white pine the invincible or lodge pole pine and and the forest floor is covered with the richest beds of i ever saw thick carpets enriched with m here and e and with and weaving hundred mile beds of bloom that would have made blessed old weep for joy lake full of brisk is in the wild of the west is heart of this and lake is ten miles at the feet of a group of laden mountains give a month at least to this precious reserve the time will not he taken from the sum of your life instead of it will it and make you truly immortal will time seem short or long and cares will again fall heavily on you hut gently and kindly as gifts from heaven the vast pacific coast in washington and the washington mount bull and named in order of size include more than acres of magnificent forests of and gigantic trees they extend over the wild mountains and of the range the wet and the dry on the east side of the the woods are sunny and open and contain principally yellow pine of moderate size hut of great value as a cover for the streams that flow into the dry where on a grand scale is carried on along the moist west flank of the mountains facing the sea the woods reach their highest development and excepting the are the heaviest on the continent they are made up mostly of the with the giant e or and several species so our national of fir and in varying abundance forming a forest kingdom unlike any other in which limb meets limb touching and in bright lively triumphant two hundred and three hundred and even four hundred feet above the shady ground over all the other species the supreme it is not only a large tree	28
however stand ready to take their places stout young fellows erect as and always the foes of trees their friends far up the white peaks one can hardly fail to meet the wild goat or american an admirable familiar with woods and as well as rocks and in leafy deer will be found while gliding about unseen there are many sleek animals enjoying their beautiful lives and birds also notwithstanding few are noticed in hasty walks the the and where the streams flow and every grove has its singers how ever silent it seems humming birds about the f bloom of the meadows and peaks and the lakes are stirred into lively pictures by water fowl the mount forest reserve should be national made a national park and guarded while yet its bloom is on for if in the making of the west nature had what we call in mind places for rest inspiration and prayers this region must surely be one of them in the centre of it there is a lonely mountain with ice from the ice cap in every direction and young rivers from the while its sweeping down in beautiful curves are clad with forests and gardens and filled with birds and animals specimens of the best of nature s treasures have been lovingly gathered here and arranged in simple beauty within regular bounds of all the fire mountains which like once blazed along the pacific coast mount is the noblest in form has the most interesting forest cover and with perhaps the exception of is the highest and most its massive white dome rises out of its forests like a world by itself to a height of fourteen thousand to fifteen thousand feet the forests reach to a height of a little over six thousand feet and above the forests there is a of the loveliest flowers fifty miles in circuit and nearly tliis mm done after the above was written one of moat taken during the year in with f waa the action of ie e e in withdrawing from the mount a portion of the region immediately mount letting it apart as a national park report of of land office for the b but the park aa it now ia far too wild of the west two wide so closely planted and that it seems as if nature glad to make an open space between woods so dense and ice so deep were the precious ground and trying to see how many of her she can get together in one mountain wreath etc among which we knee deep and waist deep the bright in touching to picturesque detached groups of the stand like islands along the lower margin of the garden while on the upper margin there are extensive beds of and other and higher still and more and more lowly reach up to the edge of the ice altogether this is the richest garden i ever found a perfect the icy dome needs none of man s care but unless the reserve is guarded the flower bloom will soon be killed and nothing of the forests will be left but black stump monuments the of is the most openly beautiful and useful of all the forest and the largest excepting the reserve of and the bitter root of and it embraces over four million acres of the scenery and trees on the continent and its forests are planted just where they do the most good not only for beauty but our national for farming in the great san valley be them it extends southward from the national park to the end of the range a distance of nearly two hundred miles no other forest in the world contains so many species or so many large and beautiful trees king of the noblest of a noble race as sir joseph well says the sugar pine king of all the world s pines living or extinct the yellow pine next in rank which here reaches most perfect development forming noble towers of two hundred feet high the mountain pine which the far up the on grim rocky slopes and five others each in its place making eight of pine in one forest which is still further by the great two species of silver fir large trees and exquisitely beautiful the the most graceful of the curious oaks of many species and all fringed with wild rose chestnut and wandering at random through these friendly woods one comes here and there to the loveliest lily gardens some of the lilies ten feet high and the meadows and valleys known n y to once i spent a night by wild of the west a camp fire on mount with gray and sir joseph and knowing that they were acquainted with all the great forests of the world i asked whether they knew any ous forest that that of the they said no in the beauty and grandeur of individual trees and in number and variety of species the forests all others this reserve proclaimed by the president of the united states in september is worth the most thoughtful care of the govern ment for its own sake without considering its value as the fountain of the rivers on which the of the great san valley de it gets no care at all in the fog of silver and politics it is left wholly though the management of ihe adjacent national by a few soldiers shows how well and how easily it can be preserved in the meantime are to spoil it at their will and sheep in to it and every green leaf within reach while the like destroying angels set innumerable fires which burn not only the of on which the of the forest depends but countless thousands of the venerable giants if every citizen could take one walk through this reserve there would s our	28
national n no more trouble about its care for only in darkness does flourish the of southern the san san san and though not only about two million acres together are perhaps the best appreciated their slopes are covered with a close almost impenetrable growth of bushes beginning on the sides of the fertile coast valleys and the dry interior plains their higher however and mountains are open and fairly well with sugar pine yellow pine and white fir as timber fountains they amount to little but as bird and bee pastures cover for the precious streams that the and quickly available from dust and heat and care their value is good roads have been into them by which in a few hours can get well up into the sky and find refuge in hospitable and club houses where while breathing they may the beauty about them and look comfortably down on the busy towns and the most beautiful orange groves ever planted since began he grand reserve of of nearly two million acres or the most interesting part of it as well as the region should see note p wild of the west be made into a national park on account of their supreme grandeur and beauty setting out from a station on the and f railroad on the way to the you pass through beautiful forests of yellow pine like those of the black hills but more and curious dwarf forests of nut pine and the spaces between the miniature trees planted with many interesting species of and after riding or walking seventy five miles through these pleasure grounds the san and other mountains in and smooth shallow valleys with long which in of finish and arrangement suggest the work of a landscape artist you all the way you come to the most tremendous in the world it is abruptly in the forest so that you see nothing of it until you are suddenly stop on its brink with its wealth of colored and buildings before you and beneath you no matter how far you have wandered hitherto or how many famous and valleys you have seen this one the grand of the will seem as novel to you as in the color and and quantity of its architecture as if you had found it after death on some other tar so lovely and g and our national is it above all the other in our fire earthquake shaken rain washed wave washed river and world it is about six thousand feet deep where you first see it and from rim to rim ten to fifteen miles wide instead of being dependent for interest upon depth wall and beauty of floor like most other great it has no in sight and no floor spaces the big river has just room enough to flow and roar here and there groping ite way as it can like a weary murmuring trying to escape from the tremendous bewildering abyss while its roar serves only to the silence instead of being filled with air the vast space between he walls is crowded with nature s buildings a sublime city of them painted in every color and adorned with richly fretted and spire and tower in endless variety of style and architecture every invention of man has been anticipated and far more in this of god s cities chapter n j the the national of the west the is far the largest it is a big wholesome wilderness on the broad summit of the mountains favored with abundance of rain and snow a place of fountains where the greatest of the american rivers take their the central portion is a and comparatively level with an average elevation of about eight thousand feet above the sea surrounded by an imposing host of mountains belonging to the subordinate wind river and snowy lakes shine in it united by a famous band of streams that rush up out of hot beds or from tiie frosty peaks in channels and bare and to the main rivers singing cheerily on through every difficulty dividing and finding their way east and west to the two far off seas meadows and meadows are out spread with charming effect along the banks of the streams in the woods and national innumerable small gardens in rocky recesses of the mountains some of them containing more than leaves while the whole is with happy animals the treasures to most mountain regions that are wild and blessed with a kind climate the park is full of exciting wonders the wildest in the world bright bands are g and singing in it s id thousands of boiling beautiful and awful their array in gorgeous colors like gigantic flowers and hot paint pots mud springs mud and whose contents are of every color and and heave and roar in bewildering dance n the adjacent mountains the living trees the edges of forests are ex posed to like specimens on the shelves of a museum standing on tier above tier where ihey grew solemnly silent in rigid beauty after swaying in the winds thousands of centuries ago opening views back into the years and and life of the past here too are hills of sparkling hills of of glass hills of and mountains of every style of architecture icy or mountains covered with honey bloom as mountains boiled soft like potatoes and colored like a sunset sky a that and a that and twice as s a the national park nature has on show in the park ore it is called and thousands of and stream into it every sum and wander about in it enchanted fortunately almost as soon as it was discovered it was and set apart for the fit of the a piece of amid the common of the public domain for world must thank professor above all others for he led the first	28
scientific exploring party into it described it and with enthusiasm urged to preserve it l the year the park contained about square miles on march it was to all and purposes enlarged by the national park timber reserve and in december by the forest reserve thus nearly its original area and extending the southern boundary far enough to take in the sublime range and the famous pasture lands of the big rocky mountain game animals the of this large tract from the public domain did no harm to any one for its height to over feet above the sea and its thick mantle of rocks prevent its ever being available for or while on the other hand its position climate and wonderful scenery combine to make it a grand health pleasure and study our national resort a gathering lace for from all the world the national are not only withdrawn rom sale and entry like the forest but are managed and guarded by small troops of united states cavalry directed by the secretary of the interior under this care the forests are flourishing protected from both axe and fire and so of course are the shaggy beds of and the vegetation i l he so called also are preserved and the and tribes many of which in danger of a short time ago are now increasing in numbers a refreshing thing to see amid the blind destruction that is on in the adjacent regions in or of money making vote who receive their places om as purchased goods the soldiers do their duty so quietly that the is scarce aware of their presence j this is the and highest of the occur every month of the year nevertheless the tenderest finds it warm enough in summer i the air is electric and full of healing kept pure by frost and fire while the scenery is wild enough to awaken the dead it is a glorious place to in and rest in on the shores of the the national lakes in the warm of the woods golden with on the banks of the streams by the snowy beside the exciting wonders or away from them in the of the mountain walls sheltered from every wind on smooth hi k with np in the fountain hollows of the ancient between the peaks where cool pools and and gardens of precious plants are never wanting and good rough rocks with every variety of cliff and are near for and exercise from these lovely you may make excursions whenever you like into the middle of the park where the and hot springs are and in their beautiful displaying an of color and strange motion and admirably calculated to surprise nd ik up the out of into of life however orderly your excursions or and again amid the scenery you will be brought to a and before phenomena u a toiling springs and huge deep pools of green and water thousands of them are and heaving in these high cool mountains as if a fierce furnace fire were burning beneath each one of them and a hundred white torrents of boiling water and our national like are ever and anon rush ing up out of the hot black some of these ponderous columns are a s l a wi five to sixty feet in one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet high and are sustained at this great height with tremendous energy for a few minutes or perhaps nearly an hour standing rigid and hissing af if or like the of trees their tops in branches the spray uke misty bloom is at times blown aside the shafts shining against a background of pine covered hills some of them lean more or less as if storm bent and instead of being round are flat or fan shaped issuing from irregular in with structure the through them in splendor some are broad and round headed like oaks others are low and near the ground like bushes and a few are hollow in the centre like big or water lilies no frost them snow never covers them nor in their branches winter and summer they welcome alike all of them of whatever form or size faithfully rising and sinking in fairy dance night end day in all sorts of weather at varying periods of minutes hours or weeks growing up rapidly i the national s as fate tossing branches in the wind bursting into bloom and vanishing like the flowers plants of which nature raises hundreds or thousands of crops a year with no apparent exhaustion of the fiery soil he so called in which this rare sort of vegetation is growing are mostly open valleys on the central that were by after the greater fires had ceased to burn looking down over the forests as you approach them from the surrounding heights you see a multitude of white columns broad masses and irregular and of misty ascending from the bottom of the valley or entangled like smoke among the neighboring trees suggesting the of some busy town or the camp fires of an army these mark the position of each pot hot spring and or as the words mean and when you into the midst of them over the bright and see how pure and white and gray they are in the shade of the mountains and how radiant in the sunshine you are fairly enchanted so numerous they are and varied nature seems to have gathered them from all the world as specimens of her fountains to show in one place what she can do four thousand hot springs have been counted a national in the park and a hundred how many more there are nobody knows these valleys at the heads of the great rivers may be regarded as and in which amid a thousand and pots we may see nature at work as	28
or cook an infinite variety of cooking whole mountains boiling and steaming rocks to smooth and yellow brown red pink gray and white making the most beautiful mud in the world and the most ethereal many of these pots and have been boiling thousands of years pots of and and pots of as black as ink are tossed and stirred with constant care and thin transparent too pure and fine to be called water are kept gently in beautiful cups and that grow ever more beautiful the longer they are used in some of the spring the waters though still warm are perfectly calm and shine in a sod of grass and flowers as if they were thoroughly cooked at last and set aside to settle and cool others are wildly boiling over as if running to waste thousands of tons of the precious being thrown into the air to fall in floods on the clean coral floor of the establishment keeping at a distance instead of holding pale the national park green or water other pots and are filled with mud which is tossed up from three or four feet to thirty feet in masses with gasping sounds the branches of neighboring trees every retort hot spring and has something special in it no two being the same in temperature color or composition in these natural one needs stout faith to feel at ease the ground sounds and the awful thunder shakes one s mind as the ground is shaken especially at night in the pale moonlight or when the is with storm clouds in the gloom the dimly visible look like dancing and their songs and the earthquake thunder replying to the storms overhead seem doubly terrible as if divine government were at an end but the trembling hills keep their places the sky the rosy dawn is and up comes the sun like a god pouring his faithful beams across the mountains and forest lighting each peak and tree and ghastly alike and shining into the eyes of the springs clothing them with rainbow light and the seeming chaos of darkness into varied forms of harmony the ordinary work of the world goes on gladly we see the flies dancing in the birds feeding their young national nuts and hear the blessed singing in the of the river most faithful every fear everything to love the tinted and like over large of the valleys the spring and of the and forming beautiful coral like runs and about them always excite admiring attention so also does the play of the waters from which they are deposited the various in them are rich in colors and these are greatly heightened by a smooth growth of brilliantly colored which lines many of the pools and channels and no bed of flower bloom is more exquisite than these of minute plants only in mass g wing in the hot waters most of the spring borders are low and and with pearls some of the are massive and picturesque like ruined castles or old burned out and are adorned on a grand scale with g from these as the slope gently away in thin slightly interrupted in some places by low or as in the case of the hot springs at the north end of the park where the building waters issue from the the national park side of a steep hill the f a succession of higher and broader of white with purple like the famous terrace at new draped in front with each terrace having a pool of beautiful water upon it in a basin with a raised rim that with the whole when viewed at a distance of a mile or two looking like a broad massive pouring over rocks in snowy foam the stones of this divine invisible of or in no eye has seen go to their appointed places in gentle transparent currents or through the dashing turmoil of floods as surely guided as the sap of plants streaming into and branch leaf and flower and thus from century to century this beauty work has gone on and i r tf ing on though many a mile of pine and woods the of the park b ee to t o the famous lake it is about twenty miles long and fifteen wide and lies at a height of nearly feet above the level of the sea amid dense black forests and around its and ii md the e x ib more than miles it is not veiy national x from to and contains less water than the celebrated lake of the which is nearly the same size lies at a height of feet and is over feet deep other lake in north america of equal area lies so high as the or gives birth to so noble a river the around its shores show that at the close of the period its surface was about feet higher than it is now and its area nearly twice as great fit is full of and a vast multitude of ducks feed in it and upon its shores and forest animals come out of the woods and a little way in shallow sandy places to drink and look about them and cool the free flowing breezes in calm weather it is a magnificent mirror for the woods and mountains and sky now with hail and rain now with sudden storms that send waves to fringe the shores d wash its border of gravel and sand the mountains and the wind on the east and south pour waters jn int ij and the river issues tho north side f in ik broad smooth stately current i ing with such serene majesty fancies it j a he vast journey of four thousand miles that lies before it and the work it has to v hie national for the first twenty miles its coarse is in a	28
level sunny valley lightly fringed with trees through which it flows in silvery reaches stirred into here and there by ducks and leaping making no sound save a low whispering among the pebbles and the dipping and of its banks then suddenly as if preparing for hard work it rushes eagerly forward rejoicing in its strength breaks into foam bloom and goes thundering down into the ca in o magnificent falls one hundred and three feet high the is so wild and impressive that even these g falls cannot hold your attention it twenty miles long and a thousand fee deep a a weird c fantastic architecture and most colored ere the range forming the rim of the basin made up mostly of beds of by the action of waters has been cut through and laid open to view by the river and a famous section it has made it is not the depth or the shape of the nor the nor the green and gray river its brave song as it goes foaming on its way that most the observer but the colors of the rocks with few exceptions the in strange lands finds that however much the and our national in different countries may change mother earth is ever familiar and the same but here the very ground is changed as if belonging to some other world l the of the from top to bottom a perfect glory of color fm dazzling when the sun is shining yellow g blue and various er f red all the earth seems to be paint millions of tons of it lie in sight exposed to wind and weather as if of no account yet fresh and bright fast colors not to be washed out or out by either sunshine or storms the effect is so novel and awful we imagine that even a river might be afraid to enter such a place but the rich and gentle beauty of the vegetation is the lovely hangs her twin bells over the brink of the cliffs forests and gardens extend their treasures in smiling confidence on either side nuts and well whatever may be going on below blind fears vanish and the grand seems a kindly beautiful part of the general harmony full of peace and joy and good will if lo the park is e drag you to its northern boundary at and horses and guides do the rest from you will be whirled in along the foaming river to hot springs the national park through woods and meadows and along branches of the upper and rivers to the main thence over the continental divide and back again up and down through dense pine and fir woods to the magnificent lake along its northern shore to the outlet down the river to the falls and grand and thence back through the woods to hot springs and stopping here and there at the so called points of interest among the springs paint pots mud etc where you will be allowed a few minutes or hours to over the watch the play of a few of the and peer into some of the most beautiful and terrible of the and pools these wonders you will enjoy and also the views of the mountains especially the and the long and meadows the beds of and many other e some j giving color to whole meadows and and you will enjoy your short views of the great lake and river and no indians will you see the and that once here are gone so are the old the and with all their attractive and romance there are several bands our national of in the park but you will not thus in fashion see them nor many of the other large animals hidden in the wilderness the song birds too keep mostly out of sight of the rushing though off the roads etc keep the air sweet and merry perhaps in passing and falls you may catch glimpses of the water but in the whirling noise you will not hear his son fortunately no road noise the will amuse you all through the woods here and there a deer may be seen crossing the road or a bear most likely however the only bears you will see are the half tame ones that go to the hotels every night for dinner table scraps powder stuff mixed and that have proved too tough for the among the gains of a coach trip are the acquaintances made and the fresh views into human nature for the wilderness is a shrewd even thus lightly approached and brings many a curious trait to view setting out the driver cracks his whip and the four horses go off at half gallop half trot in trained style until out of sight of the hotel the coach is crowded old and young side by side blooming and fading full of hope and fun and care some look at the scenery or the horses the national park and all ask questions an odd mixed lot of them where is the umbrella what is the name of that blue flower over there are you sure the little bag is aboard is that hollow yonder a how is your throat this morning how high did you say the how does the elevation affect your head is that a over there in the rocks or only a hot spring a long ascent is made the solemn mountains come to view small cares are and all become natural and silent save perhaps some unfortunate who has been reading and forth and until he is in danger of being heaved overboard the driver will g ve you the names of the peaks and meadows and streams as you come to them call attention to the glass road tell how hard it was to build how the cliffs pushed the s lines to the right and	28
hard place to leave even its names in your are attractive and should draw you far from wagon roads all save the early ones derived from the infernal regions hell roaring river hell springs the devil s etc indeed the whole region was at first called s hell from the fiery stories told by who left the and expedition and wandered through the park in the year with a band of indians the later names many of which we owe to mr of the u s survey are so telling and that they set our dancing and make us begin to enjoy the pleasures of excursions ere they are commenced three river peak two ocean pass continental divide are capital descriptions thousands of miles of rejoicing streams and all that belongs to them big horn pass peak big ridge bring brave mountain animals to mind hills hills mountain storm peak electric peak roaring mountain are bright names and swan lakes the national park m np fine pictures and so also do and creek and gray ling and are lively and sparkling names that help the streams to shine and and what pictures these bring up violet morning mist and springs and many beside give us visions of fountains more beautifully arrayed than solomon in all his purple and golden glory all these and a host of others call you to camp you may be a little cold some nights on mountain tops above the line but you will see the stars and by and by you can sleep enough in your town bed or at least in your grave keep awake while you may in mountain so rare if you are not very strong try to climb electric peak when a big well charged is on it to breathe the set free and get yourself kindly shaken and shocked you are sure to be lost in wonder and praise and every hair of your head will stand up and hum and sing like an enthusiastic congregation after this experience you should take a look into a few of the volumes of the grand library of the park and see how god writes history no knowledge is required only a calm day and a calm mind perhaps nowhere else in the mountains have national the forces been so busy more than ten thousand square miles have been covered to a depth of at least five thousand feet with material from and during the period forming broad sheets of etc and masses of ashes sand and stones now into charged with the remains of plants and animals that lived in the calm genial periods that separated the perhaps the most interesting and telling of these rocks to the hasty are those that make up the mass of mountain on its north side it presents a section two thousand feet high of roughly beds of sand ashes and coarse and fine forming the edges of a wonderful set of volumes lying on their sides books a million years old well bound miles in size with full page illustrations on the of this one section we see trunks and of fifteen or twenty ancient forests ranged one above another standing where they g w or prostrate and broken like the of ruined temples in desert sands a forest fifteen or twenty stories high the roots of each spread above the tops of the next beneath it telling wonderful tales of the centuries with their and growth and deaths fire ice and flood the park there were giants in those days the largest of the standing and and prostrate sections of the trunks are from two or three to feet in height or and from five to ten feet in and so perfect is the that the annual ring and are clearer and more easily counted than those of g ce t b h g l the records instead of them they show that the of the period gave as decided a check to vegetable growth as do those of the present time some trees lo g w rapidly twenty inches ia in as many years while others of the same species on poorer soil or increased only two or three inches in the same time among the roots and on the old forest floors we find the remains of and bushes and the seeds and leaves of trees like those now on the southern such as laurel ash studying the lowest of these forests the soil it grew on and the it is buried in we see that it was rich in species and flourished in a genial sunny climate when its stately trees were in their glory fires broke forth from and like larger ashes stones and mud fell on the doomed forest like hail and our national snow through the leaves and branches choking the streams covering the ground crushing bushes and rapidly deepening packing around the trees and breaking them rising higher until the boughs of the giants were buried leaving not a leaf or in sight so complete was the desolation at last the storm began to the fiery soil settled mud floods and floods passed over it it it rains fell and mellow sunshine and it became fertile and ready for another crop birds and the winds and brought seeds from more f woods and a new forest grew up on the top of the buried one centuries of genial growing seasons passed the trees became giants and with strong branches spread a leafy over the gray land the sleeping fires again awake and shake the mountains and eveiy leaf the old with perhaps new ones are opened and immense quantities of ashes and are again thrown into the sky the sun of his beams like a dull red ball until hidden in clouds snow hail and floods fall on the new forest burying it alive like the one beneath its roots	28
then come another noisy band of mud floods and floods mixing settling the new g round more seeds sun the national park and showers and a third noble forest is carefully raised on the top of the second and so on forest was planted above forest and destroyed as if nature were ever the work she had so done and burying it of course this destruction was creation progress in the march of beauty through death how quickly these old monuments excite and hold the imagination we see the old stone and and waving in the wind as magnificent trees standing shoulder to shoulder branches in grand varied round headed forests see the sunshine of mom ing and evening their trunks and at high noon on the thick glossy leaves of the through cent of and ash and falling in mellow patches on the floor see the shining after rain breathe the fragrance and hear the winds and birds and the murmur of and insects we watch them from season to season see the swelling when the sap begins to flow in the spring the opening leaves and blossoms the of summer fruits the colors of autumn and the of branches and in winter and we see the sudden of the storms that over them one calm morning at sunrise i saw the our national and pines in valley shaken by an their tops back and forth and branch and needle shuddering as if in distress like the frightened screaming birds one may imagine tj trembling tumultuous waving of those ancient woods and the terror of their inhabitants when the first were felt the sky g w dark and rock laden floods began to roar but though they were close pressed and buried cut off from sun and wind all their happy leaf fluttering and waving done other currents beautiful wood was replaced by beautiful stone now their are partly open and show forth the natural beauty of death after the forest times and fire times had passed away and the were and held in another great change occurred the winter came on the sky was again darkened not with dust and ashes but with snow which fell in glorious abundance deeper deeper from the heights in into that flowed over all ihe landscape wiping off forests grinding the comparatively beds into the beautiful of hill and and of mountains we behold to day forming for lakes channels for the national new for forests gardens and meadows while this ice work was on the slumber fires were the waters and with curious the rocks making beauty in the darkness these o t mo waking h m together how wild their meetings on the surface were we may imagine when the period began and hot springs were playing in volume it may be than those of to day the flowed over them while they and thundered carrying away fine and and their mysterious channels the made in the down grinding required to bring the present features of the landscape into relief are possibly no better than were some of the old that were carried away and which as we have seen nourished cent forests but the are more beautiful than the old ones were the winter has passed away in the of the au these times are recent only small on the cool northern slopes of the highest mountains are left of the vast all embracing ice mantle as and are all that are left of the ancient now the post agents are at work on the national g old of the park region new characters but still in its main telling features it remains distinctly the are being refined re formed and covered with the on the crumbling are being rapidly are being cut in the and loose and and seem to be springing up like growing trees while the are miles of and nevertheless the ice work is scarce as yet these later effects are only spots and wrinkles on the grand countenance of the park perhaps you have already said that you have seen enough for a lifetime but before you go away you should spend at least one day and a night on a mountain top for a last general settling view mount is a good one for the purpose because it stands in the middle of the park is with other peaks and is so easy of access that the climb to its summit is only a first your eye goes around the mountain rim amid the hundreds of peaks some with plain flowing skirts others abruptly and defended by sheer flat or round heaving like sea waves or and the national park like with snow in the and darkened with of adventurous trees the the nearer peaks are perchance clad in far in white in the broad glare of noon they seem to shrink and to less than half their real stature and grow dull and mere dead heaps of waste ashes and stone giving no hint of the multitude of animals enjoying life in their or of the bright streams and lakes but when storms blow they awake and arise wearing robes of cloud and mist in majestic speaking attitudes like gods in the color glory of morning and evening they become stiu more impressive in the divine light of the their and with the heavens they seem neither high nor low over all the central which from here seems level and over the and lower slopes of the mountains the forest extends like a black uniform bed of weeds interrupted only by lakes and meadows and small burned spots called all of them except the yellow stone lake being mere and in general views made conspicuous by their color and brightness about eighty five per cent of the entire area of the park is covered with trees mostly the lodge pole pine our national with a few and of silver fir	28
and a few and the is found only on the lowest portions the silver fir on the highest and the on the places best defended from fire some fine specimens of the pine are growing on the of wide sturdy trees as broad as high with trunks five feet in leafy and shady laden with purple and rose colored flowers the and sub silver fir are beautiful and notable trees tall hardy frost and snow and widely distributed over the west wherever there is a mountain to climb or a cold slope to cover but neither of these is a good with rather thin bark and scattering their seeds every year as soon as they are ripe they are quickly driven out of fire swept regions when the were melting these hardy trees were probably among the first to arrive on the new soil beds but as the became and fires began to run they were driven up the mountains and into the wet spots and islands where we now find them leaving nearly all the park to the pine which though as thin as they and as easily killed by fire takes pains to store the national park up its seeds in firmly closed and holds them from three to nine years so that let the fire come when it may it is ready to die and ready to live again in a new generation for when the killing fires have devoured the leaves and thin bark many of the only open as soon as the smoke away the store of seeds is sown on the cleared ground and a new growth springs up triumphant out of the ashes therefore this tree not only holds its ground but extends its farther after every fire thus the and of its are accounted for in one part of the forest that i examined the growth was about as close as a the trees were from four to eight inches in one hundred feet high and one and seventy five years old the lower limbs die young and drop off for want of light life with these close planted trees is a race for light more light and so they push straight for the sky off ten feet from the top of the forest would make it look like a crowded mass of telegraph poles for only the sunny tops are leafy a ten years old growing in the sunshine has as many leaves as a crowded tree one or two hundred years old as fires are multiplied and the mountains become this wonderful pine bids fair to obtain possession of nearly au the forest ground in the west national how still the woods seem from here yet how lively a stir the hidden animals are making digging eyes shining at work and play getting food young through the climbing the rocks solitary tracing the banks of the lakes and streams i insect are dancing in the in the ground swimming a cloud of witnesses telling nature s joy the plants are as busy as the animals every cell in a of enjoyment humming like a hive singing the old new song of creation a few columns and of steam are semi rising above the some near but most of them far off indicating and hot springs and noiseless as clouds softly the reaction going on between the surface and the hot interior from here you see better than when you are standing beside them frightened and confused regarding them as lawless the and out bursts of storms the of waves the of sap in plants each and all tell the orderly love beats of nature s heart turning to the eastward you have the grand and reaches of the river in full view and yonder to the southward lies the great lake the largest and most important of all the high fountains of the and the last to be discovered the national w in the year when de a romantic band of was seeking gold and glory and the fountain of youth he found the a few hundred miles above its mouth and made his grave beneath its floods la in after discovering the one of the largest and most beautiful branches of the traced the latter to the sea from the mouth of the through adventures and not easily realized now about the same time and father reached the father of waters by way of the but more than a century passed ere its highest sources in these mountains were seen the advancing stream of civilization has ever followed its g dance toward the west but none of the thousand tribes of indians living on its banks could tell the whence it came from those romantic de and la days to these times of and how much has the great river seen and done great as it now is and still growing longer through the ground of its and the of receding at its head it was immensely broader toward the close of the period when the ice of the mountains was melting then with its three hundred thousand miles of branches over the plains and valleys of the continent laden with fertile mud it made the biggest and most generous bed of soil in the world national think of this mighty stream springing in the first place in from the sea flying on the wind on the mountains in and snow and rain lingering in many a fountain feeding the an then i scattered waters gliding from its noble lake and going back home to tie sea singing au the way i on it sweeps through the gates of the mountains across the vast and plains through many a wild gloomy forest cane and sunny from and and pine woods to warm groves of and dancing at its head keeping time with the sea waves at its mouth roaring and gray in in broad	28
falls murmuring gleaming in long silvery reaches swaying now hither now thither whirling bending in huge folds serene majestic overflowing all its and bounds the upon its banks ing wasting planting old islands and making new ones taking away fields and towns as if in sport carrying and ships of commerce in the midst of its spoils and drift the continent as one vast farm then its work done it gladly in its ocean home welcomed by the waiting waves thus naturally standing here in the midst of its fountains we trace the fortunes of the great river and how much more comes to mind at the national we overlook this wonderful i of the and lie before us with those of the and and fine it would be to go with them to the pacific but the sun is already in the west and soon our day will be done yonder is mountain and other mountains hardly less rich in old forests which now seem to spring up again in their glory and you see the storms that buried them the ashes and torrents laden with and mud the centuries of sunshine and the dark lurid nights you see the vast floods of red hot and ho out rom the of lakes and streams absorbing or driving away their hissing screaming flowing around hills and r ing every subordinate feature then you see the snow and taking possession of the land making new how admirable it that after passing through so many of frost and fire and flood the and even the complexion of the landscape should still be so fine thus the past we see ture working with enthusiasm like a man blowing her like a blacksmith blowing his fires over the like a carpenter his clear chapter m thb t national of all the mountain i have climbed i like the the best extremely rugged with its main features on the scale in height and depth it is nevertheless easy of access and hospitable and its beauty displayed in striking and forms the admiring wanderer on and on higher and higher charmed and enchanted benevolent solemn pervaded with divine light every landscape like a countenance in eternal repose and every one of its living creatures clad in flesh and leaves and every crystal of its rocks whether on the surface shining in the sun or buried deep in what we call darkness is throbbing and with the of all the world lies warm in one heart yet the seems to get more light than other mountains the weather is mostly sunshine with magnificent storms and nearly everything shines from base to summit the rocks streams lakes falls and the forests of silver fir the national park and silver pine and how bright is the shining after summer showers and nights and after frosty nights in spring and autumn when the morning are pouring through the on the bushes and grass and in winter through the snow laden trees the average for the whole year is perhaps less than ten scarcely a day of all the summer is dark though there is no lack of magnificent thundering they rise in the warm midday hours mostly over the middle region in june and july like new mountain higher the grandeur of the scenery while giving rain to the forests and gardens and bringing forth their fragrance the weather and beauty inspire everybody to be up and doing every summer day is a to be confidently counted on the short of rain forming not but rests the big blessed storm days of winter when the whole range stands white are not a whit less inspiring and kind well may the be called the range of light not the snowy range for only in winter is it white while all the year it is bright of thi range the park is a central section thirty six miles in length and forty eight miles in breadth the famous valley lies in the heart of it and it the head waters of the our national and rivers two of the most streams in the world innumerable lakes and and smooth the noblest forests the granite the deepest ice the brightest and snowy mountains soaring into the sky twelve and thirteen thousand feet arrayed in open ranks and groups partially separated by tremendous and gardens on their sunny brows thundering down their long white slopes roaring and foaming in the crooked rugged and in their shadowy recesses working in silence slowly their new born lakes at their feet blue and g een free or with drifting like miniature sparkling calm as stars nowhere will you see the majestic operations of nature more clearly revealed beside the most gentle and peaceful things nearly all the park is a profound solitude yet it is full of charming company full of god s thoughts a place of peace and safety amid the most exalted grandeur and eager enthusiastic action a new song a place of in first lessons on life mountain building eternal invincible order with sermons in stones storms trees flowers and animals of humanity during the last period just the national past the former features of the range were bed off as a chalk sketch from a and a new beginning was made hence the wonderful clearness and freshness of the rocky pages but to get all this into words is a hopeless task the sketch of each feature would need a whole chapter nor would any amount of space however be of much avail to town in magazine articles are like pictures of bread to the hungry i can write only hints to good i to come to the feast while this glorious park embraces big generous of the very best of the it is fortunately at the same time the most accessible portion it lies opposite san at a distance of about one hundred and forty miles connected	28
with all the continent reach into the and three good carriage roads from big oak flat and run into valley another called the road runs from s station on the big oak flat road near the big tree grove right across the park to the summit of the range by way of lake the big meadows and mount these roads with many that from valley bring most of the park within reach of everybody well or half well our national the three main natural of the the lower middle and regions are fairly well defined in features and vegetation the lower with an average elevation of about five thousand feet is the region of the great forests made up of sugar pine the largest and most beautiful of all the pines in the world the silvery yellow pine the next in rank the white and red silver and the or big tree the king of the noblest of a noble race on warm slopes next the there are a few nut pines oaks make beautiful groves in the valleys and laurel and s shade the banks of the streams many of the pines are more than two hundred feet high but they are not crowded to the streaming through their arches the ground and you walk beneath the radiant ceiling in devout sub mood as if you were in a grand cathedral with mellow light through colored windows while the open in every direction scarcely a peak or ridge in the whole region rises bare above the forests though they are planted in some places where the soil is shallow from the cool heights you look abroad over a boundless waving sea of covering the national park lull and ridge and smooth flowing as as the eye can reach and filling every hollow and down plunging in glorious triumphant perhaps the best general view of the pine forests of the park and one of the best in the range is obtained from the top of the and divide near green on the long smooth finely folded slopes of the main ridge at a height of five to six thousand feet above the sea they reach most perfect development and are to view in towering ranks their colossal and and broad crowns deep in the kind sky rising above one another a multitude of giants in perfect health and beauty un fed rejoicing in their strength with the winds in accord with the fall i th ground um di to the fragrant is in rich carpets miles in extent the in orchard like groves covered with pink bell shaped flowers in the spring grows in facing the sun and in the warm brows are purple with yellow with and and tall lilies ring their around the borders of meadows and along the banks of the streams never was mountain forest more fur national is a good place quietly to camp and study to get acquainted with the trees and birds to drink the water and weather and to watch the changing lights of the big charmed days the rose light of the dawn creeping higher among the stars change to yellow then come the level pouring across the touching pine after pine and fir and searching every recess until all are awakened and warmed in the white noon they shine in silvery splendor every needle and cell in and branch thrilling and with ardent life and the whole land with consciousness like the face of a god the hours go by the evening flames with purple and gold the breeze has been blowing from the dies away and far and near the mighty host of trees in the purple flood d hushed and thoughtful awaiting the sun s blessing and farewell as impressive a ceremony as if it were never to rise again when the daylight the night breeze from the snowy begins to blow and the trees waving and rustling beneath the stars breathe free again it is hard to leave such and woods nevertheless to the large majority of the middle region of the park is still more interesting for it has the most striking features of the national all the scenery the deepest sections of the famous of which the valley and many smaller ones are wider portions with level floors and walls of immense height and grandeur of this middle region holds also the of the beautiful lakes me ow th great d n and the most brilliant and most extensive of the and though in large part it is severely rocky and bare it is still rich in trees the magnificent silver fir which ranks with the giants forms a continuous belt across the park above the pines at an elevation of from seven to nine thousand feet and north and south of the park boundaries to the of the range only slightly interrupted by the main the two or pine makes another less regular belt along the upper margin of the region while between these two and mingling with them in groves or scattered are the mountain the most graceful of the noble mountain pine the form of the yellow pine with big and long needles and the brown sturdy western j all these except the which grows on bald rocks have plenty of brush about them and gardens in open spaces here too lies the broad shining heavily national region of granite which best tells the story of the period on the pacific side of the continent no other mountain chain on the globe as far as i know is so rich as the in bold striking well preserved monuments easily understood by anybody capable of patient observation every feature is more or less and this park portion of the range is the brightest and of all not a peak ridge dome lake basin garden forest or stream but in some way explains the	28
past existence and modes of action of flowing grinding soil making ice for notwithstanding the agents air rain frost rivers have been at work upon the greater part of the range for of thousands of stormy years their own characters over those of the ice the latter are so and enduring they rise in sublime relief clear and through every after inscription the streams have traced only shallow wrinkles as yet and wind rain and melting snow have made and but the change effected on the face of the landscape is not greater than is made on the face of a by a single year of of all the phenomena presented here the most striking and attractive to are the polished because they are s the national beautiful and their beauty is of so rare a kind i unlike any part of the loose where people dwell and earn their bread they are simply flat or gently of solid resisting granite the unchanged surface over which the ancient flowed they are found in the most perfect condition at an elevation of from eight to nine thousand feet above sea level some are miles in extent only slightly or by spots that have at last yielded to the weather while the best preserved portions are brilliantly polished and reflect the as calm water or glass shining as if rubbed and every day notwithstanding they have been exposed to rains dew frost and melting for thousands of years the attention of hunters and who see so much in their wild journeys is seldom by however and or rocks however boldly or however deep and sheer walled but when they come to these they go down on their knees and rub their hands on the glistening surface and toy hard to account for its mysterious and brightness they may have seen the winter come down the mountains through the woods sweeping away the trees and the ground but they conclude that this our national cannot be the work of the show that the agent whatever it was flowed along and around and over the top of high and and also filled the deep neither can they see how water could be the agent for the strange polish is found thousands of feet above the reach of any conceivable flood only the winds capable of moving over the face of the country in the directions indicated by the lines and the are particularly fine around lake and have suggested the indian name we the lake of the shining indians seldom trouble themselves with questions but a indian once came to me and asked if i could tell him what made the rocks so smooth at even dogs and horses on their first journeys into this region study to the extent of gazing wonder at the strange brightness of the ground and it and smelling it as if afraid of falling or sinking in the production of this admirable hard finish the in many places exerted a pressure of more than a hundred tons to the square foot down granite slate and alike showing their structure and making beautiful where large form the greater part of the rock on such the sunshine is at times dazzling as if the face were of silver the national park here are the brightest of the in general the regions lying at the same elevation to the north and south were perhaps subjected to as long and intense a but because the rocks are less resisting their polished have mostly g ven way to the weather leaving here and there only small imperfect patches on the most enduring portions of walls protected from the action of rain and snow and on hard kept comparatively dry by the short inclined of the east flank of the range are in some places brightly polished but they are far less magnificent than those of the broad west flank one of the best general views of the middle region of the park is to be had from the top of a majestic dome which long ago i named the monument it is situated a few miles to the north of cathedral peak and rises to a height of about fifteen hundred feet above its base and ten thousand above the sea at first sight it seems sternly inaccessible but a good will find that it may be on the south side approaching it from this side you pass through a dense grove of mountain catching glimpses now and then of the colossal dome towering to an immense height above the dark and when at last you have made your way across woods through and you step abruptly out of the tree shadows and national leafy softness upon a bare and behold the dome in all its grandeur fancy a nicely monument eight or ten feet high from one stone standing in a pleasure ground it to a height of fifteen hundred feet retaining its simplicity of form and and cover its surface with then you may gain an idea of the and beauty of this ice dome one of this wonderful park in making the ascent one finds that the curve of the base rapidly until one is in danger of slipping but two or three inches long that have been into relief afford sl ht the summit is in part like the sides and base the and indicating that the mighty two or three thousand feet deep overwhelmed it while it stood firm like a at the bottom of a river the pressure it must have been enormous had it been less built it would have been grow d ud ea m in ft b the general mass of the mountain flank in which at first it lay for it is only a hard re or knot with a structure of superior strength brought into relief by the removal of the less resisting rock about it	28
an illustration in stone of the of the strong est and most situated the national park hardly less wonderful when we contemplate tiie storms it has encountered since first it saw the light is its present condition the whole quantity of wear and tear it has suffered has not diminished its stature a single inch as may be readily shown by measuring from the level of the unchanged polished tions of the surface indeed the average w f ihe d in the same way is found to be less than two inches a mighty contrast to that of the ice for the here has been not less than a mile that is in developing the present an amount of rock a mile in average thickness has been silently carried away by flowing ice during the last period a few nicely poised on the rounded summit of the monument tell an inter eating story they came from a mountain on the crest of the range about twelve miles to the eastward floating like on the frozen sea and were here when the top of the monument emerged to the light of day while the companions of these whose positions chanced to be over the slopes where they could not find rest were carried farther on by the current the general view from the summit consists of a assemblage of mountains and rocks and long wavering lakes and national streams and meadows in wide sweeping and beds covered and dotted with forests and groves hundreds of square miles of them composed in wild harmony the snowy mountains on the of the range mostly and rise in noble array along the sky to the eastward and northward the g spur and the and a countless number of others to the ward cathedral peak with its many and companion peaks and to the southward and a smooth multitude of rocks from fifty feet or less to a thousand feet high which from their peculiar form seem to be rolling on westward fill most of the middle ground immediately beneath you are the big meadows with an ample of dark pine woods on either side by the young river that is seen sparkling and as it from side to side tracing as best it can its broad channel the ancient by many a noble from the snow laden of and others nameless as poured its majestic g current four or five wide directly against the high mass of mount which divided and it light and left just as a river is divided against an island that stands in the middle of its the national two distinct were thus one of which flowed through the big and valley while the other swept upward five hundred feet in a broad current across the divide between the of the and into the basin and thence down through the and valley the distinctness and freshness of this landscape cannot fail to excite the attention of every observer no matter how little of its scientific significance he may at first recognize these bald glossy westward leaning rocks in the open middle ground with their rounded backs and shoulders toward the fountains of the summit mountains and their split fronts looking in the opposite direction every one of them displaying the form of greatest strength with reference to physical structure and action show the tremendous force with which through centuries the ice flood swept over them and also the direction of the flow while the mountains with their sharp and sides indicate the height to which the rose and the and in beautiful lines mark the of the trunk and its as they existed toward the close of the winter none of the commercial of the sea or land marked with and lamps our national fences and is so ia as are these channels of the vanished the action of ice whether in the form of river like or broad folds is but little understood as compared with that of other agents rivers work openly where people dwell and so do the rain and the sea thundering on all the shores of the world and the universal ocean of air though unseen speaks aloud in a thousand voices and explains its modes of working and its power but back in their cold work apart from men their tremendous es in silence and darkness coming in from the sea flying invisible on the wind descending in snow changing to ice white they brood over the working on through ages until in the of time the mountains and valleys are brought forth channels for the rivers made for meadows and lakes and soil beds spread for the forests and fields that man and beast may be fed then vanishing like clouds they melt into streams and go singing back home to the sea to an observer upon this old monument in the midst of such scenery getting glimpses of the thoughts of god the day seems endless the sun stands still much fuss the national park made over the passage in the bible telling of the standing still of the sun for here you may learn that the miracle occurs for every devout for everybody doing anything worth doing seeing anything worth seeing one day is as a thousand years a thousand years as one day and while yet in the flesh you enjoy from the monument you will find an easy way down through the woods and along the big meadows to the summit of which commands a grand telling view of the region the scenery all the way is inspiring and you on without knowing that you are climbing the spacious sunny meadows through the midst of which the bright river extend with but little interruption ten miles to the eastward dark woods rising on either side to the limit of tree growth and above the woods a picturesque line of gray peaks and dotted with	28

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