THE NATIONAL PARKS AND FOREST RESERVES

Fig. 129FIG. 129.—THE UPPER LIMIT OF THE TIMBERSierra Nevada Mountains

Sierra Nevada Mountains

The magnificent forests through which we have passed in our long climb, if destroyed by the lumberman, cannot be replaced for hundreds of years. They contribute much to the glory of the mountains. They hold back the water so that it does not run off rapidly, and thus aid in giving rise to innumerable clear, cold springs. The springs help feed the streams during the long, dry summers, when the water is so sorely needed in the hot valleys below.

The people who first pushed into the unknown country west of the Mississippi, in the earlier half of the last century, were chiefly hunters and trappers. They did not intend to make permanent homes in the wilds, but rather to stay only so long as they could secure an abundance of fur-bearing animals.

Then came the discovery of the precious metals, and thousands of gold-seekers crossed the plains, and spread out over the mountains of the Cordilleran region. They, too, expected to get rich by making use of the resources of the country, and return to their homes in the East.

At the present time the destruction of our forests and serious injury to the water supply has been threatened through the organization of large lumber companies. Those interested in lumbering usually live far removed from the scenes of their operations, and consequently care little about the condition in which the deforested lands are left.

The farmers were the first permanent occupants of the West. Unlike the wandering trappers and miners, they established homes and made the land richer instead of poorer. As long as the population was scanty there was not much danger of exterminating the wild animals, and the demands for timber were small.

Our forefathers who settled the Eastern states had to contend with the forests. Nearly every acre of ground had to be laboriously cleared before anything could be planted. It was only natural that they should come to regard the forests as a hindrance rather than a blessing.

As the settlers spread westward to the prairies and plains they came upon a region almost destitute of forests; but still farther, in the mountains of the continental divide and the Pacific slope, they again found extensive forests. To them it seemed impossible that these forests could ever be exhausted, and therefore little care was taken for their preservation.

As the population increased, more and more lumber was needed for building purposes. Before the sawmill came split lumber was used, and the shake-maker did not hesitate to cut down the largest and most valuable pines on the mere possibility that fifteen or twenty feet of the butt would split well enough to make shakes. It made no difference to him that the whole trunk rotted upon the ground.

When the sawmills were built and there came a demand from abroad for lumber, the forests were attacked upon a much larger scale. The need of the moment was all that concerned the lumbermen, and they took no care for the preservation of the young trees, which in time would have renewed the supply. The litter of the trunks and branches which they left upon the ground furnished fuel for the fires which frequently swept over these areas and killed the remaining growth.

As a result of these fires, the few animals that have escaped the hunters have been killed or driven from their homes, and the forest cover, which would retain much of the moisture and preserve it for the supply of the streams in summer, has been destroyed. The removal of the forest cover leads also to the washing away of the soil, the shoaling of the streams, floods in spring, and low water in summer. In fact, all the people and industries of the region are affected by its loss. It may take hundreds of years for the country to recover; indeed, if the rainfall is light, the forests may never grow again, without artificial aid.

Fig. 130FIG. 130.—A BURNED FOREST, CASCADE RANGE, OREGON

The careless stockman, seeking to enlarge his pastures by burning the underbrush, sets fires which often destroy hundreds of square miles of forest. The summer camper and the prospector also frequently go on their way without extinguishing the camp fire, though a great forest fire may be the result.

Ours is a fertile and productive earth, capable of supporting a multitude of living things. For ages the lower animals, as well as savage man, lived under the protection of Nature, making the best use of her products of which they were capable; but they never brought about the unnecessary, and often wanton, destruction of which we are guilty,—we, who call ourselves civilized. In killing the wild animals we cannot make the plea of necessity, as can savages who have no other means of support. Likewise, there is no necessity for killing the beautiful singing birds, merely for their plumage.

Fig. 131FIG. 131.—EROSION UPON AN UNPROTECTED SLOPE

The forests are cut away without any thought of the retribution which Nature is sure to bring upon us. They are of vast importance to the well-being of the country and are the natural possession of all its people. We ought not to permit them to be destroyed indiscriminately for the benefit of a few. We need lumber for many purposes; but a careful treatment of the forests with an eye to their continuance, the plan of cutting large trees, and preserving the small ones, is a very different thing from our present wasteful methods.

Every summer the air is filled with the smoke of burning forests, and the lumbermen are at work harder than ever felling virgin forests upon more and more remote mountain slopes.

Books of travel written fifty years ago tell of animal life in such abundance in many portions of the West that we can hardly believe their stories. A description of California written in 1848 mentions elk, antelope, and deer as abundant in the Great Valley. How many of us living at the present time have ever seen one of these animals in its native haunts?

There is hope now that this wasteful use of Nature's gifts will soon be stopped. Large areas of the mountainous portions of the public domain are being set aside as parks and forest reserves. The parks contain some of the finest scenery and most wonderful natural curiosities to be found upon the face of the whole earth. This wild scenery, together with the forests and plants of every kind, as well as the animals and birds that inhabit these areas, are to remain just as they were when the first white man looked upon them.

The parks form asylums for the wild creatures which have been hard pressed for so many years. In the Yellowstone National Park, where they have been protected the longest, the animals have almost lost their fear of man and act as if they knew that they are safe within its limits. In the Yellowstone you may see great herds of elk feeding in the rich meadows; deer stand by the roadside and watch you pass, while the bears have become so tame about the hotels that they make themselves a nuisance. Sixteen bears at a time have been seen feeding at the garbage pile near the Grand Cañon hotel.

The forest reserves differ from the parks in that they are established for utility rather than for pleasure. The forests now existing are to be cared for by the government and to be wisely used when lumber is needed. Fires are to be avoided so far as possible, and burned areas are to be replanted with trees. Another object to be accomplished is the retention of the forests about the heads of the streams so as to preserve the summer water supply. The water runs off more slowly from a slope covered with vegetation than from a barren one, and therefore has more time to soak into the ground. This is a very important matter in all mountainous districts, particularly where the rainfall is light.

The Yellowstone National Park is situated upon the continental divide in northwestern Wyoming. It is largely a plateau, with an elevation of seven thousand to eight thousand feet above the level of the sea. The surface of the plateau is covered with forests, meadows, and lakes; but the region is particularly remarkable for the geysers and hot springs, and the Grand Cañon and falls of the Yellowstone River.

Springs dot the surface of many parts of the park. The hot water is continually bringing mineral substances, the chief of which is silica, from the depths of the earth and depositing them about the orifices of the springs. In this manner wonderful basins, terraces, and cones have been built up, while the rocks have been either reddened or bleached out and softened into a form of clay.

The park region must have been for a long period the seat of volcanic action, for nearly all the rocks are cooled lavas. While the heat has disappeared from the surface, it must still be very great below, if we may judge by the quantities of hot water continually issuing from the springs.

In many a subterranean cavern steam accumulates until its pressure becomes too great for the column of water occupying the channel that leads to the surface; then the water is suddenly and forcibly expelled, giving rise to a geyser eruption. When the pressure of the steam has become exhausted, the water sinks back into the earth, leaving the basin of the geyser nearly or quite empty until the steam has again collected. Each geyser has its own period of eruption and is generally very regular. One little geyser, known as the Economic, because it throws out but little water, spouts regularly about every five minutes. Other geysers are active at intervals of several hours, while some take several years to get ready for a new eruption and then spout whole rivers of boiling water. In the Upper Geyser Basin the effect is very impressive, particularly upon a cool morning. The clouds of steam and the throbbing or roaring geysers lend to the region a weird and unearthly aspect.

The Yellowstone Lake is a large body of water situated almost upon the continental divide. Before the cañon, or Great Falls, or even the Yellowstone River itself existed, the lake stood about one hundred and fifty feet higher than at present, and its water emptied into the Pacific Ocean instead of the Gulf of Mexico. The drainage was changed by the work of a small stream having its source in the volcanic plateau north of the lake. It deepened its channel and extended its head waters back until they tapped the lake at a point where the rim of the basin was lowest, and so drew away its waters in the opposite direction. The Yellowstone River, with its deep, wondrously colored cañon and grand waterfalls, is the result of this change.

Fig. 132FIG. 132.—ECONOMIC GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE PARK

To the south of Yellowstone Park, but included in one of the forest reserves, are Jackson Lake and the Teton range. The Three Tetons, one of which reaches a height of over thirteen thousand feet, were evidently noted landmarks for the hunters and trappers in the early days, for you will find them mentioned in many of the narratives of those times. The precipitous range, with its crown of jagged peaks and the beautiful lake nestling at its base, presents a picture never to be forgotten.

Very different from the region which we have been studying is that embracing the Crater Lake, National Park, which is situated upon the summit of the Cascade Range in southern Oregon. Here occurred, not many thousand years ago, one of the strangest catastrophes which, so far as we know, has ever overtaken any portion of our earth.

Towering over the present basin of Crater Lake was a great volcano, reaching, probably, nearly three miles toward the sky. During the glacial period it stood there, its slopes white with snow, apparently as strong and firm as Shasta or Hood or Ranier. But for some reason the volcanic forces within this mountain, which has been called Mazama, awoke to renewed action. The interior of the mountain was melted, and the whole mass, unable to stand longer, fell in and was engulfed in the fiery, seething lava. This lava, instead of welling up and filling the crater and perhaps flowing out, was drawn down through the throat of the volcano into the earth, and left an enormous pit or crater where once the mountain stood.

After the floor of the crater cooled and hardened, small eruptions occurred within it and a new volcano grew up, but, though nearly three thousand feet high, it does not reach to the top of the encircling walls of the old crater, which are, on an average, nearly four thousand feet high.

Then the rains and melting snows formed a body of water in the crater, and the wonderful lake came into existence. No such sight is to be found elsewhere upon the earth. Within a circling rim of cliffs, from eight hundred to two thousand feet high and nearly vertical, lies the lake, rivalling the sky in the depth of its blue coloring. The height of its encircling cliffs and its five-mile expanse of blue water help to make the lake a spectacle grand beyond description. At the present time the volcanic fires appear to be entirely extinct.

Fig. 133FIG. 133.—CRATER LAKEFrom the top of the cliffs two thousand feet above. Upon the right is Wizard Island, a volcanic cone

From the top of the cliffs two thousand feet above. Upon the right is Wizard Island, a volcanic cone

Forests of fir and tamarack have spread over the once barren slopes of lava and pumice which extend back from the cliffs. In the hollows, after the lingering winter snows have melted, there are grassy meadows dotted with flowers. It is many miles from the lake to any human habitation, and all the region about remains just as Nature left it. It was a happy thought to make another national park here.

Fig. 134FIG. 134.—THE PUNCH BOWL, YELLOWSTONE PARK

We have already learned something of the grandeur of the Yosemite Valley and have seen how it came into existence. The valley is owned and cared for as a public park by the state of California, but, with Hetch-Hetchy Valley, it is included in a larger park under the control of the general government. Within the boundaries of this national park, as in the case of the others described, the natural features of the landscape, the forests, and the animals, are to be left forever undisturbed. The Yosemite Valley, although situated in the heart of the rugged Sierras, is reached by several good wagon roads and many more people visit it than go to Crater Lake, although the latter is fully as interesting.

Fig. 135FIG. 135.—THE FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE, YELLOWSTONE CAÑON

About a hundred miles south of the Yosemite is the General Grant National Park. This park is of comparatively small size, but contains a group of some of the largest and finest Big Trees in the country. Still farther south there is a reserve called the Sequoia Park, which contains the largest remaining groves of the Big Trees.

There are also many state parks scattered over different parts of the Union. The establishment of these parks is intended to preserve either the forests or natural scenery.

The retention by the state or general government of large tracts of mountain and timber land, and of those areas which are particularly interesting on account of their natural scenery, is of the greatest importance. The timber and water are preserved for the general good instead of being squandered for the enrichment of individuals.

The preservation of scenic features in their original wild state is just and right, because such things add to the pleasure of out-of-door life, elevate men's feelings, and cultivate a love for the beautiful. The protection afforded the plant and animal life by these reserves gives a better opportunity for studying them, and tends to foster a general interest in the welfare of living things.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

A new series, that excels in its

The HEATH READERS enable teachers, whether they have much or little knowledge of the art, to teach children to read intelligently and to read aloud intelligibly. They do this without waste of time or effort, and at the same time that the books aid pupils in acquiring skill in reading, they present material which is in itself worth reading.

The purpose of the HEATH READERS is,first, to enable beginners to master the mechanical difficulties of reading successfully and in the shortest time;second, to develop the imagination and cultivate a taste for the best literature;third, to appeal to those motives that lead to right conduct, industry, courage, patriotism, and loyalty to duty. The larger purpose is, briefly, to aid in developing an appreciation of that which is of most worth in life and literature.

The series contains seven books, as follows:

Descriptive circulars sent free on request.

D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston, New York, Chicago

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS

A Collection of Traditional Rhymes and Stories for Children, and of Masterpieces of Poetry and Prose for Use at Home and at School, chosen with special reference to the cultivation of the imagination and the development of a taste for good reading.

EDITED BY

CHARLES ELIOT NORTON

Book 1. Rhymes, Jingles and Fables.For first reader classes. Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 128 pages. 25 cents.

Book II. Fables and Nursery Tales.For second reader classes. Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 176 pages. 35 cents.

Book III. Fairy Tales, Ballads and Poems.For third reader classes. With illustrations after George Cruikshank and Sir John Tenniel. 184 pages. 40 cents.

Book IV. Fairy Stories and Classic Tales of Adventure.For fourth reader grades. With illustrations after J. M. W. Turner, Richard Doyle, John Flaxman, and E. Burne-Jones. 248 pages. 45 cents.

Book V. Masterpieces of Literature.For fifth reader grades. With illustrations after G. F. Watts, Sir John Tenniel, Fred Barnard, W. C. Stanfield, Ernest Fosbery, and from photographs. 318 pages. 50 cents.

Book VI. Masterpieces of Literature.With illustrations after Horace Vernet, A. Symington, J. Wells, Mrs. E. B. Thompson, and from photographs. 376 pages. 55 cents.

Book VII. Masterpieces of Literature.With illustrations after J. M. W. Turner, E. Dayes, Sir George Beaumont, and from photographs. 382 pages. 60 cents.

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON

By MARA L. PRATT.

A series of history readers which present the personal and picturesque elements of the story in a way as attractive to young readers as romance, and which will supplement the regular instruction in history in an effective manner.

Every statement of fact is historically accurate and the illustrations are correct even to the smallest details. Unusual care has been taken in these matters.

These books are effectively illustrated in black and white and in color; are bound in attractive and artistic cloth covers; uniform in size, 6-1/4 x 7-3/4; printed on extra heavy paper, in large type and contain about 160 pages each.

Book I. The Beginners' Book.35 cents.

A delightful story book, developing centers of interest through picturesque and personal incidents.

Book II. Exploration and Discovery.40 cents.

The great explorers and discoverers from Lief Ericson to Henry Hudson.

Book III. The Earlier Colonies.40 cents.

An accurate and fascinating account of the first settlements and the 13 colonies.

Book IV. The Later Colonial Period.40 cents.

Settlements in the Mississippi Valley, The French and Indian Wars, etc.

Book V. The Revolution and the Republic.40 cents.

The causes that led to it, the men who guided events, and subsequent civil history.

Descriptive circular free on request.

D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston, New York, Chicago

Ballard's World of Matter.A guide to mineralogy and chemistry. $1.00

Benton's Guide to General Chemistry.A manual for the laboratory. 35 cents.

Boyer's Laboratory Manual in Biology.Treats of both animals and plants. 80 cents.

Boynton, Morse and Watson's Laboratory Manual in Chemistry.50 cents.

Burrage and Bailey's School Sanitation and Decoration.Illustrated. $1.50.

Chute's Physical Laboratory Manual.A well-balanced course in laboratory physics, requiring inexpensive apparatus. Illustrated. 80 cents.

Chute's Practical Physics.For high schools and colleges. $1.12.

Clark's Methods in Microscopy.Detailed descriptions of successful methods. $1.60.

Coit's Chemical Arithmetic.With a short system of analysis. 50 cents.

Colton's Physiology: Experimental and Descriptive.For high schools and colleges. Illustrated. $1.12.

Colton's Physiology: Briefer Course.For high schools. Illustrated. 90 cents.

Colton's Zoology: Descriptive and Experimental.Illustrated. $1.50. Part I, Descriptive. $1.00. Part II, Experimental. 60 cents.

Fisher and Patterson's Elements of Physics.Experimental and descriptive. 60 cents.

Grabfield and Burns's Chemical Problems.For review and drill. Paper. 25 cents.

Hyatt's Insecta.A practical manual for students and teachers. Illustrated. $1.25.

Newell's Descriptive Chemistry.A full exposition of modern inorganic chemistry. Illustrated. $1.20. Part I, Without experiments. $1.00. Part II, Experiments. 40 cents.

Newell's Experimental Chemistry.A modern course for high schools and colleges. $1.10.

Orndorff's Laboratory Manual.Experiments in Organic Chemistry. 35 cents.

Palmer's Questions and Problems in Chemistry.20 cents.

Pepoon, Mitchell and Maxwell's Plant Life.A laboratory guide. 50 cents.

Remsen's Organic Chemistry.An introduction to the study of the compounds of carbon. For students of the pure science, or its application to arts. $1.20.

Roberts's Stereo-Chemistry.Its development and present aspects. $1.00.

Sanford's Experimental Psychology.Part I. Sensation and Perception. $1.50.

Shaler's First Book in Geology.Cloth, 60 cents. Boards. 45 cents.

Shepard's Inorganic Chemistry.Descriptive and qualitative; experimental and inductive; leads the student to observe and think. For high schools and colleges. $1.12.

Shepard's Briefer Course in Chemistry, with chapter on Organic Chemistry. 80 cents.

Shepard's Laboratory Note-Book.Boards. 35 cents.

Spalding's Botany.Practical exercises in the study of plants. 80 cents.

Stevens's Introduction to Botany.Illustrated. $1.25. Key and Flora, 40 cents. Botany, with Key and Flora, $1.50.

Stevens's Chemistry Note-Book.Laboratory sheets and covers. 50 cents.

Venable's Short History of Chemistry.For students and the general reader. $1.00.

Walter, Whitney and Lucas's Animal Life.A laboratory guide. 50 cents.

Weed and Crossman's Laboratory Guide in Zoölogy.Emphasizes essentials. 60 cents.

Whiting's Physical Measurement.Parts I-IV, in one volume. $3.75.

Whiting's Mathematical and Physical Tables.Paper. 50 cents.

For elementary works see our list of books in Elementary Science.

D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston, New York, Chicago

Austin's Observation Blanks in Mineralogy.Detailed studies of 35 minerals. Boards 88 pages. 30 cents.

Bailey's Grammar School Physics.A series of practical lessons with simple experiments that may be performed in the ordinary school room. 138 pages. Illustrated. 50 cents.

Ballard's The World of Matter.Simple studies in chemistry and mineralogy: for use as a text-book or as a guide to the teacher in giving object-lessons. 264 pages. Illus. $1.00.

Clark's Practical Methods in Microscopy.Gives in detail descriptions of methods that will lead the careful worker to successful results. 233 pages. Illustrated. $1,60.

Clarke's Astronomical Lantern.Intended to familiarize students with the constellations by comparing them with facsimiles on the lantern face. With seventeen slides, giving twenty-two constellations. $4.50.

Clarke's How to find the Stars.Accompanies the above and helps to an acquaintance with the constellations. 47 pages. Paper. 15 cents.

Eckstorm's The Bird Book.The natural history of birds, with directions for observation and suggestions for study. 301 pages. Illustrated. 60 cents.

Guides for Science Teaching.Teachers' aids for instruction in Natural History.

Rice's Science Teaching in the School.With a course of instruction in science for the lower grades. 46 pages. Paper. 25 cents.

Ricks's Natural History Object Lessons.Information on plants and their products, on animals and their uses, and gives specimen lessons. 332 pages. Illustrated. $1.50

Ricks's Object Lessons and How to Give them.Vol. I. Gives lessons for primary grades. 200 pages. 90 cents.Vol. II. Gives lessons for grammar and intermediate grades. 212 pages. 90 cents.

Scott's Nature Study and the Child.A manual for teachers, with outlines of lessons and courses, detailed studies of typical forms of animal and plant life, and chapters on aims and methods and the relation of nature study to expression. 652 pages. Illustrated. Retail price, $1.50

Shaler's First Book in Geology.A helpful introduction to the study of modern text-books in geography. 272 pages. lliustrated. Cloth, 60 cents. Boards, 45 cents.

Smith's Studies in Nature.Combines natural history and language work. 48 pages. Paper. 15 cts.

Spear's Leaves and Flowers.An elementary botany for pupils under twelve. 103 pages. Illustrated. 25 cents.

Wright's Seaside and Wayside Nature Reader, No. 4.Elementary lessons in geology, astronomy, world life, etc. 372 pages. Illustrated. 50 cents.