The Yellowstone national park, historical and descriptive, illustrated with maps, views and portraits . at were killed three-quarters of a century ago still retaintheir form, though shattered by decay; while in many otherplaces they have returned completely to the mother earth,and full grown trees rise above them, with only a charredremnant here and there to record the story of the past. The burned areas generally grow up again, though rarelyto their full extent, and the ultimate result of every fire isprobably to diminish the forest area. The young pinethickets are exceedingly dense and a lar
The Yellowstone national park, historical and descriptive, illustrated with maps, views and portraits . at were killed three-quarters of a century ago still retaintheir form, though shattered by decay; while in many otherplaces they have returned completely to the mother earth,and full grown trees rise above them, with only a charredremnant here and there to record the story of the past. The burned areas generally grow up again, though rarelyto their full extent, and the ultimate result of every fire isprobably to diminish the forest area. The young pinethickets are exceedingly dense and a large proportion ofthe trees die out in the process of growth. The down tim-ber resulting from forest fires is a great obstacle to traveland renders the country in many places absolutely im-passable on horseback. To what extent these forest fires are an injury to thePark it is impossible to say. If they could come in theright spots through the southern and central portions ofthe Park and leave us more pasturage where the lodge polepine now holds sway, the Park would be the gainer. If it * See Page Ornamental Forest Growths. FORESTS OF THE YELLOWSTONE. 2^:5 were possible to break up these dense masses into smallergroups like those around Mt. Washburn, every benefit thatflows from the forests would still obtain, the landscapewould be beautified, the game pasturage would beincreased, while the open spaces would facilitate the arrestof such fires as might break out. But there is no obvious way of accomplishing this resultwithin any reasonable cost. Certainly the forest fire is notone. It is as liable to break out in the wrong place as inthe right one. It creates a devastated area which for yearsis a blot upon the landscape. This is followed by a gener-ation of down timber aggravated by impenetrable growthsof jack pine, and the final outcome, after a century or twoof time, is a forest like that which was destroyed. If itwere ever considered desirable to thin out the forests inany
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