Although I have been alone by a camp-fire in every State and Territory in the Union, with the exception of Rhode Island, the matter in this book is drawn almost entirely from my experiences in the Rocky Mountain region.

Some of the chapters have already appeared in magazines, and I am indebted to The Curtis Publishing Company, Doubleday, Page and Company, "Suburban Life," and "Recreation" for allowing me to reprint the papers which they have published. "Country Life in America" published "Racing an Avalanche," "Alone with a Landslide," and "A Rainy Day at the Stream's Source,"—the two last under the titles of "Alone with a Crumbling Mountain" and "At the Stream's Source." The "Saturday Evening Post" published "Little Conservationists," "Mountain-Top Weather," "The Forest Fire," "Insects in the Forest," "Doctor Woodpecker," and "The Fate of a Tree Seed." "Suburban Life" published "Rob of the Rockies" and "Little Boy Grizzly"; and "Recreation" "Harvest Time with Beavers."

E. A. M.

Contents

Racing an Avalanche[1]
Little Conservationists[17]
Harvest Time with Beavers[49]
Mountain-Top Weather[69]
Rob of the Rockies[91]
Sierra Blanca[107]
The Wealth of the Woods[121]
The Forest Fire[137]
Insects in the Forest[171]
Dr. Woodpecker, Tree-Surgeon[191]
Little Boy Grizzly[205]
Alone with a Landslide[221]
The Maker of Scenery and Soil[245]
A Rainy Day at the Stream's Source[265]
The Fate of a Tree Seed[289]
In a Mountain Blizzard[307]
A Midget in Fur[321]
The Estes Park Region[335]
Index[351]

Illustrations

The Home of the Whirlwind (page 78)
Near the top of Long's Peak.		[Frontispiece]
A Snow-Slide Region
Near Telluride, Colorado.		[6]
Mt. Meeker[20]
A Beaver House in Winter
Lily Lake, Estes Park.		[38]
A Beaver Canal
Length, 334 feet; average width, 26 inches; average depth, 15 inches.		[56]
Aspens cut by Beaver
On slope of Mt. Meeker.		[64]
Wind-blown Trees at Timber-Line
Long's Peak.		[76]
Sierra Blanca in Winter[110]
Spanish Moss
Lake Charles, Louisiana.		[124]
A Forest Fire on the Grand River
Near Grand Lake, Colorado.		[140]
A Yellow Pine, Forty-Seven Years after it had been killed by Fire
Estes Park.		[154]
A Tree killed by Mistletoe and Beetles
Estes Park.		[184]
Woodpecker Holes in a Pine injured by Lightning
Estes Park.		[198]
Johnny and Jenny[210]
Near the Top of Mt. Coxcomb[228]
Court-House Rock[242]
The Hallett Glacier[250]
A Crevasse
Hallett Glacier.		[260]
Among the Clouds
Continental Divide, near Long's Peak.		[272]
Full Streams
Near Telluride, Colorado.		[286]
On Grand River, Middle Park, in Winter[310]
Snow and Shadow
Long's Peak.		[318]
The Home of the Frémont Squirrel
On the Little Cimarron River.		[326]
Long's Peak and Estes Park[338]